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It's one of the most common questions we hear—and honestly, it doesn't have a one-size-fits-all answer. But that's the fun part. Here's everything you need to know. |
If your pressed petals are coming out crinkled instead of beautifully flat, it often has to do with how much pressure you're applying in your flower press.
When you're just starting out with pressing flowers, what's happening in the press can feel like a mystery.
But the good news is, the more you work with pressing flowers, the more familiar you will be with the fine art and nuance of traditional flower pressing.
Once you understand what's happening inside that press, it starts to feel intuitive.
Before we dive in, let's take a step back: getting a great press isn't just about pressure. There are actually four things working together:
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1
Press pressure
How tightly you tighten — what this whole post is about
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2
Even thickness
Group flowers of similar thickness together on the same page
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3
Paper changes
Fresh paper pulls moisture out faster and more evenly
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4
Flower prep
How you prepare blooms before they go in the press)
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The golden rule: start gentle, build gradually
Fresh flowers hold a lot of moisture. Think about a cut flower left out of water overnight — it gets droopy, but the petals are still soft and pliable, not shriveled.
That pliability is actually your friend in the early days of pressing.
Why? Because if you're opening your press within the first day to check it, and you find some blooms have a crease where you don't intend one, you can still go back and reshape that petal before it's too late.
So remember this rule: You want to remove moisture from your flower as quickly but as gently as possible.
On day one, we recommend tightening the press to what we call palm pressure — gently rest your palm on top of the press and tighten it to just that weight. That's it.
Check in throughout the first 24-72 hours and tighten a little as needed, but don't crank it all the way down.
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Our go-to technique Rest your palm flat on the top of the press and tighten the bolts until you feel that gentle resistance. That's your starting point. Check back every few hours and nudge it a little tighter as the day goes on. |
What happens if you tighten too much, too soon?
When you crank a press down tight on day one, you're forcing all that moisture out of the flower at once—faster than the pressing paper can absorb it. The result? The flower essentially sits in a wet environment, which can cause premature browning and even bruising of the petals.
Think of dropping an apple and watching it bruise from the impact. Flowers behave similarly when too much pressure is applied while they're still moisture-heavy.
Voluptuous blooms like peonies, dahlias, and lisianthus are especially sensitive to this — they really benefit from releasing their moisture slowly and gently.
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Watch out for Brown patches or soft bruising on petals after pressing often mean the press was closed too tight in the first 24–48 hours. Ease up at the start and give the flower room to breathe.) |
What happens if you leave it too loose for too long?
On the other end of the spectrum, a press that stays too loose lets air in between the pressing paper and your flowers. Without enough pressure, the petals can shrivel up like a raisin as they dry — and no amount of tightening later will smooth them back out.
It's a balance, and it takes a little finesse to find the sweet spot. But you will find it — and the more you press, the more naturally it comes.
Your day-by-day tightening guide (Create This in Canva)
The sunflower exception
Sunflowers play by slightly different rules. After the first few days of flattening their centers, you'll want to increase pressure more assertively.
As everything dries and shrinks, the petals need to be held firmly between the front and back of the sunflower center — otherwise they'll fall out when you lift the flower from the paper. Think of the center acting as a natural "glue" trapping the petals in place: no pressure means no grip.
Give yourself grace, give your flowers time.
Pressing is a slow, attentive craft — and that's exactly what makes it so rewarding. A slightly crinkled cosmos is still a beautiful cosmos, and mixing petals of different textures is what gives a finished piece its character and life. Don't let the pursuit of the perfectly flat petal get in the way of enjoying the process.
The more you press, the more you'll develop a feel for your flowers, your press, and the rhythms of the process. We're still learning too, and that's what makes it such a wonderful craft to grow with.
Keep pressing — and keep growing. 🌸