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Elizabeth's Flowers
Microfleur Flower Press
Tutorial:
How to press Crocus Flowers
The Microfleur Microwave flower press beautifully captures the delicate beauty of spring crocuses. There are, however, a few tricks to ensure success.
1.
Harvesting
Crocus Flowers
One of the most endearing characteristics of crocuses is that they tend to grow in clumps. While this may make for a beautiful sight, it makes harvesting them challenging.
When cutting an individual crocus, try to cut as near to the bottom of the pearly white stem as you can. Also, take great care to avoid snipping the tips of any of the foliage at this point, because you don't want to damage the beautifully striped leaves.
After you have finished harvesting the flowers, go back and snip 2-3 leaves for every flower that you picked. Cut them as close to the ground as you can, however be sure to cut only 1-2 leaves from each individual plant. It is important to not harvest too many leaves, because the bulbs rely on the leaves to provide nourishment for next year's flowers.
2.
Trimming the Crocus Flowers
Before microwaving the crocuses in the Microfleur, it's a good idea to trim off all of the stamen as well as the piston. As you will see, the stamen are loaded with bright yellow pollen, which tends to stain anything it touches, and it can cause the flower to turn brown in the microwave.
However, be sure to save the vivid orange pistil. It retains every bit of its bold color after being pressed in the microwave, and it adds a nice splash of color to the pressed crocus.
3. 
Microwaving
with the Microfleur Flower Press
Once the crocuses have been trimmed, lay them out on the Microfleur pad, making sure that there is ample room between each one.
The key to pressing crocuses successfully is to microwave them in a series of short bursts. I generally start out with three sessions of 20 seconds each at full power, and then I let the pads "rest" and cool down for a few minutes. Finally, I microwave them for two additional 30 second bursts, and they're done. I sometimes remove the leaves and pistils before the last two microwave sessions, as they tend to dry more quickly than the flowers do.
4. Enjoy!
To use
your pressed crocus flowers, just glue them down as you would any other
flower. Despite their delicate appearance, they hold up extremely
well, and maintain their bright color. I tend to use mine
exclusively for my
Spring Crocus Cards, however
I've seen them used on handmade garden journal covers, in scrapbooks,
and collages...even on a lampshade! However you decide to use
them, I know you'll find that pressing them and capturing their lasting beauty
will be well worth the effort.
"The beauty of each blossom speaks silently of God's love"
Elizabeth's Flowers
pressed flower art creations can also be found at these
fine stores and galleries...
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Elizabeth’s Flowers. All rights reserved.