A few weeks back I posted about how to press flowers and promised a tutorial on how to make an inexpensive press. And here we are! J helped me put this one together from scrap wood and cardboard we had around the house. You can definitely make a fancier looking one, but this one was made for $0 which is pretty excellent.

We used two 1/2″ plywood boards and J drilled holes in each of the corners. I recently swapped out the handles on our closet doors with some newer ones I found at GIRO, so we had a drawer full of old ones and thought this would be a good way to put them to use. The longer the screws the thicker you can make the stack of flowers and cardboard.

It’s pretty straightforward from here; put the 4 screws into the holes and then start layering your parchment paper and cardboard in the centre of the board. We had a bunch of cardboard boxes downstairs and I cut them into rectangles that fit between the holes drilled in the board.

Stack everything so you still have room on the screws to place the top board on. 

Tighten the knobs (or bolts if you want to pick those up instead) until the whole thing is sandwiched together, then store it flat somewhere dry. Then you get flowers like these ones!! This is a good press V1.0 for me, I’d love to make a few more. Happy pressing!