After seeing a flower press a friend’s dad made for her, I realized that certain nieces might also need flower presses to properly celebrate spring and summer. So, I designed this one. It was a lot of fun to make. The plates are made of Baltic birch. The bottom layer is two sheets with captive washers in pockets between the layers. The hex heads of the bolts are captured in the holes (so that they don’t spin when you try to tighten the press) and held with magnets (so they don’t fall out when you turn it over). It provides a nice surface to feature an engrave, too.
Do you feel like a flower press might improve the spring or summer of you or someone you know? Perhaps you will check the Free Laser Designs section.
Typically you’d dry the flowers between blotting sheets and cardboard to help absorb the moisture so they can dry. Cool idea, but I don’t think it would go so well.
I had a friend who would travel to somewhere in New Mexico (I think) to gather a specific soil/sand that she would bury flowers in to dessicate them. It was a meticulous process to slowly fill the container with it to preserve the flower pedal position without distorting the shape so they were 3D. Apparently it’s an artform.