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Flower press

duration: 20 - 45 minutes

age: from 7 years

Make a flower press to create flower art with real flowers.

Flower press

tools

  • regular or scrollsaw
  • drill
  • 8mm drill bit
  • ruler
  • pencil
  • knife or scissors

materials

  • Wood (5mm thick)
  • M6x40mm bolts (4x)
  • M6 nuts (4x)
  • M6 wingnuts(4x)
  • cardboard
  • paper
  • flowers
  • painters tape

downloads

step 1 - Cut the wood

  • Using the ruler draw 2 squares of 10 by 10 cm. (4 by 4 inches)
  • Cut out the 2 squares using the saw.

step 2 - Drill the holes

  • When drilling, always make sure your hair or clothing (hoody strings) can not reach the drill bit.
  • On one of the wooden squares, mark 4 points approximately 1 cm (1/2 inch) from the corners
  • Place the marked wooden square on top of the other one, and tape em together using the painters tape. This will make sure the squares will not move while drilling.
  • Drill holes trough both planks on the spots you marked.

step 3 - Attach the bolts

  • Place 4 bolts trough the holes and fasten them using the nuts

step 4 - Cutting the cardboard

  • When using a knife, multiple light passes will have a better result than one deep pass.
  • Using the planks as template, mark out 5 or more squares on your cardboard.
  • Cut out the squares using the knife or scissors.
  • Cut off the corners to make room for the bolts.

step 5 - Cutting the paper

  • Cut out the same shape as the cardboard.
  • If you have 5 cardboard pieces, you will need 6 pieces of paper.

step 6 - Place your flowers

  • Now stack everything in your flower press: cardboard, paper, flower, paper. Repeat this until all the cardboard pieces are used.
  • Place the second wooden square on top and tighten everything well with the wingnuts.

step 7 - Waiting.... and done!

  • After about a week, you can remove the flowers. Thicker flowers may need a bit more time.