Creativity In A Nutshell

The best part of making your own beads is being able to used recycled and found objects - including stuff you find in your own backyard. You can, of course, take this practice to what I consider the ultimate maximum. However, you can also just stick with drying leaves and flowers. I chose to do the latter of the two, since bugs kind of freak me out, and I really don't want to kill a spider just so I can make a necklace.

Anyways, here are some quick steps to making your own dried/pressed flowers, rather than spending the big bucks in the scrapbook aisle.

Stay tuned for a great project using these pressed flowers :)

Ingredients

• Either a flower press (I used to have one made of two pieces of wood and four bolts) Or a big book
• Wax Paper (if you're using a book)
• Flowers 
• Scissors

Procedure

• First go out and collect your flowers. As you experiment with drying your own flowers, you will notice that some will retain their color better than others. I am sure there is some scientific reason for this... .... which I couldn't tell you :)

• Next, cut off each flowers, leaving as little step as possible, while allowing the flower to remain intact.
• Place the flowers onto a strip of wax paper, and fold into a little packet

• Stick the packet into a book - feel free to fill up the book with as many of these packets as you want. Leave the book in a dry place for a couple weeks. Voila! You will then have fantastic pressed flowers for your beading delight - all your own!

 

Additional Information:
http://www.preservedgardens.com/how-to-press.htm
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/14402-how-to-press-flowers