| Pressed Flowers from Riverhaven | Virginia G. McKinnon | Email: virginia@riverhaven.com |
Materials List for Beginners |
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| You will need: | ||||
| Almost everything you will need to press your first flowers and make a
greeting card can be found in the home. The most likely item you may need to
purchase is a good pair of
tweezers. I consider them my most important tool.
When you buy a pair, they should be good quality steel, about 4 1/2" long so
the top rests in the palm; mine have been ground so they are needle-sharp. When a
flower has been pressed, it is as fragile as a thin sugar cookie; handling with
tweezers is less likely to cause damage than fingers might. To protect your picture on its card, you will need a small roll of clear adhesive film, such as "Contac." Most supermarkets stock this for covering cook books and recipes. Static electricity is formed when the backing is pulled away from the plastic film. That static can cause your flowers to reach up to meet the adhesive when applying the film to the card. To help counteract that possibility, crumple a fabric softener sheet (the kind made for the clothes dryer) and rub all over the plastic side before removing the backing |
An old phone book to be your press Scrap computer paper good one side, between which to press flowers Gallon jug of water, well stoppered, for a weight A trayor board to place between the phone book press and water jug, to distribute the pressure evenly. Tweezers for handling pressed material Glue, white household, that dries clear Toothpicks, to apply glue Razor blade, single edge, to trim plastic coating Scissors, small Card stock Contact adhesive film, to protect design Fabric softener sheet. to counteract static |
Office supply stores stock extra smooth paper (for use with color printers,) sometimes packaged with matching envelopes. Some of this is heavy enough to use for flower cards. 8 1/2" x ll" paper when folded twice , or half a sheet folded once, will fit invitation size envelopes (4 3/8" by 5 3/4"). The card or paper needs to be rigid enough to keep the flower arrangement from cracking. I often buy 85 pound paper at an "American Speedy Printing Center ." They stock it for their business cards. It is available in various textures and shades. Measuring 8 1/2" by 11", it can be cut in half to make two single fold cards; they cut it for me. Currently it is less than ten cents a sheet. In quantity of 250, the matching invitation size envelopes cost about seven cents each. Perhaps they would sell a smaller number. I try to shop for this material at their least busy time, feeling that what I need is of nuisance value to them, and a courtesy to me. Single edge razor blades can be found where craft supplies are sold.
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