Explore every episode of the podcast The Pressed Flower Academy and The Looked After Home/Life

In this episode I take another inspired walk around the grounds after it’s been freshly cut to take note, make a benchmark as we head into the end of this beautiful year… just after full moon.

They’re blooming again and it’s our second season together… me, and these blooms from the Flamboyant tree at the press!

Introduction and history and a new month which means an entire 4 weeks to do this magical work all over again… growing, harvesting, filling and unloading the presses. I’m happy to share what I know and am learning here.

And how they impact the looked after life and home…

Learn w me as I show you and share on my paper making practice

I make a batch of Butterfly pea floral paper botanically dyed w blue and oranges extracted from blooms harvested and dried from the garden.

March in Freeport after the fires and after the grounds have been cut… sharing on how The Pressed Flower (nurturing feminine energy) and The looked after Home/ Life find common place… home making, care talking, stewardship, adulting… NFTs, UN Goal 10, Inequalities etc

Pressed the flowers? What’s next?
Design
For me for the most part design starts first and early on… either dreamed up before even seeing the blooms or leaves that end in a creation or upon sighting of the specimens, which then shapes, guide and leads their own design story.

After spending time daily on my pressing practice my process has elevating to studying, getting to know each flower, building an apothecary and with each pressed flower attempting to mimic preserving them as they exist in the flower patch I gather them from, along the drive where they line and in nature as they grow.

a brief recap of the series so far 

let’s chat annuals, biennials, and perennials 

Pressed flowers were a simple art form that can easily be traced back to ancient Egypt. In the 1500’s Oshibana (the art of pressing flowers in a way to create a whole picture) was meticulous and skilled – with the art becoming fashionable in Victorian England, once trade with the Japanese people increased.

Got the flowers? What’s next?

Decide if you’d  be pressing using specific tools you’ve got to shop for, source and organize or books from your book shelf and what you’ve got on hand

What’s your why? Where would you be using your pressed flowers? Why are you pressing these flowers?

Understand just for the pure joy of it and exploration is enough.

Grab your book, lay it flat open and start at the back. The perfect book is one w pages that are not glossy or shiny and allow you to lay the book completely flat when open….If using a wooden flower press grab the bottom face of your press, place on a flat surface and ensure bolts are in place and face up ready to receive the top layer when finished.

Hi guys let’s press some flowers… in this lecture I want to focus on pressing flowers and plants parts during, between and through the seasons…and assisting our specimens before they spending time in the press… we experience rainy and dry seasons here and this was one of my early and the most profound lesson during the rainy season when I tried to use techniques that worked in the dry season… mistakes lead to huge lessons and growth.

Hi guys let’s press some flowers… in this lecture I want to focus on using the right tools for the job… appreciating the fact that creating and making as we are where we are and with what we have on hand can only assist us this much and the next best step would be to focus on using the right tools for the job… we’ve already discussed the Wooden Flower Press and it’s accessories but let’s get into the area of interest that get in to contact with the flowers and plant parts being pressed: your hands, scissors and other tools. Ensure at all times: clean, dry and acid free. Anything used should follow this guide and you’d be well on your way to having a selection of tools fit for use and purpose for the job at hand

Hi guys let’s reveal some flowers… in this lecture I want to focus the lesson I’d be teaching on the technique of using the right tools for the job…as a form of mastery and skill building and elevating technique, improving results etc. all while appreciating the fact that creating and making as we are, where we are and with what we have on hand can only assist us this much and the next best step would be to focus on using the right tools for the job… we’ve already discussed using a book and the Wooden Flower Press and it’s accessories but let’s get into the area of interest that get into contact with the flowers and plant parts being pressed: your hands, scissors and other tools. Ensure at all times: clean, dry and acid free. Anything used should follow this guide and you’d be well on your way to having a selection of tools fit for use and purpose for the job at hand

Hi guys let’s reveal some flowers… in this lecture I want to focus the lesson the art or the practice of creating and making as we are, where we are and with what we have on hand and observing the results, taking note of mistakes and learnings as a form of process and success!

Hi guys let’s reveal some flowers… in this lecture I want to focus the lesson I’d be teaching on the technique of allowing nature to be your guide during your pressing practice and the feature flower is the cosmos.

The lesson here covers pressing flowers and plants parts during, between and through the seasons…and assisting our specimens before they spending time in the press… we experience rainy and dry seasons here and this was one of my early and the most profound lesson during the rainy season when I tried to use techniques that worked in the dry season… mistakes lead to huge lessons and growth.

 I want to focus on the art or the practice of creating and making as we are where we are and with what we have on hand!

In this lecture I introduce you to the pressing of Cosmos in the garden and we would spend some time getting to know them.. I’d be teaching on the technique of allowing nature to be your guide in this lecture..

It’s really quiet in the gardens at the moment no new planting acTivities other than simply grooming, pruning, watering and plant preservation works are ongoing dAily. So were taking time to go back to Basics and EXplore all about the flower

Storing my pressed flowers

I walk you through the layers of the press continuing w the filler and flower layer sheets…

I walk you through the layers of the press and begin w the first layer, the cardboard layer

So happy that you’ve chosen me to guide on this therapeutic craft of pressing flowers.

Enroll in the Pressed Flower Academy and be sure to sign up for any class or coaching that interests you.

I’VE MADE AND USE MY OWN FLOWER PRESSES

BECAUSE I HAD SPECIFIC NEEDS. NEEDS I DISCOVERED OVER TIME DURING

MY PRACTICE THAT I WANTED TO MEET.

INITIALLY I STARTED MY FLOWER AND LEAF

PRESSING PRACTICE USING MY LARGE FACED,

UNIVERSITY SCRAP PHOTO BOOK…THEN GRADUATED TO A HAND MADE PRESS, I DRILLED AND INSTALLED MYSELF.

I WANTED A SINGLE PRESS BUT ENDED UP W 12 FEET LENGTHS OF WOOD AND AS A RESULT ENDED UP WITH 6 BEAUTIFUL

FLOWER PRESSES THAT I STILL USE TODAY.

IN LIEU OF AMAZON, ONLINE SHOPPING AND IMPORTING AND THE DREADED WAIT, I CHOSE

TO REDUCE MY DELAYED GRATIFICATION AND VENTURED TO THE LOCAL HARDWARE,

SHOPPED AROUND AND SORT ASSISTANCE TO HAVE THE LUMBER CUT AS EXPERTLY AS POSSIBLE.

An early morning walk of the grounds w me and then sit to coffee as we formulate our garden task list for the day and navigate stewardship as the month ends and begins