saving the summer

26 July 2014



I have been trying to preserve some of the flowers from our first summer in our house. I know that pressing flowers properly requires waiting over two weeks, but I am impatient about these things and can't wait that long. So I zapped them in the microwave.


I dried off the flowers a bit on some kitchen towel and then pressed them for about 30 mins in a flowers press.

once squashed, I took out the blotting paper sandwiches and put them on a dish, and then put another large dish on top of them and put them in the microwave for about 2-3mins.

Its a bit hit and miss, some flowers seem to lose all their colour, others go see through, and some just don't look very nice, so it's worth trying a few different flowers.
I found the yellow daisy types, geraniums and dark coloured sweet peas came out the best.

Littlun is soooo obsessed with 'wowers' she loves watering them and sniffing them, and when she saw the picture I made, she wouldn't let go of it! This resulted in level 9.5 tantrum.

I think I will appreciate this flower picture in the deepest depths of January.

19 comments

  1. funny how some flowers completely lose their colour, but others stay vibrant, isn't it? this is lovely! wish i had a flower press.

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    1. Press flowers between paper towel in a book and add more books or weights on top

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  2. Those are gorgeous! I've never heard of that microwave trick but, as a regular contender for World's Most Impatient Crafter, I love the idea of not having to wait two weeks for the flowers to be ready :) Is the tantrum scale the same as the Richter scale? xxx

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  3. Well, who knew!! Must get the microwave all fired up.

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  4. I have never thought of the microwave to dry flowers good idea x

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  5. For the little one, you could put flowers between two sheets of transparent contact paper (you know, the stuff years ago that people used on their worktops). She could play with it and can't break it. Used to do this with Autumn leaves when I ran a Brownie unit at camp. They loved it.

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  6. level 9.5...haha... we've entered that phase too... intense!

    lovely wowers. :)

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  7. You are creating the most magical childhood for Pehr, I think she's probably the happiest little one in the whole wide world.

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  8. I Iove it but where did you get that fab glass display thing from?? and what are the called?

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  9. It's beautiful! Love the frame too! xxx

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  10. This is amazing! At school I did one of my A Level art projects on laminated flowers (it was about decay so they weren't left to dry out or anything!). It was super interesting to see them die off and become mouldy, not so fun to have to deal with a bunch of mouldy, smelly laminated flowers once I'd finished the project! x

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  11. This is such a lovely idea! You'll definitely look at it and sigh when the snow's coming down in the winter :) Love how your little one fell in love with the end result.

    Tamsin xx | A Certain Adventure

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  12. Anonymous28.7.14

    That last photo is precious!! I so enjoy your adventures and how you are including your little one!

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  13. Love flowers so much! That looks so pretty!

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  14. Wow, you're so inspiring!! You really need a book deal :-)
    I was just wondering where you bought the beautiful glass frame you put the flowers in? I'm sure its vintage but if you happen to know of anywhere that sells them I'd really appreciate it. I've been looking to display my pressed wedding flowers for ages and this is such a beautiful way of displaying them, seeing them from front and back.
    Thanks again for inspiring me - I adore your blog and your little girl is so gorgeous
    Emily x

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  15. Similar to contact paper - sticky back plastic - are laminating pouches. I think some are for D-I-Y use without a laminator, one sheet is pliable but 'firm-ish' (like a plastic table mat) the other is more pliable. Finished object has enough rigidity to be handled like your glass, but without the awful consequences for a child.

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  16. Where did you get the pretty frame? Is it vintage? I want to make this for my little girl, too!

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