Franklin County Garden Club member Kristy Rogers presented a program on pressed flowers at the club’s February meeting.
Rogers explained the interesting history of flower pressing, which was a classic Victorian pastime. Flowers were often pressed during the Victorian era to help preserve a memory of a special day.
Pressing flowers can be traced back to the 1500s when the Japanese introduced Oshibana, the art of pressing flowers in a way to create a whole picture.
Actress Grace Kelly enjoyed pressing flowers and wrote a book titled “My Book of Flowers” in 1980.
Her book discloses the secrets of flower pressing, examines the portrayal of flowers through history and discusses the use of flowers as beauty aids and home remedies.
Rogers explained that flower pressing has played an important part in botanical history.
Women and men alike once kept botanical scrapbooks. Travelers and botanists used professional field presses to collect samples which give a historical record of many species of flowers and plants seen as commonplace today.
A delightful hobby
Rogers enjoys her hobby and highly encourages others to give it a try. She explained that the ease in which anyone can press flowers makes it an easy and enjoyable diversion.
Rogers told members she started pressing flowers when the COVID-19 virus first emerged last year.
With a variety of flowers in her lovely, landscaped yard, it was easy to have a supply available to work with.
With practice, Rogers soon discovered that blue, yellow, green and pink flowers press really well and hold their colors, while red and deep purple flowers typically turn darker and white flowers tend to fade to tan or brown.
A simple technique, Rogers said, is to press the colorful sampling between the pages of a big book or other heavy item. Patience is key, however, as it normally takes a couple of weeks before the specimen is dried and ready to incorporate into art work.
Rogers explained that a simple flower press can be made using two pieces of wood, cardboard and screws for tightening and putting pressure on the flower.
A quicker method of drying is to place the flower between white paper such as computer paper and a paper towel and placing it in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds.
Rogers especially enjoys incorporating pansies, ivy leaves, candy tuff, lavender, Johnnie jump ups, mums, and loropetalum flowers into her pieces.
Meticulous care, she said, must be taken in the placement of the pressed pieces to craft a delicate and striking work of art.
Pressed flower art
Rogers displayed several examples of pieces she created, including a flower pressed between glass with a chain attached for hanging, flower card stationery, a stunning picture of her granddaughter with flower borders at the top and bottom and a flower magnet.
She uses craft glue to secure the flowers.
“Kristy’s work was just stunning and beautiful,” F.C. Garden Club President Lola Eslick said.
June Cortner, another club member who enjoys pressing flowers, showed members a colorful glass pendant she made with pressed flowers.
“It was an unusual piece of jewelry and could be worn with many different colored outfits, due to the stunning pristine colors of the flower within,” Eslick noted of the pendant.
Grant awarded
The Franklin County Garden Club recently won a $1,000 National Garden Club Plant America Grant.
“The grant was awarded to our club for a flowerbed at Clark Memorial School as part of the school ground-improvement project, ‘New Face,’” Eslick explained.
Visitors are encouraged to attend a Garden Club meeting and join the club.
The club regularly meets on the second Friday of each month at 1 p.m. at the Winchester Church of Christ basement entrance, 1230 S. College St., Winchester.
Call Eslick for details at 931-967-5311.
February 28, 2021 at 11:00PM
https://www.heraldchronicle.com/news/local/f-c-garden-club-members-learn-about-pressed-flowers/article_ec577450-76c0-11eb-a316-a35a69a930b3.html
F.C. Garden Club members learn about pressed flowers - Winchester Herald Chronicle
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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