How to make pressed leaf and flower artworks
Make these intricate botanical collages using summer leaves and flowers to create a beautiful artwork for your home.
Follow Jennie Ashmore’s simple step-by-step guide and make your own nature-inspired masterpiece using just flowers and leaves, a sharp knife, glue, paper and an old telephone directory or two.
You Will Need
- Flowers and leaves
- A sharp knife
- Glue
- Paper
- An old telephone directory
Step 1
Pick a small selection of flowers and leaves with your hands or a pair of scissors, and place in a small box, where they won’t get bruised. As soon as you get home, start pressing them.
Step 2
Place all your samples on a clean, dry worktop. You can dry leaves and flowers in a purpose-made press (simple ones can be bought online for less than £40). Alternatively…
Step 3
Place specimens in a large book, such as a phone directory or encyclopaedia. Jennie says this makes it quicker and easier to find samples, as there are no bolts to undo as with purpose-made presses.
Step 4
Jennie preserves her samples between two sheets of white paper, gently turns a few pages of the directory over, and repeats the process. Place more heavy books on top to create the required pressure.
Step 5
Label to help you find samples more easily. Leave for about eight weeks in a fairly cool environment, away from direct light. Sketch out your design on paper, and use stiff card to make your templates.
Step 6
Once dried, select the specimens you want to use in your artwork, comparing colours and textures. Cut shapes using a cutting mat, a sharp art knife and your prepared templates.
Step 7
Work on watercolour paper or mounted card (not cartridge paper), arranging the samples with your moistened fingertip (not tweezers – this is fiddly and can damage delicate samples).
Step 8
Attach samples using a tiny blob of glue and a matchstick. A latex-based glue such as Copydex is best because you can rub it off easily if you make a mistake.
Finish the design to your chosen pattern, and leave it for a day or two to allow the glue to dry completely. When your artwork is finished, you can mount and frame it.
