PRESSED FLOWER CRAFTS:

Garden column from Peggy Case
 400 US 250, New London, Ohio 44851. Phone 419-929-6117.

Winter projects for gardeners are varied but usually involve crafts with flowers, dried or live. Last month, Karen Day of Lakewood, presented a craft class using dried, pressed flowers for the local garden club. Ms. Day brought to the club a myriad of dried flowers and leaves, plus precut greeting cards with envelopes; and she led the members in creating beautiful cards and stationery. Besides these items, she displayed lovely large framed pictures of pressed flowers.

Day’s presentation included many tips for gathering, pressing and using flowers. The best time to gather flowers for drying is during the driest time of the day. The flowers are placed in a flower press or between the pages of heavy telephone books as Ms. Day does. Newsprint paper is the best for drying flowers, so she encouraged the gardeners to look for that type of paper to use in a flower press. The telephone books or presses are weighted down for four to six weeks. The exact time depends on flower types and the thickness of petals. A little experimentation helps with establishing drying times.

Some flowers like roses are best dried with the petals removed and separated on the papers of the flower press. Petals cannot be overlapped in the drying process or they will stick. Include the rose leaves to go with the flowers. The blossoms can be reconstructed when glued on the card stock. Bits of vine and smaller leaves add to the illusion of reality. Some flowers keep their colors well; others do not. Hydrangea blossoms do very well. Each small floret is dried and then assembled to look like a blossom head.

Choose lots of different types and sizes of flowers. Ms. Day suggested also drying weeds. Queen Anne’s Lace was her favorite; its use was the “icing on the cake.” She stressed drying lots of green - leaves, grass, herbs - as green is needed to showcase the flowers. Don’t just dry plain green; dry an assortment of different shades of green. Keep your eyes open for new leaf shapes and new colors.

Opening up the drying books or presses is always a treat, seeing how well they dried. Carefully lift the flowers from the pages or papers and keep them from moisture and wind. Dried flowers are best stored in flat boxes separated by stiff paper or card stock. When gluing flowers on cards, pick up the flower with a damp finger, use a small paint brush to put a dot of Elmer’s glue on the back and put it in place. If the flower is not sticking, add glue under the edges. Some glue may need a drop of water mixed with it in a jar lid.

If you are very careful and skillful, you may not need to cover the design with contact paper. Ms. Day’s cards were covered with a loose sheet of tissue paper and then slipped into the envelopes. She used card stock, papers and tissues from scrap booking supply shops. Some of the club members found it much easier to use contact paper over the design.

Besides roses and hydrangeas, some good flowers to press are pansies, lobelia, buttercups, larkspur, ladies’ mantle, coleus, geranium and verbena. Small varied-colored fall leaves used alone are stunning for Thanksgiving cards. Dried springs of evergreens with flat bows of red ribbon make Christmas cards. Sometimes a calligraphy pen is used to add a greeting or even a stem or vine. Experimenting with dried flowers and designing cards is a great cold-weather activity for gardeners.