We Pressed Flowers 4 Different Ways... Here's What Happened.

Hi there, welcome to the farm. I'm going to have some fun today. I'm going to be pressing these beautiful flowers so they're preserved forever. Well, one of the first things I have to do is go pick some flowers. I'm going to pick pretty ones that I think will press well. And then I'm going to experiment with drying them four different ways. And we're going to see which one goes best, which one I like best. So I'm anxious to have some pretty pressed flowers. I'm just going to walk around the garden and see what flowers I think might look pretty pressed. I'm going to experiment with a bunch of them. Before I even get in the garden, columbine. I think columbine would be gorgeous. So I'm going to pick several of these guys. Some of the most perfect looking ones. I'll have to decide. I guess there's different ways you can press flowers. Face down, from the side. I'll try a couple different methods. Okay, so I have some columbine. This is like playtime. And I think the leaves, this is my baptistia. I think the leaves of this could be really pretty pressed. Some of the smaller leaves. Like look, they're like a series of three leaves. I just think they're pretty. I think I could do some individually and some as threes. So I'm going to try to do some of these. Some of the smaller ones. Do the leaves dry the same as the flower? Yep, they'll press and dry. And when you do things like the craft things, a lot of people have leaves to put around the flower. So I'll need some leaves. So I'll try a couple interesting kinds of leaves. Now we'll head in the garden. Okay. This is cilantro that's gone to flower. And I do that on purpose. I harvested some in the first batch. I'm going to let it go to seed. Shake the seeds on the bed and start a whole new second crop. But I'm just going to get some of these and see how they look pressed. So that's an annual then? Yes, cilantro is an annual. I don't know if it's a perennial in warm climates or not, but it's definitely an annual here. I'm just going to take a big chunk. Because I'll probably be cutting off the individual little flower things to do. Flower. So, you know, if you're a flower person, it's hard to imagine a better day. Being in the garden, it's a cool morning. Picking flowers. And you're just picking samples of each, you know. One reason I want to try pressed flowers. I love flowers and I love making things like crafts. And to do crafts with pressed flowers, I think are gorgeous. There's so many things you can do. So I also have a dill back here that's blooming. I'm going to try some dill things. Dill blossoms. Oh, look at that. Yeah, I'll probably try to do each one individually. I think that could be, I just don't know how these are going to turn out. I'll see which ones are the prettiest. Then I'll know what I want to do. And I just saw some blossoms here that just started. I have borage. And they have these amazing blue flowers. I love borage flowers. Beautiful. I only have three so far, but I'm going to do them. They are so pretty. Almost lost that guy. Okay, so a few borage flowers. Now I want some lavender. Picking lavender is always fun. I just want to keep smelling it. I'm going to pick some that are more open and some that are still kind of closed. I don't know which ones will look prettier pressed. So I'll try some of both and see how they turn out. But I think lavender would be amazing. Okay, after lavender, I want to find some nasturtium. I love the color of this nasturtium. I don't know how to do when it's dried. But I also want to do some leaves. Nasturtium leaves are beautiful. So I'm going to try to pick some of the smaller nasturtium leaves. And some of the best looking nasturtium blossoms. That color is amazing. But I don't, I might not say that color when it's pressed though. It might get real faded. They chain, they seem to change when they're being pressed. So I'll try some and see how they do. And then some smaller-ish leaves. Now I see next to you with this, the raised bed. How are you liking that so far? I love it. I want more. Most of the Johnny Jumps-ups have bloomed and been done. These must have been tucked away and shaded. So they're behind. But I think they're going to be stunning pressed. So I'll pick all I can out of here. Next year, I hope to do a ton of these in the spring when they're everywhere. I have a question for you. Yes. You seem to have an extra glow about you this morning. Is that because you're with me all morning? Or because you're doing the flowers? You and flowers. It doesn't get any better, right? I was wondering how you were going to answer that delicate question. I like you both. Well, that's awesome. I like you too, dear. Good. This is actually our loofah tunnel. In a couple months, it'll be covered green solid with vines and loofahs. Last year, we got, what, 150 loofahs? Yeah. I don't think I planted quite as many plants. So hopefully, we'll get quite that many. What's that on your right shoulder? It's a sunflower that just came up there. I didn't plant it, but it just came up there. Bird must have dropped it. And you don't have the heart to take it out. No, and I think it'd be pretty at the edge of the loofah tunnel. OK. You know, I like it. These nasturtium I just spotted. I love this color. You know, they're like multi-colored. So I'm going to get some of those to try too. And then I think it's on to snapdragons. All right. OK, I look at all the different colors. And I want to try this dark red. And I picked this guy because he's already bending. He won't be as great for cut flower. But I think that color might hold up OK. We'll see. But I want a red one and one of these. I don't know how their color will change. But they are the most stunning color. Yeah. I mean, that's definitely my favorite snapdragon of all of them. Now it's on to yarrow. I love yarrow as a cut flower and as a dried flower. I'm anxious to see how it looks pressed. And I have a bunch of different colors. So I'm going to pick a little bit of each color and see how they turn out. And I'm picking them long because I want the leaves. I want to press some of the leaves out too. And maybe some stems with leaves. I don't know. I'm wary about anything that's too thick. I've seen people press thick things on videos. But since I'm just starting, I'm going to stick with things I think will press and dry pretty easily and not mold. So now I just have to pick all the different colors. This is brussel sprouts, believe it or not. It's one I've never seen before. I planted brussel sprouts four years ago. This was a frilly one. I've never seen this before. And I think it bolted. At least it looks like it to me. But the flowers are really pretty. So I'm going to go ahead and take advantage of them and try to see if I can press some. So this is weird. This is a weird plant. Pretty, but weird. This isn't actually queen ann's lace. I think it's in the same family. I actually plant them for cut flowers. They're really pretty in arrangements. A nice filler. But I think each one of those little individual florets will look pretty pressed. So I'll try one of those too. There's just so much to try. So this is the beautiful climbing rose we've had last year. And I'm not going to be brave enough to try a whole rose. But I think I'm going to take one of these and press some rose petals. Can't hurt to try. I learned one lesson already. I shouldn't have picked so many flowers at once. Some of them wilt pretty quickly. A lot of them don't, but a couple do. That cilantro is wilting like crazy. So I'm going to get it cut and pressed real quick and then work on other stuff. And I'm going to do it in my press and in a book just to see if they do any differently. Do you have to have a flower press? And tomorrow I actually just ordered a thing you put in the microwave. Some kind of device to press flowers in the microwave. We'll see how they turn out. But I'll get these cilantro laid out. And all you do in your press flowers is you put the flowers between a... I have blotting paper. I have a piece of cardboard, blotting paper, flowers, blotting paper. So there's blotting paper on each side of the flowers. And then another layer of cardboard. And you start all over with more blotting paper, more flowers. And you just keep layering it in the press. So that's the flower press down below. Yes. And I'll show you in the end how it actually works. I want to try to get these laid out and slightly pushed down. So they're kind of how I think I want them to look. This is a total experiment. I'm sure I'll learn a lot as I go. But I don't know how the cilantro flowers are going to look. We'll see. They're cute. Now see what they look like when they're pressed. And I'm doing somewhere. I try to get them laid down and showing. But I'll just get it from the side smashed. And I have some from in the book and some in the press. Let's see the book. Can you push the flowers forward? I'm holding my book open. Okay. The book won't stay open. Okay. So now I will just put another piece of blotting paper over that one. And get ready for the next batch. So can you use blotting paper more than one time? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now different people say different things. I'm going to learn. Some people say, especially with thick flowers, you have to change the paper after 48 hours. None of these are super thick. So I don't think I'm going to have to do that. So we'll see. See there I put the blotting paper down. Another piece of cardboard on top of that. And blotting paper for the next batch. Where did you get all that cardboard? That came with the press. Okay. It came with all that stuff. Now the blotting paper I did buy separate. It came with some blotting paper, but it was real thin. This is a little bit thicker, seemingly more absorbent. So I don't know. I'm going to try it. Now what else looks like it's wilting? I don't know. Yarrow leaves are wilting. The flowers won't wilt fast because you can actually dry them. So they'll hold on for a while. And my bolted Brussels sprouts look like they're going to wilt. So I'm just going to lay some yarrow leaves out here. Some big ones, little ones, all different sizes. I think they're going to be pre-pressed. I don't know. I'm going to find out. And you're supposed to lay them out so they're not touching each other. A couple more little ones in here. And then I'll put some in the book. Yeah, to do this right, I would probably pick two or three flowers. Come in, put them in the press. Go out and pick two or three more flowers. Put them in the press. Not pick so many. I just got so excited picking flowers. I couldn't stop. Okay. Now for the book. I'll put some in the book. I can't wait to see how this turns out. I mean, some people do press like whole roses and all kinds of... That just seems a little tricky for me. I'm trying to pick things I think are easy to press. I'm curious to see that once they're dried, are you going to do anything with them? That's what I want to see. Oh yeah, I want to make some stuff. You're going to make stuff. Yeah. I mean, people make cards, lanterns, just artwork framed. I love flowers, so this seems like a win-win. So that's the leaves of the yarrow. Let me get another page on top of that. Okay, so you're just pressing it. And then get the book over it. And this one, I just put a piece of paper, the blotting paper. So tell me, when you do this, does it have any damage to the book? Does anything leak through to the pages? If I did something really heavy, it probably would like a rose. These don't, I don't think I have enough moisture in that it would really leak through. Okay. I don't think. We'll find out. But if you did... This isn't a book I'm super concerned about, so... Well, what a fun sentimental thing to see a little purple stain or something in your book. It would be pretty, you know. Yeah, that you pressed the flower in there. I think that'd be neat. Now I think I'll try my bolted Brussels sprouts. And then some in the book. I want to see side-by-side ones that are pressed in the book versus ones that are pressed in the press. Is there any difference? Now some of these have pretty thick stems at the bottom, so I'm going to break off the thick part. Just keep the thin part. I think they'll press better thin. Yeah. Now this is the dill flowers. I think they are going to be gorgeous. Yeah. We'll find out. They smell... Oh man, they smell like dill. That is one weird looking flower though. It's beautiful. I'm sure I'll get my favorites. Things I really like how they look pressed and things I don't like. Okay, here's going to be a weird analogy. Okay. Do you remember the movie Star Wars? I think it was the very first one and they were up in space and somewhere and they had a scene in some kind of a place with... it was like a restaurant or a bar scene or something with all kinds of really strange alien creatures. Yeah, beings, yeah. Yeah. If you looked on the table in that place, that's the flower I'd expect to be there. Now how about that for odd commentary? That's an odd commentary, but that might make sense in a weird way. I think I'm going to like these. Now these are the leaves from the baptistia. With like little three sections of leaves. And to pick off some of the smallest ones. I think that would be beautiful. Some people I've seen press roses, they actually take it completely apart and then reassemble it when they press it. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I don't know that I'm going to be up for all that. I want to put it in a book, smash it and press it. So if you think about the process, smashing it I guess keeps it a consistent form. Pressing it dries it out. Yeah. Okay, I'm curious to see how the colors. That's what I want to see. One video I saw said that the microwave ones keep the color better. Really? I don't know, we're going to find that out. Oh, and there's another way too where you press it with an iron. I guess blotting paper and then press it with an iron. I'm going to try all the different methods, see what looks the best. And then like for an impatient person, are the fast ones actually good enough? If I could get pressed flowers like really fast, that would be really amazing. So I'll smash all the ones I picked, see how they turn out. So of all the flowers that you have here, which one is your favorite when it's fresh? Oh, when it's fresh, probably the snapdragons. Okay. They're just beautiful. Yeah. You know, I love that one out in the garden where the bumblebee was climbing in and out. You know, that was pretty cool. I bet in our viewers we'd have hundreds of different opinions and answers on the favorite flower and one to press. I was going to say, yes, something I want to know, what is your favorite flower to press? People that press flowers, what do you think works best? What should I never, ever try? You know, give me hints on this because this is all new to me. I'm just kind of experimenting. I know people have done almost every flower known to man, but I think some of them are pretty hard. So I'm trying to do ones I think are easy, tentatively easy. You know, everybody has people in their family that it's difficult to buy a gift for because they have everything. Yeah. You could do an amazing sentimental thing with a friend. I mean, even like just buying a simple book or something they might want to read, but pick a, bring a flower along and press it. And that would really be a neat sentimental thing to go along with a gift. I've seen also one craft. I saw somebody did like pictures, but they had were like things spelled out by flowers, by dried flowers, like mom, M-O-M, all with flowers, you know, glued onto something with a frame over it. But that could be cool. You know, the book's loaded with flowers. I'm going to put two 10 pound weights on it and sit it somewhere out of the way. They can be pressing. And this press I bought on Amazon, it'd be easy to make just a piece of wood, big screws, holes on a top piece. So they go down on the screws, if you can find the right hole, and then little wing nuts to make them tight. Where's that one at? That'll be real easy for you. Yeah. I just say, hey, make me a flower press. But then you could make it bigger, you know, because this, you can fit a fair amount of it. You could make it even bigger. Did you hear how easy she said that? Yeah. Hey, just make me a flower press. He has all those woodworking tools now. He always likes working in the workshop, making wood stuff. So I think this would be a great project. Don't you? Yeah. Screw these on tight. I'll screw them really tight. And we'll see how things do. But basically putting everything to the bed for a couple weeks and hopefully have some really pretty fresh flowers. Because that all takes a couple weeks. Well, some things will take two weeks. Some things take three or four weeks. And if you do something really thick, it can take four plus weeks, maybe five or six weeks. So I don't know. We're going to see how long everything takes. I'll be checking the book periodically because it's not going to be much different, I don't think, than this. OK. And once I think they're all dry, I'll get them all out. We'll see how they look. All right. Now you're really cranking it down, huh? Yep. They're getting down pretty tight. And who knows? I might even check it in a day or two. If they start to dry out, I might push it down a little bit more. I say it's a little experiment, but I want it to be pretty firm and tight so they are really getting smushed. Well, the flowers are still pressing in the book and the press, and I've been experimenting with the one in the microwave and with the iron. And the microwave, I'm pretty pumped with. It really works well. I only got a small press because we have a smaller microwave, and I just wanted to see if it worked. But it's very simple. There's a thick cloth and then a thin, like, a cotton cloth. And it's just a matter of sandwiching the flowers between the cotton cloth, putting another heavy one over, and you sandwich it. I mean, it's a pretty little device. It works well. And then you clamp it shut, and it's pressing the flower. And then you just put it in the microwave for bursts. My microwave goes 30 seconds automatically, so I just do it for 30 seconds, take it out, let it cool, put it back in for 30 seconds, and eventually they're pressed. So it's pretty easy, but some take longer than others. But it's really, I could have pressed flowers within, like, five minutes. So I did this for 30 seconds. I flipped it over in the microwave, did it another 30 seconds. And this thing's cool. It has little holes in it for the moisture to come out. But I've still been taking it apart and just taking the heavy cloth off and letting some of the moisture evaporate off the small cloth. So I let it sit for a couple minutes, put it back together, and put it back in for 30 seconds and 30 seconds. And then I just do it enough cycles till I think it's dry and pressed enough. After I do a couple cycles in the microwave and letting it cool, I'm actually going to peel it back and just see how it looks. And it's looking pretty good. But I can tell it's not completely dry, not completely done yet. So I'll probably give it another two cycles. And then I'll show you where I do like the iron. I might not have the iron technique down, but I was not thrilled with the iron. First of all, it seemed like it took forever to dry. You're just supposed to hold the iron on for, like, a certain number of seconds, over and over. And it just seemed like it didn't dry right. Or one of them, it almost looks like I burned it. I don't know. I did it exactly like the other ones, but it turned out brown. But the one flower, my impatience, I can't get them off of here. They are stuck tight. They don't come off. So I don't like the iron, except for one thing. I did experiment with the lavender. When it comes out of the microwave press, it's pressed. But it seems like if I do it with the iron, it makes it just a little bit, little bit thinner. When I rub my finger over it, it just felt a little bit thinner. So after it goes through the microwave press, I do take the iron and go over a few times. Might be in my imagination, but it seems like it makes it a little bit tight. That's pretty thin. So I'm happy with how the microwave press works. The ones that are in the book and the other press probably need another week or two. I've been looking at the ones in the book. I have been sneaking peeks, and they're close. Not quite there yet. So in a week or two, then I'm going to pull them out, and we're going to compare some of the same ones I did in the book and the press with the ones I did in the microwave and see how they differ. It's been four weeks since we put these in the book and the flower press, and we actually tried to take them out a week ago, and they weren't quite ready. So hopefully they're ready now because I can't wait any longer. So how did you know they weren't ready? They were sticking, and you could tell they were still not really dried. What, they were sticking to the paper? Sticking to the blotting paper. I just could not get them off. They were ripping and tearing. I'll show you a video. It was pretty pathetic. But that's what happens when you're impatient. So now we'll take them out of here and see how they are. Here goes nothing. Let's check the first layer, and that is lavender. Oh, it's so pretty. That is so pretty. And yes, it lifts right off the paper. Oh, nice. They are beautiful. And they're not, like, wilty. They're firm. No, they're finished. So they're gorgeous. Now, I'm not expecting to see big differences between the press and the book. I mean, it does basically the same thing. But here's the book. Beautiful, perfect lavender. So that worked beautifully. Lavender is definitely one I want to keep pressing. The press should have more pressure on it, though. And I think for thicker, my guess would be that thicker plants were going to do a little better if they're under more pressure. That's my guess. Depends how much weight you put on the book. That's true. What do we have on, 20 pounds, I think? OK. OK, let's see what's next. See how we're looking. This is exciting. OK, these are some of the ones that were not ready. I couldn't get off. They were tearing. Cross your fingers. It's petunias and iris, I think. I forget what else they are. It's a thing. If they don't press exactly like they look, you can't really tell what they are. OK. Hey, success. So if you're trying to get it out of your book and they're sticking like crazy, they're probably not done. That's where I have really liked the microwave press. Because it's like, you can have, oh, he tore a little bit. You have to have patience for this. I don't know if I'm cut out for this. But on the microwave, you can have pressed flowers in 5 to 10 minutes, you know? So right now, I'm a big fan of the microwave. But if you're doing a whole bunch, like right now, phlox are blooming. My beautiful hot pink phlox. I want to do a million of them. I think they would be amazing. Now, the petunia here that I didn't keep a stem on, he's hard to get off here. But it's just hard to grab a hold of him. Oh, he's coming, but I don't know. I might have to pick flowers that don't need as much patience. We'll see. I hate to interrupt you here, Brenda, but looking through the camera, something is different about this time shooting than what we did last week. I just can't figure what it is. Yeah, right. I was trying to grow my hair long. I felt like a change, but it was driving me crazy. So a few nights ago, I'm like, Donnie, who happens to be my exclusive hairstylist, he started cutting my hair during COVID. He keeps cutting it. He does a great job. So I'm like, cut it off. Just cut it all off. And he did. And I feel much lighter and happy. I don't think I'm a long-haired person. I think I'm a short-haired person. So you have him booked out for years to come, don't you? Yes. He's not available to anybody else. He's just my hairdresser, my hairstylist. I don't know if I like being called a stylist. I'll cut your hair, but I won't be called a stylist. What are you, Mike Barber? See, I wouldn't stick it. I don't know. He's tough. And the book, same thing. Let's see how they do. Oh, yeah, petunias. Oh, look at that. I think petunias are going to be hard. They are very delicate and very fine. Oh, he's coming off there. Nice. So I don't know. Well, I'm going to take a lot of these out, and I'll show you side by side how they look between the book and the press, if there's really any difference. But this is cool. I can see through the blotting paper what's next. It's the Johnny Jump Ups. I think I might be more excited about them than anything. Is that the nickname for them, or? I don't know what the real name is. Violas? They're gorgeous. Oh, my gosh. They're gorgeous. Oh, man, are they pretty. Now, I wonder if I can get them off without tearing them. And these were the leaves of something. I don't know what they were leaves from, but they're perfect. Johnny Jump Ups. Oh, the stems are sticking up. Yeah. Wow. Beautiful Johnny Jump Up. Oh, that's exciting. And I just saw a plant in the garden this morning. This is getting toward the middle of July. They're gone by now, but it must have been some in the shade or that bloomed late or something, because I saw one more plant out there today. I need to go get all the blossoms I can get. That's one thing. I wish I'd started this in like April, because there's some amazing early spring flowers that would have pressed great, but they're gone. So I'm already looking forward to next spring to getting the early flowers. So I think you need to get flowers all season long to get all the different ones that press really well. You know what I'm looking forward to? What are you looking forward to? What are you going to do with all of these dried flowers? I have all kinds of ideas. Oh, really? Yeah, I just have to experiment and see what works. Can't wait to see. But they are so, these Johnny Jump Ups, they might be my favorite. They're so pretty. And the colors, that's what's different. The colors on them are exactly what they were when I put them in. Like that petunias that are purple now, they were pink, hot pink. So some colors, they keep their colors, and some don't. Johnny Jump Ups, they look just like they did when I put them in. I would have never guessed that the flowers would be as vibrant as when they were fresh. But not all of them. I would have thought that they'd have turned 25 or 30% brown. Yeah, no. No, they don't turn brown, but they do. Some of them do change color. Those petunias are. And I did phlox, we tried a little bit in the microwave, and they turned purple, my hot pink phlox. So I don't know. Hot pink doesn't seem to save very well. Anybody else use hot pink? But I'll get the rest of these out, and we'll see what we have. I'm very excited by how they turned out. I have them all out of the press, out of the book. I don't see a difference between those two methods. The microwave I do, it's very handy, and they turn out slightly different. They're beautiful. I mean, I think they keep their color a little better in the microwave. I will go to link to the thing I've used, the press I've used for the microwave. But there's other ones out there. This is just the one I happened to pick. I picked a small one because I have a small microwave. That would be the only challenge. I can only do so many flowers in a small space. But right now, I'm experimenting with a Queen Anne's Lace, and it's working. In the microwave, I'm going to experiment with a few other different flowers. But overall, I'm thrilled. I have to figure out a way to store these things to keep them dry and protected, and I have to figure out what I'm going to make. So I will bring you back in a couple of weeks and show you if I make anything pretty that turns out really nice, and I'll show you if things turn out weird too. But for today, thanks for joining me as I tried pressing flowers. I love it. We'll see you in our next video. Bye-bye.