Using a microwave to press plants is an inexact science involving a lot of trial
and error! I wanted to capture the beauty of some Hellebores that were flowering.
I selected a lone flower, a flower with a leaf and a flower with leaves
and a bud. The microwave is a great tool for pressing flowers, but I knew
that this was going to be risky in this case. You can see in the photo below
that some of the end points of the petals have turned brown. This is because
the heat has dried out the points owing to the petals' thinness before the thicker
parts such as stems and buds have sufficiently dried. I had to stop microwaving
after the second short burst and realised that another method would have to be
utilised in order to dry out the material that still held moisture.
So I decided to use silica crystals for the very first time and I wish that I'd used
this method many years before now. I placed the flowers in a press and then
placed the press on top of about an inch of silica crystals in a tub and then put
the lid on to ensure that it stayed airtight. The press was left in for a couple of
days before I checked on the flowers' progress. The lone flower and flower
with a leaf had become lovely and dry without being brittle, but the bud attached
to the other flower still felt damp. I placed this in the silica crystals as it was, face
down and carefully put more silica crystals on top to completely cover it.
I am hoping that in 2-3 days' time this will be dry (and not brittle) and ready for
me to use in one of my flower creations.
If you would like to experiment with pressing flowers and leaves in the microwave
then I recommend using the Microfleur. This flower press has been created especially
for use in the microwave. A great tool for the flower presser, you can buy one from Microfleur's website*.
*If you purchase the Microfleur using this link, I get a small percentage.