Quick Project: Microwave Flower Pressing with Karen Carter

Traditionally, pressing flowers is a lesson in patience which, as most of you know, is not something I am blessed with an abundance of!  More often than not, those delicately foraged flowers are carefully sandwiched between a heavy stack of books, only to be discovered years later with an ‘oh yeah, I remember doing those’... 

A few of Karen's microwave pressed flowers

So what if you could capture the beauty of your garden in under two minutes? Mixed media artist and Ardington favourite Karen Carter shares a brilliant fast-track method - perfect for a last-minute card or gift, or just a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

You don't need any fancy equipment - just some repurposed household items and some pretty flowers of course.

The Materials

• Flowers: Flat flowers work best. Snip them off close to the flower head

• Cardboard: Two sturdy pieces (recycled delivery boxes are perfect)

• Kitchen Roll: Four sheets of absorbent paper towel

• Elastic Bands: To hold your ‘sandwich’ together

• Tweezers: Essential for handling delicate, hot petals

• Heavy, microwave-safe dish: To act as a weight

The Method

• Prep your flowers: Snip them off as close to the flower head as possible to ensure they lie flat in the sandwich

• Build the sandwich: Lay down one piece of card, two sheets of kitchen roll, your flower heads, the remaining two sheets of kitchen roll, and finally the second piece of card

• Secure it: Use elastic bands to keep the layers tight and flat

• Weigh them down: Place the bundle in the microwave and put a heavy microwave-safe dish on top

• Heat them up: Heat on full power for 40 seconds 

  Karen’s Tip: Check them carefully! If they are still soft, they need longer (heat in 20 second bursts from here on in…!)  If they are brown and crispy, they are overcooked!

• Release: Use tweezers to remove the flowers from the paper immediately (otherwise they may tear as they cool, or stick) and lay them on a cold plate to cool off

Creative Ways to Use Your Pressed Flowers

Once you have your vibrant, flat blooms, the creative possibilities are endless. Karen has a few suggestions for projects to get you started:

Greetings Cards

• Arrange your flowers on watercolour or handmade paper

• Instead of gluing the flower directly, apply acrylic matt medium or diluted PVA to the paper, then set the flower on top

• Once dry, add a thin topcoat of adhesive to seal the petals before mounting them onto your card

Tealight Holders

• Cover a glass holder with strips of white or pastel tissue paper using diluted PVA.

• Once dry, glue individual petals onto the tissue and seal with a topcoat.

  
  

  Karen's Tip: Adding a coat of gloss varnish makes the petals more transparent or glitter glue adds a touch of evening sparkle

Suncatchers

This unique project uses recycled teabags (dried and emptied) or tissue paper.

• Lay a piece of polythene on your desk and apply a layer of diluted PVA

• Arrange squares of teabag paper and flowers, sandwiching them with more glue and paper layers

• When dry, peel the suncatcher off the polythene and trap it between two sheets of acetate with double sided tape (or you could use a laminator)

• Punch a hole in the top, lace with ribbon, and hang in a sunny window

Have you tried pressing flowers before? This microwave pressed flowers method is a total game-changer for those of us who can't wait weeks to start a new project!