Very pretty, Connie. Do you frame your dried flowers?

Karen

That is some nice pressing :) All my Larkspur are self-sown from 'Earl Grey' 4 years ago...many of which have been up since last fall. I usually get a few of that color, but the majority are true to the original.

I wish I had done that nice of job in my 1st and 2nd year plant ID classes. I just pressed between newspaper held together with yarn through hole punches...YUCK! Even worse directly into my reference/text books :O You can imagine my books now having wavy pages LOL!
I'd like to make something similar to what I had in my Plant Problem Diagnosis I did over one summer for extra credit ...basically it was large sheets of heavy duty paper fixed in a wooden frame that 'pressed' down via straps. Of course I didn't get to keep any of the pressed material and disease/pest info because she collected and framed them to use for future classes.
Oh lordy now you're gonna get me started on another project LOL!!

I used to do alot of pressing, the larkspur family does look great. Lobelia is another one. Never tried a micro for pressing, I had a huge press made when I made cards. I have dried in the micro wave for 3 dimensional framed and convex glass projects.
What power and how many minutes did you use? I might want to try the mini petunias.

My microwave presser is made from 4 ceramic kitchen wall tiles
I use 8x10 in. ones.
I put the first tile down (smooth side up) and several folded layers of Viva paper towel (viva does not have designs on it and I have heard of people using the blue shop towels also)
Next lay out your flowers-several more layers of towels and then a tile (smooth side down)-repeat with two more tiles
My mircrowave has 10 power setting on it, so 10 is the highest and I set mine on 4. Then I set it for 3 min. and removes tiles when done and put some weight on the whole bunch. I try not to peek for 24-48 hours.
Then I remove place flowers between sheets of paper.
You can remove the paper with the flowers from the tiles and place them under weight as soon as the tiles have cooled, that way you can press several batches during the day.
I made this tray for a wedding gift-glued the flowers on with YES glue and when dry I put envirotex (is is a resin) over the top. I was pleased. I also make cards.
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Very nice!
Tiles I have, so may give it a whirl. Sure seems faster than messing with the big press!
I use acid free Rubber Cement for glueing. My kid has resins for her jewelry making, I haven't played around with it, but give ideas for xmas gifts for this year, maybe serving or vanity trays!
What I did for wedding gifts was take a floral arrangement from the reception table and press those flowers to make another arrangement and frame it. For my bro and sis-in-law I pressed then dried flowers, applied the dried over the pressed, tore apart the basket the arrangements were in and re did the arrangement on a huge oval mat board, used the convex glass because of the dimension.
I should look at it the next time I get to their house to see how it has held up after 17 years, lol.
If you haven't tried them yet, Queen Anne Lace dry very well, I made those into snow flakes (small ones) with glitter for Xmas Cards one year.

you guys are sooo talented - thanks for the interesting pictures

Carrie

What a beautiful display!! Amazing :))

Wow, Connie, that tray is beautiful. What a thoughtful wedding gift.

Karen

That is SUCH a nice gift for a wedding - love the text pieces as well as the flowers!

OK, I've got tiles around here somewhere from a short hobby excursion inot mosaics! Very short - really gardening is almost year round for me, so few other interests ever get pursued! But as this is flower related, I would love to give it a shot. I am going to follow you great directions (clipping them right now)some time this weekend on some coreopsis - bright yellow.

WOW, that is amazing!!! Won't the colors fade though? Now, I want to make something for my wife! I'm trying to understand the instructions but my brain isn't working right now. :P

That tray is just beautiful. You could do that for a business!

T

Wow! I am so impressed ... the tray is gorgeous! I wish I was crafty that way. I may need to read up on flower pressing. I've never tried this.

v1rtu0s1ty
If I can be of any help, I will try and answer your questions, ask away or e-mail me
Connie

How did you put the resin over the top? Pouring or brushing? Also, are the sayings and verses stickers and are they underneath the resin or on top? Sorry if I'm asking too many annoying questions. Just curious how you did it.

What a wonderful way to preserve the beauty of your flowers. In a way they are even more lovely because you are displaying the colors and form without the distraction of other plants---just a focus on the delicate blooms with possibly some greenery as accent. Very, very nice work!!

Debby

For this tray, I used reg. printer paper. I printed them out and then sprayed the sheet with a clear finish, any kind will work (this keeps the ink from running.
I then put my verses on with YES Glue and press them down real well with my fingers and I let this dry. Then put yes glue in the area that you want your flowers (I always lay out my flowers and play before hand-so when you start the glueing you know right where it will go. Do not worry if the glue shows even after it dries-when you put the resin on it will not show.
On other trays that are not white, I use clear sticker paper. I seal the ink with a clear spray also. Really need to press this on well. Sticker paper works best on really smooth surface and sometimes wood is not the smooth, but on tiles the sticker paper works very well.
Let everything dry well, blow on the flowers and if I pedal lifts, see if you can get a smidgen of glue under it with a tooth pick (be careful).
When everything is good and dry I then mix my resin and pour. I put on a fairly heavy coat. You can use a brush to move resin into corners and you tilt the tray and it will run in the tilt direction.
You can also add a second coat of resin if you need to.
I use Envirotec from Michael's.
I have used the same thing on wall tiles, but if you do wall tiles you have to keep cleaning the edges for about an hour, as the envirtec will drip over the edge, where with the tray, the sides of the tray stop that part.
Here is one of the tiles I made
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This next one is just flowers very lightly glued (just a tiny spot of glue) to mulberrry paper and placed in a frame with glass.
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Like Trudi said, you could make a business out of the beautiful pressed flower items you make. They're gorgeous.

Thanks so much for sharing :) I love the pics of your other art pieces. Lovely.