  SHOP AND/OR READ HERE:
|
GENESSA -- PRESSED FLOWERS! GENESSA's Lady G is a pressed-flower virgin. Well, okay, almost a virgin; over the years, Lionheart has gifted her with roses, and she always takes on and places it between the pages of her commonplace book. The book is not heavy enough, nor the roses delicate enough, for this to work well. The petals tend to separate. However, having glanced at a website or two on the topic of pressing flowers, Lady G recently felt confident enough to try again. She went outside and picked some delicate little white flowers, tiny things (no clue what they are, though) and some of the leaves from the plant that bore them; she also collected some larger leaves, which looked like exaggerated mint, but when pressed released no minty fragrance. No matter; they would do. She ripped in half some coffee filters of the wrong shape to use in her overworked coffee maker (she will acquired another, one day, as can you if you visit GENESSA's COFFEE, TEA AND TISANE page) and carefully placed two flowers and a small leaf between the halves. She repeated this with the other leaves and more ripped-apart coffee filters. She stacked these (they were still very flat) under a box of... she's not sure what, next to the microwave in her messy kitchen. Two days have passed. She intends to wait five more. She will report her progress here. (She will make no progress, however, if she doesn't somehow locate the tweezers she used to use in her beading work, and acquire the thin plastic covering she will need to turn her pressed flowers into a greeting card.) Seven days later: Lady G cheated and looked yesterday. They were plenty flat but didn't look dry. How dry are they supposed to look anyway? She looked again today; no change. She will give them one more day and then decide what she is going to make of these. One day later: She took them out from under the box (not phone books, as are recommended) and they're flat, but are they dry? She can't tell! What are they supposed to feel like? Look like? Smell like? She set them aside, still in their coffee filters, and demanded that Lionheart drive her to the local drugstore, where she purchased a pair of tweezers, a big sheet of pale blue posterboard and some mucilage. She doesn't know what kind of plastic is needed for covering her artwork once it's done. On the way out of the parking lot of the strip mall of which the drugstore is a part, Lady G spotted some clusters of lovely (and appropriately tiny!) purple blossoms, and yelled for Lionheart to stop the car. She fairly leapt out and gathered a bunch, and some leaves as well. When they got home, Lady G plucked some ladyfern from the garden to dry as well, and, knowing they'd be too thick, some dandelions, just to see what would go wrong. She has now put all the new goodies into coffee filters, of which she is now running out, and since the box is not heavy enough for the amount she now has, she is using two phone books. She'll check it all in a week. Many weeks later: tomorrow is Lionheart's birthday. Lady G still hasn't got any plastic with which to cover the flowers but has proceeded, in Lionheart's absence (he is out for the day, conveniently enough) to cut two approximately eight-and-a-half-by-eleven-inch sections of the big blue posterboard and glue dried flowers onto each. Her first attempt, well, to put it succinctly, sucked. She didn't arrange the flowers in advance and ended up with a haphazard, crowded page. The second one is better arranged, although not gorgeous, but Lady G had a problem, even using tweezers, with bits breaking off the flowers and leaves as she tried to glue them. The glue bottle didn't work well either; she ended up having to apply the glue with a toothpick, which was not terribly effective. She now wishes she had gotten something other than posterboard, and used glue that promised to dry clear, as she thought this kind might (she is, she fears, wrong about that) because the glue, even lightly applied, soaked through and stained the posterboard. Lionheart has promised to try to stop by Office Max on his way home, and phone from there so that Lady G can ask if they have what she needs in the way of plastic. Michael's didn't, and wasn't sure what would work, but suggested page protectors, to be found at an office supply store. Lady G was surprised that a crafts store wouldn't be the place to go. Had she more time, she would have ordered online from one of her fine sponsors, but she procrastinated! Learn from Lady G's mistakes, of which she is sure she will make many more. Also coming soon: some merchandise related to pressed flowers.
 |
Contact GENESSA:General email:  Custom Search SHOP HERE WITH |
