How to Press Flowers (4 Methods: Microwave, Iron, Book, and Press)

Fresh flowers press best. Cut them in the morning when the petals are firm and the color is at its peak. Daisies, pansies, violets, and small wildflowers all press cleanly. Thick blooms like roses and peonies work better when you slice them in half first.

Four methods are in this tutorial. The microwave gives you a finished flower in about a minute. The iron takes about 15 seconds per pass. A heavy book takes around two weeks. A DIY wood press takes about four weeks but gives the cleanest result. The favorite turns out to be a hybrid - two days under a book, then 30 seconds in the microwave - because it holds both shape and color.

Pick the method that matches the time you have. Then grab the matching materials in the steps below.

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Cut two pieces of flat pine roughly the same size - 8 by 10 inches works for most flowers. Stack them on top of each other and drill matching holes through both boards in all four corners. Use a drill bit slightly larger than your bolt diameter.

Push a bolt up through each hole from the bottom board, then drop the top board down over the bolts. Add washers if the wing nuts dig into the wood. Spin a wing nut down onto each bolt and hand-tighten.

This press will hold flowers for four weeks before you open it back up. The slow timeline is what gives this method the cleanest pressed result.

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Lay a piece of paper across the bottom board of the press. Cut the head off each flower so it sits flat, then place each flower face-down on the paper. Use your fingertips to gently open the petals out so they don't fold under themselves.

Top with another sheet of paper, drop the top board down over the bolts, and spin the wing nuts down evenly. Snug them - don't crank them. Over-tightening squashes petals into a smear instead of pressing them flat.

Walk away for four weeks. Check after the first week; if a petal looks bunched, loosen, adjust, and re-tighten.

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Open a thick hardcover book to the middle. Lay a sheet of plain paper or blotting paper on the open pages. Place flowers on the paper face-down, then top with another sheet of paper. Close the book gently.

Stack two or three more heavy books on top and walk away for about two weeks. Change the blotting paper every four days if the flowers were damp when you started - moisture trapped against the petals turns them brown.

No spare books? Slide the open book under your mattress and sleep on it. The whole-body weight presses evenly for the same result.

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Build a small stack: cardboard square, paper, flower face-down, paper, cardboard square. Top with something flat and heavy that's microwave-safe - a small ceramic plate or a piece of untreated wood. No metal.

Microwave for 30 seconds. Open and peek. If the flower still feels damp, hit it for another 15-30 seconds. Stop at 60 seconds total - past that the petals scorch and turn brown.

This is the fastest method by far. One flower done in under two minutes. The trade-off: color sometimes shifts darker than the slower methods.

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Set a clothes iron to low or wool heat with no steam. Lay your flower face-down on a flat heat-safe surface, top with a sheet of plain paper, then press the iron straight down for 15 seconds. Don't slide the iron - that drags petals and tears them.

Lift the iron, let everything cool for 15 seconds, then press again. Three or four repetitions usually get the flower fully dried and flat. If the flower is thick, slice it in half first and lay the cut side down.

Don't bear down hard. Light contact and a few extra repetitions beat one heavy press. Pressing too hard breaks the petals into pieces.

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Open up each batch and lay the pressed flowers side by side. The wood press gives the cleanest, flattest finish but takes the longest. The book press comes in close behind. The microwave is the fastest but can over-cook the color. The iron is fast but breaks petals if you push too hard.

The combo that wins most of the time: start a flower in a heavy book for two days, then finish it with 30 seconds in the microwave. Two days under the book locks the flat shape. The quick microwave hit at the end locks in the color before it can fade.

That hybrid is what produced the colorful pressed flowers in the layout shown here. Wild flowers from the yard, two days in a sketchbook, 30 seconds in the microwave - finished.

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Pressed flowers belong in things you make. The most popular three: a picture frame with the flowers laid between two panes of glass, contact paper sandwiches stretched inside an embroidery hoop (shown here), and resin pours where the flowers are suspended in clear epoxy.

Lay the pressed flowers out on the surface first to plan the composition before you commit. Once they're under glass or in resin, you can't move them. A pair of tweezers helps when the petals are paper-thin.

Other options: greeting cards with the flowers glued under a clear sticker, bookmarks laminated front and back, candles with flowers pressed into the wax, and journal pages where flowers go straight onto the paper under washi tape.

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