Pressed flower craft
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Pressed flower craft consists of drying flower petals and leaves in a flower press to flatten and exclude light and moisture. The pressed items are then used for a variety of craft projects.
Pressing flowers makes them appear flat, and often there is a change in color, ranging from faded colors to greater intensity of color.
The pressed flowers and leaves are often mounted on special paper, such as hand-made paper, Ingres paper, Japanese paper, or paper decorated by marbling.
Watercolour washes are sometimes applied to the backing paper before the pressed material is attached to it.
It is also possible to mount pressed material on fabrics, such as velvet, silk, linen or cotton.
Petals and leaves can also be applied to wood furnishings by the technique of Decoupage.
The craft was very popular in the Victorian era and has experienced a revival in the last 20 years or so. Many books and websites with pictures and instructions have been published on the subject.
The image below shows a modern interpretation of a Victorian pressed flower sampler. Leaves and petals are used to construct items such as butterflies, animals or floral arrangements which one would find on traditional embroidery samplers.
