A Rose By Any Other Name
Or as I say, a Rosa by any other name
Hello Hello Hello,
So if your partner is anything like mine, you have some flowers in your house this week. Rapidly declining bouquets after Valentine’s Day is a yearly occurrence. One of my go-to fixes for less than fresh flowers is to dry them. There are a lot of ways to do this, but with roses, I usually end up hanging them upside down and letting them dry over a week or two, but this year I decided to do something else, so today I am going to teach you how to get same-day pressed flowers.
Start by selecting a flower from the bouquet. If you are using a less dense flower you can do multiple at a time, but for roses, I would do one at a time (they have a lot of moisture in them.)
Cut your flower off the stem and get some absorbent paper (I am using a paper towel) and two microwave-safe plates. First, surround your bloom in the paper and then sandwich your flower and paper between the two plates.
Place your plates in the microwave. I microwaved my flower in increments of 30 seconds for about 2.5 minutes. In between each of the 30-second rounds, I checked the progress of the flower and at about 1 minute, I changed the paper out for some fresh paper towel. It also helps if you wipe down the condensation on the plates with a dishtowel in between cycles.
Here’s what mine looked like after the first 30 seconds in the microwave. You will see some of the moisture on the paper towel. After 2.5 minutes, it looked like this and the majority of the moisture was gone from the petals.
At this point, it was dry enough to just be considered a pressed flower, but for best results, I would stick it in a traditional flower press or a book for a couple of hours or overnight to get that really perfectly pressed look.
I also did the same process with a bit of baby’s breath and a leaf, but instead of 2.5 minutes, I did about 1 minute. They have a lot less moisture than a rose.
To press them in a book, just sandwich your blooms in some paper and stick them in between some heavy books.
This can be done with any kind of flower (that can fit in a microwave, maybe skip the sunflowers.) I would love to see yours!
I wanted to end this week’s newsletter with some ways you can help Texians. The storms there will pass eventually, but people will still need help and the destruction caused by the storms is going to take time and funds to fix. The LA Times made a directory of Texas Mutual Aid Groups. March for Our Lives Texas is also posting updated resource guides on how to help Texans as well as what to do guides for people currently dealing with winter storms on their Instagram. They also have a linktree with resources.
Stay safe, stay inside, and as always stay crafting.