When I was a kid, I would tuck flowers into my journals without giving it much thought.
I’d leave them there, unbothered by how they might mark the pages or how the blooms would eventually look.
Back then, I never really had issues—the results were faded and muted, but they were beautiful in their own simple way.
However, as I began incorporating flowers into my art practice, "simple" wasn't enough.
I wanted to master the art and technique of floral preservation.
For a long time, I struggled. I was filling presses only to find that weeks later, most of my work was headed straight for the compost bin.
It was heartbreaking and frustrating.
Eventually, I realized the missing link: the life cycle of the flower.
I was sourcing from local farms in Santa Cruz, but I hadn't accounted for the gap between when the flowers were cut and when they reached my press.
I learned the hard way that a flower’s journey before the press is just as important as its time inside it. If you want to move from "muted" to "masterful," here are the three lessons that changed everything for me:
1. Timing is Everything: The fresher the flower, the better the result. Every hour a flower spends in a vase is an hour it loses the cellular strength needed to hold its color under pressure.
2. Know Your "Peak Bloom For Pressing": Every species is different. Some flowers press best when they are just beginning to open, while others need to be at full maturity. Learning the "sweet spot" for each bloom is a quiet study that pays off in your final results.
3. Flower Pressing Technique - The 24-Hour Check: This was my biggest breakthrough. Some floral preservationists will say don't disturb your flowers or expose them to air within the first 24 hours. I disagree. I learned the hard way by listening to this advice, and I lost a LOT of flowers to mold. Always open your press within the first 24 hours, especially when you're pressing a flower that is new to you. This allows you to check the moisture levels of your paper to prevent mold and gives you one last chance to adjust any petals that shifted as you tightened the bolts.
Pressing is a conversation with nature, and like any good conversation, it requires us to listen—and sometimes, to check back in after a day to see how things are going.
We’ve decided to deepen this conversation with a new challenge coming this May. The truth about flower pressing is that you can’t truly learn it just by reading books or scrolling through beautiful photos. You become more skilled by doing—by getting your hands a little stained, by feeling the tension of the press, and by observing how each petal responds to the paper. This kind of intuition simply takes time and practice.
To help us all grow together, we’re putting together a fun, intentional way to build our floral libraries this coming month. Whether you are a seasoned artist or just starting your first herbarium, we’d love for you to join us as we explore new specimens and share our discoveries.
Ready to start your collection? Visit our #MayFlowersPress page for all the details on how to join the challenge, the prompts we’ll be following, and the beautiful prize package we have waiting for one lucky participant.
Let’s see what we can preserve, together.
Happy pressing,
Charina