Pressing paper for your Flowers

Pressing paper is the absorbent paper with which the flowers come into direct contact while they are being pressed.

For this purpose I use clean newsprint – the unprinted and unused version of newspaper that is used by newspaper printers. You can get unused newsprint very cheaply from your local newspaper – they often let you have the leftover paper on the rolls that can no longer be accessed by their machines.

Make sure that this paper is the non-shiny or non-glossy variety as it has to be absorbent. The flowers are placed directly onto this paper.

If you can’t get newsprint you will have to use blotting paper which I don’t particularly like. I know that many flower pressers swear by blotting paper but I don’t use it for a number of reasons. Firstly, I find the surface too hairy. Some blotting paper has a slightly hairy or rough finish that can stick to the fine paper-thin petals of your pressed flowers.

This makes it difficult to lift them off the paper without breaking the fragile petals. Secondly, blotting paper is quite expensive and when you have to use a lot – and you will need quite a lot of it if you take your pressing seriously – it adds up.

Clean newsprint is a much better option. Unprinted newsprint is perfect for pressing  but it has to be the non-glossy version so that it has the right texture and absorbency. Also it is plentiful and you won’t object to using clean sheets every time rather than re-using old blotting paper which is a carrier of mould and other nasties that are anathema to your fragile pressed flowers.

The bottom line is that paper has to be absorbent enough to take up the moisture from the flower.  But it must be resistant enough to release the flowers and not hang onto them.

It is important to prepare your sheets of paper well beforehand so that you have a stack of ready made paper folders whenever you want to press your flowers.

To prepare the paper folders cut each sheet of paper so that it can be folded in half like a book. It should look exactly like the simple cardboard folders that are used in offices for holding documents.

When you press the flowers you open up the folder, place the flowers on one side of the paper near you and then fold the rest of the paper over the flowers to cover them and close it like a book.

Place a double sheet of old newspaper over this and then weigh it down with a plywood board.