WAYS OF PRESSING FLOWERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19197, 10 October 1930, Page 10

WAYS OF PRESSING FLOWERS.

(By CYNTHIA AYLEN). There are several methods of pressing flowers. One is to arrange them carefully between sheets of blottingpaper, putting pieces of pasteboard the same size as the paper between each layer, thus: Pasteboard, two sheets of paper, flowers, two more sheets of paper, pasteboard, and so on. Put the layers under a heavy weight, and change the paper every other day until the flowers are dry. Another method is to put the flowers between several sheets of blottingpaper and iron them until the moisture is extracted. The iron must not be too hot, or it will make the flowers brittle and they will break easily when being mounted. If you wish to make a collection or specimens, cards such as are used for painting are the best mounts to use: these can be obtained in all shapes and Gum for fixing purposes can bo made thus: Pour a tablespoonful of boiling water on a teaspoonful of gumarabic, and leave until the latter is dissolved. Use a camel-hair brush to apply the gum and press the flowers lightly on to the card with a soft rag. The names, greetings, or mottoes, can be done with gold paint, ink, or watery colours, the letters first being sketched in with a pencil. To Colour the Flowers. It is possible to colour the flowers before you press them. Place the bio*, soms in solutions of aniline and lar dyes. Aniline-scarlet, dissolved water to al>out the shade of claret, has a very rapid action on grasses and flowers, colouring them pink and scarlet. Indigo-carmine produces beautiful blue tints. The two combined dye various shades of purple, with curious mottled effects, some parts of the flowers becoming pink, and other parts blue and purple. Greens are produced by using the blue dye with yellow. Indigo and cochineal are not very satisfactory for colouring cut flowers.