Pressed Flowers | ASMR Summer Tutorial (cottagecore DIY, soft spoken)

Good evening,

and welcome to this new tutorial video.

It is summer here in France

and I wanted to make something a bit colorful

so tonight I will show you

how to press flowers

and how to use them to make

DIY / decorative objetcs.

It is a very relaxing activity

and you can do it with a child as well.

So first let's have a look at what we will need

and as you will see

it doesn't require a lot of tools.

Twizzers,

scissors,

a couple of brushes,

things you usually have around your home.

Thick paper or newspaper sheets

and a few pieces of cardboard.

And of course something to press the flowers.

So I have a few presses here,

2 I bought

and 1 I made myself,

using 2 wooden boards

and a few screws.

It cost me about 5 euros.

And if you don't have

or if you don't want to make a press.

You can simply use a heavy book

like "The lord of the rings" (JRR Tolkien)

or "Middlemarch" (G. Eliot).

But I really like the look

of a hand crafted press.

These are such beautiful items.

So this one is full of flowers

I put in about 2 weeks ago.

Quite large,

and so beautiful.

We can read "herbarium".

And this one is empty right now,

we're going to use it in a moment.

And when buying it there was an option

for a custom phrase or name on it,

and I chose the very first lines

of one of my favorite poems,

"The lady of Shalott" by Alfred Tennyson.

"On either side the river lie

long fields of barley and of rye

that clothe the wold and meet the sky".

So now I call it the Shalott press.

And of course we are going to need

fresh flowers.

So these come from my garden

and my neighbour's garden.

And since we had a very unusual heatwave here

there are not as many as I hoped

but that should do.

So let's have a look at what we have here

which ones are my favorites

and which ones may be the best for pressing.

So the best flowers to start with

are usually the flat faced flowers

such as hydrangea.

If it can be found in your area.

They are naturally quite flat

and are so beautiful when dried.

Very easy to put in a press

or between 2 pages of a book.

And these come in various colors

like blue,

pink,

white,

purple,

and sometimes almost black.

These are some of my favorites as well :

nigellas, also known as

"love-in-a-mist", what a romantic name.

Unfortunately they are very very very small

because as I said

most of the flowers died,

so I could only find tiny ones.

What else...

These are larger :

cosmos.

Very classic.

Another classic one and easy to find is

rose.

So here I have rose petals.

You can dry the whole flower

but it's not an easy one

and I haven't tried it yet.

What else...

I tried to mostly pick flowers

that are similar to those that are in the press here.

So you can see the result.

Geranium.

And of course you can also press leaves :

herb robert,

I have fern and

perovskia as well.

There it is.

So this is perovskia,

also known as russian sage

but in french we call it "sauge d'Afghanistan",

so Afghanistan's sage.

So let's not wait too long

because we need these

to stay as fresh as possible.

So I'm going to use this square press.

And I'm going to remove the wing nuts

and the washers.

Washers are optional

but if you have soft wood like this

it will prevent the nut from damaging it.

And here is an important point :

always have the screws already set

in the lower part

when you put the different layers of flowers

so you just have to put the upper part

when you're finished.

If you try to put the screws at the end

it might be difficult.

So in the press we have cardboard

and some kind of blotting paper

but if you don't have blotting paper

newspaper sheets will do.

Same if you're using a book.

This is plain cardboard.

It doesn't have to be thick

but rigid enough.

So I have 3 layers here

but you can add as many as you'd like

as long as your screws are long enough.

So let's start with

the thinest ones :

leaves.

And always try to put flowers of similar thickness

on each layer

to ensure that each flower

is pressed equally.

Perovskia,

Male fern.

Let's cut this.

Alright.

Let's put the second sheet of paper

and a piece of cardboard.

And now we can do the second layer.

So, sheet of paper

and I'm going to put

the hydrangeas.

So first, blue ones.

And...

Some pink.

Alright.

Now let's put geraniums,

with a very bright color.

And...

Rose petals.

Very bright color as well.

And this is our second layer.

Alright.

And let's take care of the last one.

So

let's use the tiny nigellas.

So this one a bit tricky

because the heart of the flower

is quite intricate and very thick

so what I'm going to do

is to cut the center.

Do it slowly, take your time.

And try to keep the flower as beautiful as possible.

There.

And now it will be easier.

So, another thick one... Cosmos.

So I'm going to keep the flower only.

And...

Another one.

And let's finish with

a beautiful one : agapanthus.

A bit thick as well so

it will be perfect for this third layer.

Alright.

Perfect.

And now it is time

to press all these little treasures.

So I'm going to put back the upper part

the washers and the wing nuts.

And if there are thick flowers

try to tighten the screws a bit more

1 or 2 days later

when the flowers have already

started to dry and lost volume

so they will remain properly pressed.

And now we are going to wait

2 to 3 weeks,

nothing more to do.

Right.

And now we are going to have a look

at the pressed flowers

I made 20 days ago.

This is exciting.

Alright.

Reveal time.

So, let' see...

Alright.

I put a fern on the top of the layers.

As you can see, I don't know if you see it

there's a bit of powder

because of the spores.

This is male fern.

And it dried beautifully.

That's great.

So let's see the first layer.

That's beautiful.

I'm going to put them on the paper here.

So here we have rose petals,

very delicate.

And

for the most fragile ones

you can use a small brush

and

gently remove it from the paper.

Just like this.

So you won't damage the flower.

Alright.

So these are geraniums and hydrangeas.

Alright.

Let's put them on the paper.

They all kept their color here

and that's great

but some may have lost their color

we will see

and it's ok, it happens.

These turned out a bit paler.

So second layer.

Oh no.

So, this kind of thing can happen sometimes.

This cosmos is not going to be

easy to remove.

Alright, it's very very delicate,

but it's so beautiful.

This one is smaller, let's use the brush.

Perfect.

I love it,

beautiful.

And this is a maple leaf,

very easy to press.

So, the next layer...

with leaves.

So these are cosmos leaves

and this is perovskia.

Almost like lace,

this is cute.

When dried it's very breakable

so be very gentle when you remove them

from the paper.

And finally, last layer.

Oh this is so beautiful.

So these are nigellas,

this is the normal size.

This is so beautiful.

I'm so happy with them.

Alright, that's great.

And now with these

I'm going to make a bookmark

which is probably the easiest DIY

to start with

because bookmarks are usually

kept in books

so your flowers will stay in shape.

For that I will use

cardboard paper

that I've previously decorated.

I'm going to use a brush like...

this one.

And some kind of water based

napkin glue ?

I'm not sure this is the word in english.

So

you can make one at home as well

with flour and water

I will leave the recipe in the decription

but for this I wanted a brighter finish.

So here I have linen paper

but it's a bit too thick.

And 2 pieces of cardboard paper

one with cotton paper on it

and this one with cotton paper flakes.

I like it but my husband finds it...

weird ?

I'm going to use this one.

And be sure it's water resistant

or else it will warp

when applying the glue.

So now this is the funniest part

I'm going to arrrange the flowers

and leaves

on the bookmark

until I'm happy with the pattern.

So let's start.

Let's see...

I don't know

I think just one nigella is nice.

It's elegant.

But I can add a bit of red

to stand out.

Let's try something else.

This is nice as well.

What else could we make..?

With a cosmos maybe.

Everything looks nice

so I will just have to decide.

Maybe with leaves.

And cosmos leaves.

Alright, I think my favorite version is

with the nigella only.

And I will use the others

for more bookmarks

or maybe candles.

This one is a bit smaller so

may be better.

Yes.

I'm going to keep it simple.

And now I'm going to glue the flower.

And this is where you want to be gentle.

You can use a small stick like this.

Here we go.

It is white right now

but it will dry clear.

Alright.

I'm going to gently press with my finger.

And then I will cut

what's not on the bookmark.

And I'm going to apply

a final layer of glue

on all of the bookmark

to secure the flower.

You can also laminate it if you want

with a specific tool.

And that will preserve the flowers much longer

but I don't have this kind of machine

and I am not very fond of plastic so...

Here we go.

Again, don't worry,

it will dry clear.

Alright.

So now allow it to dry for a few minutes.

And there it is.

I'm quite happy with it.

I will put it in the book

I'm currently reading

which is a fairy tales book

from the 17th century.

You can apply this method

on other items like

postcards, candles,

these are great gift ideas.

And you can put pressed flowers

on food as well

like cakes or biscuits,

but just be sure you're using

edible flowers

and sugar instead of glue.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial

and as always

I wish you a very good night.