HELP! I need to press/preserve one single solitary flower - what to do????

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

I havent had a flower press since I was a girl, I dont have blotting paper. I want to press one WHITE tulip so want to keep the colour, and not have to spend any money on papers presses etc....

What can I do??????

[colditz]

Put it between two bits of kitchen roll and squish it in a book

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

will that stop it going brown though?

[funnypeculiar]

think tulips won't press well - too fleshy, iykwim...

[funnypeculiar]

sorry, that's not actually help as such is it? Just raining on your parade ...

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

What if i squish it and freeze it at the same time?

Its a white tulip from my neices wedding that i wanted to preserve and stick in a scrap album for her.

[MissGolightly]

I may be wrong but I think you would have to use chemicals to preserve the white...? The browning is just a natural process and will occur whether you use a press or just a heavy book. I think you'd have to use some kind of industrial bleach type stuff to stop it.

I am no expert though, so possibly some clever flower preserver knows a method.

[MissGolightly]

sorry, x posted. Maybe the freezing would help.

Perhaps you could freeze dry it without pressing? Just keep it in an open box in the freezer for approximately a hundred years until the moisture has all gone? I have half a dozen freeze-dried prawns at the bottom of my freezer as proof that the method does work on prawns at least

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

ROFL MissG

I have two....i'll try pressing one and freezing another and i'll let you know the results.

[MissGolightly]

well if it doesn't work then I can let your niece have a dried prawn as a memory of her special day. They are pink and white - very bridal.

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Awww shame. Her theme was ivory and gold....never mind, thanks for the offer

[WK007]

There's some sort of sand-type stuff (sorry, not a flower person but used to see my mum do it) that you can get, where you put the flower into a box and cover it with this stuff which dries it out and preserves it. Can remember white flowers going ivory, but not horrible brown.

[UCM]

two sheets of kitchen roll, in between heavy magazines or books. It should keep the colour, mine do. HTH.

[UCM]

I have been told that dipping in glycerine helps keep colour.

[WK007]

Just checked and oolitic sand was what I was talking about, if that helps

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

aww thank you. Have squished one in kitchen roll in between two place mats with 3 HUGE jars of strawberry jam sat on top.

I have placed the other in tin foil and put it in the freezer.

I have ordered my exploding card boxes and am ready to go