When you press flowers, it will not only involve pressing them but they will also dry out. When drying out, these flowers are bound to change colour at least a little bit. No matter how bright and beautiful they are when they are fresh, the petals will darken as they dry out. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to keep them as beautiful as possible.

Things you need:

• Flowers for pressing

• A vase

• Flower food (preserve0

• Non-glossy paper

• A heavy weight (like a stack of ooks)

• An old bucket or tub

• Floral dye, a small brush or spray bottle and fabric softener or glycerine (optional)

Instructions:

• Buy your favourite flowers from your florist or pick them from your garden. Make sure tha the flowers are still in partial bud form when they are picked or bought.

• Trim the stems, place in fresh water with flower food and enjoy your bouquet for the next 24 hours.

• Remove them from the vase and pat the flower stems dry.

• Remove any dead, dying, or damaged petals or plant material.

• Pour warm (not hot) water into bucket and add some flower food along with floral dye.

• Follow the dye package instructions to make sure that you add the right amount of dye to the water.

• Put your flowers in the dye water and let them set for 24 hours. They might not be as dark as you would like, at first, but they will get darker once they are dry.

• Remve the flowers from the dye water and pat dry.

• Use the spray bottle or brush to apply diluted fabric softener or glycerine to the flowers.

• Let them dry completely before pressing.

• Place the flowers between some non-glossy paper and press using books or similar heavy items.

• Check on your flowers after about 2 weeks. If they are not completely pressed, leave them for another few days. Remove from the press only when you are happy with the results.

• Now your pressed flowers are rich in colour, pressed, and ready for you to use or you can store them for later use. Remember to store in an airtight container and keep away from direct sunlight, moisture, and heat.

Tips to keep in mind:

The purpose of the fabric softener or glycerine is to keep the flower petals soft. It also helps preserve your flowers for longer. Even if you don’t dye your flowers, you can still use this softening method to keep the petals more supple. Dying the flowers before drying them really helps the colours stand out. You might want to use a different colour for different flowers. You can enhance the colour of each flower by dying them. For example, place yellow flowers in bright yellow dye. Alternatively, dye white flowers any colour you like.

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