Flower Press

Now, you can do more to capture the memories of seeing a beautiful field of flowers than just taking pictures! On your next trip or hike, pick some of your favorite flowers, dry them with a flower press created with your laser and add them to your scrapbook, photo album or craft project.

Collect the flowers you want and layer them between pieces of tissue paper and cardboard, adding as many as layers as you like. Connect the bottom piece of the press and bolt it all down. Day by day tighten the press, and in a few days you will have your dried flowers ready!

Materials:

cardboard
white tissue paper (colored tissue paper may leak dye onto the flower while it is drying)
flat cut +10 roundhead slotted screws +10-32 x 3 (package of 4 or more)
wing nut +10-32 (package of 4 or more)
2 pieces of 14.5" x 9" piece of 1/4" thick wood

Files: Right click on the file below and choose "Save target as." Open the file in CorelDraw 8 or later.
	flowerpress_top.cdr	flowerpress_bottom.cdr	flowerpress_separators.cdr

1)	Start by opening the file flowerpress_top.cdr. You will see a set of six different designs set up on the page.(Figure 1) You can use these designs, or customize them with the text and graphics you prefer.
2)	When you open the file the page will be set up at 14.5" x 9", the size of the piece of wood we are using. Change the size of the page based on the size of the piece of wood you are using.
3)	Send the file to your laser in combined mode so that the pieces will both engrave and cut. We ran this file on a 35 watt Epilog Helix at 100% speed, 100% power for engraving and 13% speed, 92% power, 2500 frequency for cutting.
4)	Next, open the file flowerpress_bottom.cdr (Figure 2). This will make the bottom pieces of your flower press. They are the same size as the top sections, but you will not be engraving a pattern on them, so send them to the laser in vector cutting mode. Note: When done, save the frames left from the wood cut-outs. You will need them for cutting the tissue paper later.
5)	Next, open the file flowerpress_separators.cdr (Figure 3). This file you will have to run multiple times depending on how many flowers you want to place inside your flowerpress.
6)	When cutting your paper and cardboard pieces you will want to place the pieces under the rulers located inside the machine. By lifting the rulers and sliding the paper under them, it will hold the paper in place.
7)	Beginning with the tissue paper, use the wood cut-outs left over from the wood pieces cut out earlier (from your bottom pieces) and place them on top of the tissue paper to help hold the paper in place as you cut. You can use tape to hold down the tissue paper as well. Send the file to the laser in vector mode. On the 35 watt Helix, we ran the file at 20% speed and 25% power. Note: While you should never run the machine unattended, this is especially true with highly flammable materials, like cardboard and paper.
8)	Slide the cardboard you are going to cut under the rulers located inside the machine to help hold it down and use tape for additional support. Send it to the laser in vector mode - on the 35 watt Helix we used 20% speed and 50% power. Now, you have all your pieces as seen in Figure 5.
9)	Now it's time to assemble your flower press! Take four of your screws and place those through the holes of your top piece so the screw head is on the engraving side of the piece. Turn the top over with the screws facing up. Next, place a piece of cardboard on top of the wood, a piece of tissue paper on top of the cardboard, your flower on top of the tissue (see Figures 6 & 7), another piece of tissue and finally another piece of cardboard on top of the tissue paper (see Figure 8). Add as many layers as you want. Then place the bottom piece on top of your last piece of cardboard, take your wing nuts and screw them on tight. As the days go by continue to screw down the wing nuts and this will continue the drying process to ensure the flowers are flat and dry. See Figure 9. You're done! You can add the flowers to your scrapbooks, photo albums, make bookmarks out of them, etc. Use your imagination and have fun!