Flower Pressing for herbalists
Lesson IV: Pressed Flower Projects
After learning how to gather, press, and dry herbs, Lesson 4 shifts the focus toward what you can do with them. This section is all about creativity and practicality—turning pressed plants into projects that preserve not only their beauty but also their usefulness as part of an herbalist’s study.
“Pressed flowers are a snapshot in time, and when it comes to craft projects, they can be a thoughtful, nature-inspired way to honor the seasons of life.”
The lesson highlights several project ideas. Pressed flowers can be arranged in journals or botanical notebooks, creating a living record of your foraging and garden harvests. They can be framed for display, used to decorate handmade cards, or layered into bookmarks—simple crafts that allow herbs to tell their story long after they’ve been gathered. More practical uses are suggested too, such as incorporating pressed specimens into educational tools, herbarium sheets, or reference collections for future study and teaching.
The key takeaway is that these projects serve a dual purpose: they’re both artistic expressions and practical records of herbal knowledge. Whether you’re arranging a delicate chamomile sprig into your field journal or creating a wall hanging from echinacea blooms, the act of working with pressed flowers deepens your familiarity with the plants themselves. It’s a way of keeping your connection to the field and forest alive year-round.
This chapter also guides us through several projects that I will be completing in the near future, with the assistance of the giant plant press I created as part of Lesson II: Assembling Your Supplies. These projects include:
Framed Pressed Botanicals
Assembling Your Materia Medica
DIY Jar Labels with Pressed Herbs
Pressed Plants Hanging Wall Calender
Handmade Paper with Pressed Florals
I’ll be completing these projects over the next few weeks and look forward to sharing them with everyone.