How to Make an Easy Flower Print

Flower art is one type of display that never really goes out of style. Simple and classy, artistic work with flowers has been a favorite for many decorators and interior designers for years. This can fall under the category of silk floral arrangements, dried flower wreathes and bouquets, or even pressed flowers. For the more personally artistic decorator, floral works also include flower photographs, sketches, and paintings. However, here is a simple art project that can yield a beautiful floral print if done correctly that really does not require a very "artistic touch" in order to look great. In fact, this craft project is so simple that even a child could create a very frame-able piece of artwork with it.

For this craft project you will need to gather a variety of freshly picked flowers that are very colorful. Pansies seem to be the best flower to do this project with, but other colored flower varieties such as Bachelor's Buttons or buttercups will work fine as well. Additionally, adding a few interestingly designed leaves will be a great way to add variety to your floral piece. You will also need a piece of clean, white (or at least a very lightly neutrally colored) fabric; the size of the piece of fabric is entirely up to you-make it is large or small as you'd like your final piece to be. (However, it is useful to cut your fabric a little bit larger so that you have room to cleanly fold back excess fabric if you plan on framing the arrangement.) The fabric should also be a fairly thin type-a simple cotton blend will work great. Finally, you will also need a simple hammer for this project; you may also want to grab a board to provide some type of flat surface that you feel comfortable hammering away on.

To make this floral decoration, arrange the flowers and leaves on the fabric in whatever way you wish to have them appear in your final project. Place the flowers face side down (for pansies this means having the pansy's face flat against the fabric, with the back of the flower where the stem attaches facing you). Place the fabric on the board and use the hammer to gently pound into the flowers and leaves so that their natural colors and patterns are beat into the fabric. You may find it helpful to place a piece of wax paper between the flowers and the hammer, as the flowers may tend to stick to the hammer when beaten, and this can make it harder to transfer the shape of the flower onto the fabric piece. If you have correctly beaten the flowers into the fabric, the imprint of the flower's shape and color should now be preserved in the fabric piece which is now ready to be framed.