Making a Plant Press
DIY Make a Plant Press
This year we enjoy a rather long Indian Summer. In October There Were Still Many Plants in Bloom and the Leaves Slowly Started to Color. I wanted to make a plant press with the little man, to store all those beautiful things.
That way we can Later on Craft Something Nice With It.
DIY Make a Plant Press
Making a Plant Press is something some of you may have done at school. I Remember Doing It Once in High School. Although I really didn't think it was cool at the time, it is a really fun DIY to do with your kid(s).
After I explained to the little guy that you can use a plant press to dry flowers and leaves he was excited too.
After getting all the stuff together we got to work.
What you need?
- 2 square wooden plates (plywood) or 25 x 25 centimeters
- 4 long bolts (5 cm)
- 4 butterfly bolts
- drill
- paint
- tassels
- cardboard (old box)
- kitchenpaper
How to proceed?
To start you need two square plates. I cut two 25 by 25 centimeter squares out of plywood. You can also have this done in many hardware stores, which saves you again.
The little man got to decorate one plate with paint. I used ordinary poster paint from IKEA and let my toddler do his own thing.
Since we will eventually put leaves and flowers in the plant press, he made beautiful flowers on top. I finished it off with some varnish, but this is not necessary.
After the sheet had dried well it was time to make the holes. The plant press must be able to be closed tightly. This way you squeeze the moisture out of the plant and it also becomes flat.
On every corner there should be a hole to put the bolt through. To avoid leaving a pen on the wood, I put a piece of washi tape on each corner and put a cross on it. This way the holes will fit together.
In both squares I made four holes. I did this one at a time to make sure it would be neat and tidy.
To give the, to be dried, leaves and flowers enough pressure and make them nice and flat you need cardboard. I cut several 23 by 23 centimeter squares out of an old cardboard box. I cut off every corner so the squares would fit exactly between the bolts without shifting too much. ”
I did the same with the sheets of kitchen paper. They ensure that the moisture from the leaves and flowers is well absorbed.
And then we could put our picked flowers and leaves in between the sheets of kitchen paper and the pieces of cardboard.
Leave the flowers and plants alone so they have time to dry properly. It's okay to take a peek in between to replace any damp kitchen papers with dry ones.
When your leaves are well dried you can make a nice craft with them of course. 😉
Have you ever dried flowers or leaves with your child(ren)? How did they like that?
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