Preserving summer

Seeking joy

I remember the first time I saw a pressed flower. I found it, quite by accident, inside a book I picked up in my grandmother’s home. I was probably around 6 years old, but possibly younger. I remember staring at it for ages wondering how it had got there! I don’t remember any flower presses in her home but I do remember that flower. My mum is a great gardener and I used to press flowers in books all the time and no one else seemed to be doing it so it became a secret hobby. As a teenager the hobby disappeared and didn’t resurface until my mid 20s but since then it has been a constant in my life. It is my ‘go to’ thing when I need to step off the busy world we all live in.

I do it the old fashioned way in a flower press, well actually lots of flower presses. I have turned it into a small creative business. It takes considerable time to press flowers and even longer to wait for them to dry out. I always look upon the task as my antidote to a world that moves too fast for me. Seeking out slow creativity has become a passion of mine and yesterday I discovered that my wee Etsy store occupies the first 8 slots for this important task. Be it a physical product or a digital download, I am committed to creativity that asks us to slow down. There is much in the virtual world about slow living but less about how you achieve it. My daughter and I,

Slow Scottish Stories

, love the term ‘gentle living’ and flower pressing fits that as well as long as you only pick a very few from each location.

Over 20 years ago I began drying flowers and petals as well and I now use them in lots of my creative projects.

At this time of year I am usually in full flower preserving mode but it hasn’t stopped raining for days so I am having to choose my moments. Nevertheless, my home has that wonderful scent of summer. I dry by hanging bunches but I also have a homemade drying rack. All you need for that is an old picture frame, some muslin and a staple gun.

I would highly recommend both flower pressing and drying as activities that are capable of speaking to our sense of wellbeing. Over the past few years so many wee preserved blooms from the island have found new homes. I think there is a sense of nostalgia about these activities that make us feel comfortable and contented. We can travel a great distance through our lives with feelings of comfort and cotentedness in our souls. I wonder what summer creative activity gives you a sense of wellbeing?