Quick & Easy Microwave Flower Pressing: Preserving Blooms in Minutes

Do you want to preserve some of your flowers without dragging out thick books to press them in? Then you’ll be excited to learn about microwave flower pressing! This quick and easy pressed flower method preserves blooms in minutes.

In this blog post, I’ll show you this quick & easy method to press and dry flowers in a microwave in just two minutes. I’ll also share some tips for choosing the right flowers and a fun DIY project using them.

How to Press Flowers in the Microwave

OK, I saw this on Pinterest and thought to myself…no way that works!! I’ve had a few Pinterest fails in my time!! I’m still not over a few of them!! What I liked about this one is that it wouldn’t cost me a dime to give it a try…perfect!!!

01. Gather Flowers to Press

It’s Springtime now, so I went outside and picked the flowers that I had available right now which were mostly violas, pansies, geum, & lavender.

I figured I would try smaller flowers that would press well if I was doing it the old-school way…in a big book.

Common flowers that you can press:

1. Daisies
2. Pansies
3. Roses (small)
4. Marigolds
5. Petunias
6. Larkspur
7. Zinnias
8. Cosmos
9. Verbena
10. Ferns

02. Prepare the Flowers

First, remove all excess leaves from the flowers that you are going to use. Line a dinner plate with a paper towel. Place the flowers on the paper towel. Make sure that they aren’t touching.

I gave the flowers a gentle press to slightly flatten them without damaging the delicate faces.

Once I had the flowers set on the paper towel I used a second paper towel to cover them.

Then I topped the paper towel with another one of my dinner plates to weigh down on the flowers. This helps with the quick microwave pressing of the flowers.

03. Microwave the Flowers

Now I am not going to lie…this just felt plain weird taking the plate of flowers and shoving it into my microwave!!!!!

I checked the flowers every 30 seconds because I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take. Also, I was curious if I would be able to tell when they were “pressed”

It took my microwave 2 minutes to dry the flowers.

The cooking time will definitely depend on how powerful your microwave is and what flowers you are trying to press.

Just check every 30 seconds when you are trying this…you will be able to tell when they are ready ( they have the feel of dried, pressed flowers)

The picture below was at 1 1/2 minutes. They weren’t quite down yet!!

One thing that was quite impressive about using the microwave pressing method was just how vibrant the flowers stayed!! Usually with the traditional method of pressing flowers some of the colors fade away.

Microwave Pressed Flower DIY Project Idea

Now the fun part, making a pretty piece of artwork with the pressed flowers!

Any piece of cardstock or even a thick sheet of drawing paper would work for this; I used a natural cardstock that I had on hand.

I didn’t really have a plan in mind for how I wanted to arrange the pressed flowers…I just went with it and played around with the flowers until I glued them in place.

To secure the flowers to the paper I used a small ( I mean teeny!!) amount of white craft glue on the back of each flower and then pressed it into place on the sheet of paper. A toothpick with glue on the end works for the really small flowers

Making a Frame

This pressed flower art would look beautiful in a floating frame or regular frame. I wanted to try something a little different though.

First, I grabbed a Dollar Tree canvas, flipped it over, and separated the canvas from the staples using a small flathead screwdriver.

Once the canvas was separated from the frame I grabbed a pencil and traced the shape of the frame onto the canvas. Then I cut the excess canvas off.

To attach the pressed flower sheet to the canvas I used spray adhesive. Just a light coat of adhesive over the canvas and then I placed the paper on top and gently smoothed the sheet without disturbing the pressed flowers.

Staining The Frame

Instead of painting or staining the unfinished wood frame from the canvas, I used one of my absolute favorite crafting tricks…RIT fabric dye!!

You heard that right, you can use dark brown Rit fabric dye to “stain” unfinished wood!! It is soooo easy and only takes a few minutes! Bonus, no stinky stain smell to deal with.

In a container big enough to place the frame I added hot water (deep enough to cover the frame) and a few tablespoons of the dye.

Then I stirred the solution and added the frame, I had to use a heavy bowl to weigh the frame down and keep it underwater.

It took about 10 minutes to get the frame to the color that I was going for, then I did a quick rinse of the excess dye and wiped it dry with a paper towel.

You can see how I used this trick on other projects: Wood Bead Wreath and these Christmas Ornaments

Microwave Pressed Flower Art

To attach the frame to the pressed flower canvas I added a strong craft glue to the back of the frame (the side with the staples) and pressed the frame down onto the canvas.

Look at how pretty it turned out!!! This is one project that I will definitely do again!! It was really easy and I had everything on hand to make it.

xo, Jennifer

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