PRESSED FLOWER PICTURES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 910, 1 March 1930, Page 31

PRESSED FLOWER PICTURES

You can have flowers in your home in the middle of winter if you go about it in the right way. Supposing you make some pressed flower pictures. Pressing flowers is very simple. You need only to place them between sheets of blotting paper or pads of newspapers. letting them lie with a weight on them until all the moisture is absorbed. For experimenting you might use two camera plates that have been washed clean. But they are apt to be small, and your choice of subject necessarily will be limited. Panes of window glass are not hard to come by, but you must be sure that your pairs of panes to be used together are exactly the same size. So far as possible, arrange your flowers as if they were growing, leaving plenty of air at the top. Make trial arrangements on your glass, place the second glass upon the first and hold t lie ill to the light. Add or take away as you will. When you are quite satisfied with the effect, secure the leaves and petals at important spots by the tiniest touch of glue. Be extremely stingy with it, for blobs of glue would show and spoil your picture. All around the edge of the glass lay a line of glue (it will be covered by the binding), press the two pieces of glass together, tie them firmly, and let them dry under a weight. Bind neatly all around with mending tape or passe partout. Hang by looping cord or ribbon near the edge of the glass on each side, tying tightly at the top to keep the glass from slipping, and carry the cords straight up to fasten on the window frame or the wall. A little thought will show you what growing things are best to use for decoration. Thick, woody steins and bunchy flowers should be avoided. Choose only those that come out thin after the moisture is absorbed.