by Cathy Monrad
Create an everlasting bouquet with these pressed flower coasters. You can use pre-pressed flowers and leaves, or press your own. Search the Internet for techniques and tutorials on the subject. Blossoms and leaves that are nearly paper-thin after pressing, such as pansies, violas, and some herbs and ferns, are best. Glass can be cut to size at your local hardware store, sometimes free of charge. To clean finished coasters, use glass cleaner and paper towel; do not submerge coasters in water; the copper tape edge is not watertight.
MATERIALS PER COASTER
Two 4-inch square pieces of 2.0mm thick glass
Pressed pansies, or other very flat flowers or leaves
1/4-inch wide copper tape
Non-water-based clear-drying craft glue
Glass cleaner
Paper towel
TOOLS
Tweezers
Toothpick
Scissors
Popsicle stick
1. Clean glass pieces thoroughly with glass cleaner and paper towel.
2. Use tweezers to arrange pressed flowers/leaves in desired layout on one piece of glass.
3. Remove a flower/leaf with tweezers. Use toothpick to dab a bit of glue on glass, then carefully replace flower/leaf.
4. Repeat step three until all foliage is adhered to glass.
5. Allow glue to dry completely according to glue manufacturer’s instructions.
6. Gently place second piece of glass on top of flowers, aligning edges exactly.
7. Use scissors to cut copper tape to a 16.-inch length, then fold back the first inch or so of backing to expose adhesive.
8. Tilt glass and flower “sandwich” upright while keeping edges aligned. Visually center tape on glass edge with an overlap of 1/4-inch before starting corner. Press down tape with exposed adhesive, first on the top edge, then on the side. Continue to wrap tape around entire perimeter of coaster, peeling off backing as you go, and keeping glass pressed together.
9. Use a popsicle stick to smooth tape along edges, then use to press down and smooth tape overhang on top and bottom of coaster.
Cathy Monrad is the graphic designer and the self-proclaimed garden crafter for the Upstate Gardners’ Journal.
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