0
items
$0
the pressed garden
AT BLACK CAT FARM WITH flower press studio
workshop details
no experience necessary * just a love for flowers
Day 1: How to Press Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Flowers, Pressed Flower Linen Tea Towel Cyanotype Prep, + Introduction to Pressed Flower Design and Gluing
We will focus on pressing flowers that grow in the USDA Hardiness Zones 3-8 ish (no tropicals). On the first day of the workshop, each student will be greeted with mason jars overflowing with seasonal, locally grown flowers, a homemade flower press, and a small tool kit of preferred tools we use in our everyday pressing. Before diving into pressing the flowers, we will discuss how we make our flower presses and the purpose of the different materials used within the flower press. We will start the day by teaching you how to press flowers that require less skillful technique. Once we work our way through pressing the more simply structured flowers, we will move into a group of flowers that require a more thoughtful technique to achieve a successful press. Finally, we will talk about how to press the more difficult flowers that need a bit more finessing to get right. Once all of the flowers are safely tucked away in the flower presses for the night, each student will be given a packet of pressed flowers to practice how to glue these flowers to paper. Keith will teach the students about best gluing practices before students begin working on their pressed flower design projects. We will provide a large assortment of already pressed flowers to design artwork on handmade paper embedded with wildflower seeds. By the end of day one, you will possess the necessary skills and knowledge to critically think your way through how to prepare a flower to press for any flower that may come across your path.
Day 2: Changing Paper in the Press, Pressing Vegetables, Pressed Flower Linen Tea Towel Cyanotypes, and Design Time
We will begin day 2 with one of our favorite parts of the flower pressing process, and what we consider to be the most important part of pressing flowers; changing the paper in the flower presses. Together, we will open up our flower presses and go through the whole process of changing out the paper. We truly love checking on the presses each day to observe how the flowers are progressing to see if we need to tweak any processes in our drying methods. Once we are finished going through our flower presses, we will have a short session on how to press vegetables. Vegetables tend to be a bit more time-consuming because they release so much moisture, but we will give you an introduction as to how we approach them if pressing vegetables is ever something you’d like to try yourself at home. We will round out the day creating the pressed flower linen tea towel cyanotypes and students can continue to work on their pressed flower designs.
Day 3: Changing Paper in the Press, U Pick Pressed Flower Garden Walk, Design Time
Once again, we will begin day 3 changing out the paper in the press, continuing to discuss what we look out for as we go through our presses. Once we are through checking the presses, we will take a stroll through Black Cat’s garden where each student will have the opportunity to pick an assortment of flowers to then use their pressed flower critical thinking skills to press them. Keith and Rachel will of course be of help! Students can use the remainder of their day to finish their pressed flower art creations before we say our goodbyes.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
How to press a wide variety of flowers from cosmos to dahlias
Best technique for removing moisture from a flower
Different materials that can be used in a flower press
Different techniques for pressing different types of flowers
How to deconstruct flowers if you do not press them whole
What flowers press best deconstructed and what flowers can be pressed whole
Tricks to pressing thick flowers
How to reconstruct a flower when not pressed whole
How to watch over your flowers during the pressing process
How to design with and glue pressed flowers
How to press vegetables and deal with their sometimes excessive moisture content
How to create a pressed flower cyanotype
How to troubleshoot mistakes made while pressing flowers
MATERIALS PROVIDED:
Utilitarian Handmade Flower Press
Pressing Paper
Blotting Paper
Chipboard
Cardboard
Tweezers
Splicing knife
Small bamboo cutting board
Small scissors
Paint brushes
Glue
8.3” x 11.2” 300 gsm Watercolor paper for pressed flower design and for creating cyanotypes
5x7” homemade paper embedded with wildflower seeds for pressed flower design
A plethora of already pressed flowers to design with
WHAT TO BRING:
your love of flowers
flowers from your own garden (completely optional)
your imagination
an open mind and heart
keith Kralik and rachel parri
Our pressed flower adventure started with flowers grown in our backyard urban garden in Denver, CO. In Spring 2020, we started pressing poppies and other wildflowers from seeds we scattered in our yard and Keith learned how to make frames from scrap wood.
In late 2021, we threw together a website for our newly imagined business, plunging ourselves into the world of bridal bouquet preservation, wholly unprepared as to what our first year in business would bring. Our first year was full of many ups and downs, but ultimately our attention to detail and creativity helped us to organically morph into a business that brings both of us a lot of joy with just the right amount of challenges.
Flower Press Studio allows us to get outside in the garden, and get more involved with a local community of makers, florists, and flower farmers to express our authenticity using organic materials grown from our mother earth.
Each year, we collaborate with beautiful, independently owned flower farms that serve their local communities. We preserve their seasonal blooms in the form of pressed flower art. We now reside in the agriculturally rich North Fork Valley in Paonia, CO with our cat, Ivy. When we aren’t pressing flowers, we are working on our land, fixing up our log cabin, and trying to enjoy everything these Colorado mountains have to offer.
Keith and Rachel of Flower Press Studio have done or have collaborations in the works with Hatchett Book Group, Evan Healy, Estée Lauder, The Herbal Academy, Area Environments Wallpaper, Puzzle Michele Wilson, and Cobble Hill Puzzle Company.