What am I planning to do with this beautiful pile of flowers and foliage…why pound them of course!

I don’t know when or where or how I first heard about the technique, I only know I first pounded flowers with my sons when they were both children. Since they are both in their thirties now, that must be near twenty years ago. Yikes!

I love to bring things full circle…this week I pounded flowers with my grandsons.

Start with a pile of beautiful flowers. Choose bright colors and those that are full of moisture. Dried out flowers will not work as well. You will need foliage also…all the different greens you can find. CAUTION: Do not use flowers or foliage that is poisonous. Pounding will release oils and the essence of the flower into the air and possibly onto your skin. Be smart…research any flower you are not sure of as to the degree of toxicity it might contain. Don’t pound any flowers or leaves you are not certain are safe to use.

After I checked what I had in the pile, I removed the trumpet vine foliage and flowers. They can cause contact dermatitis. I also removed my morning glory flower. A good way to choose which  flowers and foliage to use is to check out this list of edible flowers:
Edible Flowers

First step – Tape heavy paper to some kind of stabilizing surface. We used old watercolor boards I had on hand.

Then move on to the fun part – place the flowers in a design, cover with paper, pound with a rubber mallet or an actual hammer. (Strike gently with this one.)

When you remove the cover sheet of paper you will notice some of the petals will stick to the paper. In hindsight I wish we had left all of the petals alone until the flowers were a bit dryer.  When we tried to brush them away they smeared color across the paper. Another way to remove the flowers would be to coax a paintbrush under the pounded petals and gently tease away from the paper.

The flower pounding was much more successful than the foliage pounding. We found that fleshy, juicy flowers worked best. The prettiest color and most consistent performer was the magenta New Guinea Impatien.

Marigold petals also left beautiful color on the paper.

We set the pounded flower paper aside when we were finished. After it dries we will come up with a project to use it in. In the meantime the flowers will fade, and eventually turn a duller shade. This sounds disappointing, but combined with the perfect materials, could  mean an outstanding and crafty creation. Happy Pounding! 🙂