If you want to ensure your newly dried flowers last even longer, spray them with a surface sealer and leave them to dry. Asides from the microwave itself, this method does also require additional equipment such as silica sand and a microwave safe container you won't be using for food again. Silica Sand for Drying Flowers This method, while fast, does yield a slightly different result to the others. Rather than press the flowers entirely flat, the pressed flowers can come out with ripples in them; rather like water damaged paper. Different parchment papers can yield slightly different results, but the rippling effect is often hard to avoid. The uneven heat distribution from the iron can also lead to uneven bleaching of the flowers, with some areas losing far more colour than others.

Catherine’s top tip:"Some people make a really massive mistake of thinking they have to push loads of weight down on the flowers to make it press well, but that’s not the case – in fact, you can really damage the flowers doing that. Just put enough gentle pressure to flatten the petals without squashing them. Placing a pile of books on top is lovely but you don’t need to sit on the pile of books." Designing the flowers Pressed flowers also have a wonderful aesthetic quality. Unlike dried flowers, pressed flowers lose their natural shape and instead become almost entirely flat. Depending on the flower and the method used, pressed flowers can become literally paper thin, and almost translucent. Third stanza is the continuation of how along with the flowers, the water in the lake too moved, as if they were competing with each other in the dance. But the glee flowers won and the sparkling lake lost. Finding their playfulness, the author couldn’t stop himself from joining their company. The author kept staring at both of them, wondering how his sad mood changed into a happy one. The daffodils and lake’s dance bought him a wealth that he couldn’t deny. The mesmerizing flowers gained a place in his heart he couldn’t understand but felt.All you need is a phone book and some plain newsprint paper you should be able to get from any art shop. Get a large plastic container with a lid and fill the bottom of it with a quarter of an inch of silica gel. Silica gel is quite expensive, however if, after use, you place it in a glass baking dish and heat it in the oven at 275°F you will be able to use it. Ahead of aquilegia the crocus is the very first flower I put in my flower press in spring. Small and unassuming crocuses look great displayed in large multiples arranged in rows or randomly. Conclusion This process does take a couple of days, but the flowers look delightful while drying and can add a wonderful old-world cottage feel to your home. Many learn how to dry flowers using this method because the process itself is so charming.

In the first stanza, the writer finds himself as a lonely cloud floating over the valley. The author describes himself ‘lonely’ because his brother John was dead, leaving him alone and sad. Then he encountered the yellow daffodils beside the lake. The flowers were swaying here and there due to the heavy breeze, as if they were dancing happily. For that reason I would recommend drying flowers like daffodils (and roses, sunflowers, lilacs and dahlias), using a desiccant. Personification and Simile: I wander’d lonely as a cloud– The first line makes nice use of personification and simile. The poet assumes himself to be a cloud (simile) floating in the sky. When Wordsworth says in the second line ‘I’ (poet as a cloud) look down at the valleys and mountains and appreciate the daffodils; it’s the personification, where an inanimate object (cloud) possesses the quality of a human enabling it to see the daffodils. If however you think your life is just too busy right now for flower pressing, herbarium-themed pressed flower prints would add instant sophistication to your walls. What Glue To Use With Kids

What to do with pressed flowers and leaves

Cut the stem as close to the daffodil as possible, this will mean it lays flatter when you are pressing it.

If you want to press a succulent plant or something with a large stem, use kitchen roll to absorb the extra moisture that comes out on the first day, and throw it away. Ditto if you are trying to press multiple specimens at once. Place the kitchen roll so that it is an extra layer outside of the newspaper. You could also consider cutting the plant stem in half. Many guides will recommend only using heavy books, but we’ve found that you can use almost any book - just place heavier books on top! Just make sure the weight is evenly distributed across the area of the book being used to press.

Preserving Your Bouquet: Which Method Is Best? 

As a rule of thumb, air drying seems to work well for smaller flowers, but as flowers get larger it can shrivel them. There are two main methods you can use to preserve your flowers: drying and pressing. Drying a flower will retain its shape while removing moisture that would lead to decomposition. Pressing flowers removes this moisture by literally pressing it out of the flower, leaving them paper thin. The waves beside them danced– Along with flowers, waves too are gifted with the human quality to dance.

Flowers with a large bud such as peonies or roses will massively benefit from being dried rather than pressed as they are more likely to distort in the pressing process. The same is true for flowers such as hydrangeas. Any flower with a large bloom made up of lots of small petals will be difficult to arrange into a press without misshaping some of the petals. Vase drying is the ideal method for larger blooms as you’ll need to manipulate them less and they can basically dry themselves! This method can be great for achieving a little more vibrancy than simply air drying, while still being very low effort. All you need to do is leave the stems in a few inches of water and leave them until dry. You may have had this accidentally happen with a decorative bouquet left unattended. The warm air of the dehydrator creates a wonderful fluffy effect for dried thistles and cornflowers. If you’re using your flowers in food preparation or decoration, this method is recommended (and of course, make sure your flowers are fit for consumption before trying this!) Drying Flowers in a VaseThis method works well with blooms with lots of petals such as dahlias, carnations, geraniums, and marigolds. By nesting them in silica gel or sand, the petals are not as disturbed throughout the drying process. The silica will need to be brushed out of the flowers, so anything with very delicate petals or a deep centre will make this process more difficult. If you're trying to press a bulkier plant, add extra paper and card to ensure that every part of the plant and flower is being directly pressed, to avoid bits shrivelling up.