I discovered pressed flowers a couple years ago, I believe they were in a photograph laying on the open pages of a book. I felt as though they were a lost art; something no one really makes anymore. In that moment I took it upon myself to bring the art back to life, even though they’re technically dead flowers. (Side note, pressed flowers are “trending” right now, which is funny since no one knew what they were 3 years ago when I stumbled upon them.)

I went into our front yard where my dad has an abundance of flower plants and I snipped the heads off of the pretty ones putting them in a bag to press later. Then I made my way to the back yard to do the same thing hoping my father wouldn’t notice any flowers missing later. I went inside to find a bunch of useless books, what better than America’s truly, Yellow Pages.

Realizing the flowers I picked were crawling with bugs I took them back out onto the deck along with the huge yellow pages books. I sat there and lay out the flowers on pages of the books; I pulled apart some just to press their petals. Once I was finish I stacked them up (to add weight and for easy storage) and realized they were still awfully lumpy. I clearly needed something heavy to place on top of the stack and thinking back now I can’t recall what I used but I remember thinking it was genius.

This was when I noticed the next step was to wait. This was obviously the hardest step of all. I set an alarm on

my phone for 6 weeks later which would be the date I could take the flowers out and see them. (Every time after this first time I only waited 4 weeks because I’m impatient and clearly a rebel.)

Finally my 6 week wait was up, I may have cheated by a couple of days but still I did it! I opened the book and took out the flowers page by page. They were so fragile and delicate… I love it. I found an old shoe box, painted it and made it my box of pressed flowers. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with them yet but I was happy I made them.

I ended up using them for all sorts of things, from decorating wrapping paper on presents to sending them in letters. Most recently I used them in abstract paints and collage pieces. They add life (ironic) and nature to the pieces while also adding a hint of value and delicacy that I don’t think anything else could bring to a piece.