I’m in no way an expert when it comes to flower pressing, but after a year into it, I have made quite a few mistakes and learned a trick or two to avoid them. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your technique, hopefully, you can learn something from my mistakes to preserve your flowers beautifully.

Table of Contents

Your Microwave is Your Friend

Many microwaved pressed flowers keep their color really well. In fact, putting the flower in the microwave first for a quick 30-40 seconds and then pressing it in a book can help retain its color and prevent molding (in my experience).

I started off pressing flowers in a paper towel and a heavy, glass container. It worked, but not as well as I’d liked and I decided to upgrade. I looked at buying a Microfleur, but couldn’t justify spending that much when I was first starting. Instead, I got a microwave flower press on sale from Amazon. It is small, but other than that, I have loved it. It presses the flowers well and really retains their color. Plus, it dries most flowers in under a minute!

Some Flowers Just Don’t Press Well

I’ve had the most trouble with lilies and chrysanthemums in the microwave, but both did alright when pressed between books. Lilies do lose quite a bit of their color and become somewhat translucent, while chrysanthemums can get a bit straggly-looking.

For chrysanthemums, I’ve seen others do a quick press in the microwave and then finish pressing them in silica sand with good results. I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks promising!

Succulents are known to not press well as they are very thick and from hot, humid climates. For this reason, I haven’t pressed any, but it could be a fun experiment for the future.

Certain Flowers Need to be Completely Taken Apart

The only two flowers I’ve deconstructed so far are roses and peonies. And I must say it is quite a bit of work to take a flower apart, press it, and put it back together! The result looks so much better, though. For some of my personal crafts, I will press these thicker flowers with layers of petals at different angles to get around this if I’m short on time.

Flowers Look Best When Pressed at Their Peak Freshness

If you’ve looked into preserving your flowers into a keepsake, you may have seen the vendor state, “Get your flowers to us in 3-5 days.” This is because fresh flowers look vibrant for such a short time. Wilted or browning flowers won’t be able to be fixed through the preservation process.

Proper Storage is Everything (And Maybe Trickier than Pressing the Flowers)

This one makes me shake my head just thinking about it. Pressed flowers are so delicate and need to be preserved just right to retain their color and dryness to prevent mold from growing on them. Storage options I’ve tried:

  • Clear containers: I had the flowers just thrown into long, short containers. It was a mess and hard to find anything. It also wasn’t great for delicate flowers as they would break.
  • Left in books: This worked fine, but many of my flowers got moldy this way. It might’ve been because I did not change out the paper/paper towels to keep them totally dry. This method seems to work for many people and has for centuries, but even if I could prevent mold, it is kind of a mess when your flower pressing collection grows and you can’t find what you are looking for.
  • Magnetic photo book: I thought this was going to be it until I went to get a flower and it got stuck to the page of the photo book and got ruined.
  • Magnetic photo book with cardstock (current process): Time will tell if this process will work. The flowers shift a bit in the book with the paper, but the flowers do not stick to the pages anymore, and I can easily find what I’m looking for. All I did was cut a piece of cardstock paper to fit into the magnetic photo page, leaving an inch on each side so the magnetic page could still seal shut over the flowers. So, it is a piece of cut cardstock (approx. 7.5′ x 10′), pressed flowers on top, and then the see-through magnetic photo page (approx. 8.5′ x 11′) folded on top.

There is an Entire Community/Business Around Flower Pressing

Like anything, when you start off, it seems as though you’ve discovered a whole new world! Flower preservation is a very old art form, so it makes sense it has a large community around it. What I love is the different types of people of all ages and skill levels. The different approaches and ways people have created businesses around the world of flowers are inspiring.

Pressing Your Bridal Bouquet is a Thing and It’s Awesome

Maybe I am naïve to not have known this existed, but I got married in January 2020 and through all my research, preserving my bouquet did not come across my radar. My wedding flowers were one of my favorite things from my wedding – had I known that I could press my entire bouquet with, say, an invitation, I would have absolutely done it.

Pressed Flower Art is Stunning

This one is somewhat similar to preserving a wedding bouquet into a beautiful work of art, but instead of recreating something that resembles the original bouquet, think of stunning landscapes or photos. I’ve seen a mom & baby elephant recreated from wildflowers, a large portrait recreated using roses, and simple name signs using personal bouquets.

I think once you understand the process behind something, it deepens your appreciation for a piece of art. Check out this adorable chicken made with real flowers on Etsy.

It is Fun for Kids Too

My daughter loves helping me with anything that involves flowers – picking them, deconstructing them (she actually gets to destroy something while helping), admiring them once they’re pressed, and handing me materials I need when storing the pressed flowers. Flower presses can be a bit spendy, so this flower press for kids is a perfect starter press for any little flower lover.

Conclusion

After a year of pressing flowers, these are tricks I’ve learned in the process. Each one has helped me achieve better results and enjoy the process more. I hope they do the same for you. Happy pressing!