DIY: Flower Press - Gardenista
When I was little, my aunt would mail me pressed violets in letters (remember letters?) Carl Linneaus said every botanist should have a herbarium because a real flower is always better than an illustration, and perhaps my violets—very brittle now, under yellowed tape—are as close as I will come. Images via YedOmi, except where noted. All you need to make one are two book-size wooden boards, a drill, four nuts and bolts, and two kinds of paper—cardboard and white—to sandwich your specimens. Drill holes in the four corners of each board. Trim the paper’s cornersso it won’t catch on the bolts. Layer the paper and flowers—alternating cardboard with white paper and flowers—between the pieces of wood. Screw the boards tightly together. Let the flowers dry for two months or so before removing.