In-person course
in Amersham Maker & location details

Gather & Keep - Early Spring Flower Pressing Workshop

Description

As we reach the Spring Equinox (Friday 20th March) the hours of daylight and dark re-balance once again and our evenings begin to lengthen, paving the way for a return to being outside, our hands in the soil planting and the earth waking up after her long dark winter. As our attention turns to the abundant seasons ahead, now is a really great time to start planning for what blooms and botanicals you want to pick, harvest and preserve in the year to come. One crafty practise which Jules Cossins, (co-founder of Where Inspiration Blooms and avid seaweed and flower preserver), is especially passionate about is the preserving of seasonal flowers, and this Spring we have a real treat for you. In this special seasonal three-hour workshop, Jules will be sharing her experience of preserving wild flowers, wayside grasses, seasonally grown cut flowers and seaweeds. Having pressed and preserved flowers from the Chiltern Hills since she was a young girl you are in very capable local hands! We’ll start the class by taking a slow, scenic spring walk to The Walled Garden on the Penn Estate, across our neighbouring field and through a small area of ancient woodland. We are very fortunate to have been given exclusive access to these private gardens where you will be invited to gather some ‘first blooms’ and wayside botanicals to press and dry back at The Pavilion. Whilst we are there, head gardener Ross, will give us a short tour, sharing what’s in bloom at the very start of the flowering season. During this super seasonal session, Jules will share: How to press flowers — the ones that press beautifully, and in her experience the ones that never quite behave how you want! How to use a microwave flower press for faster results – having previously proclaimed a large dose of scepticism about microwave flower presses prepare to watch Jules eat her words as she shows you how she has come to use hers with a recently acquired sense of affection! Which blooms dry really well and the best ways to dry them whole A quick introduction to pressing seaweed – one of Jules’ biggest passions…she will share all of her secrets for perfectly pressing these shore line foraged delights And finally with whatever time allows we will chat through some creative ideas for using your own pressed flowers in pieces of art, cards, and gift items. Jules will guide you through each technique with a generous openness, sharing tips and tricks from her own extensive experience in preserving the colour, shape, and spirit of the season’s flowers — so you can prepare and preserve confidently for the beautiful blooms in the seasons ahead. We may even have time, over coffee and home-made cake, to take a look at her very old (birthday presents at the age of 7yrs) Flower Fairies of the Spring and Wayside Book’s for no other reason that the workshop is all about flowers and spring and that’s as good as an excuse that she can find to share these beautiful illustrations and plants poems! If you have your own flower presses, no matter what size then please do bring them with you, or even a stack of well-loved heavy books to press your blooms in. We will supply each guest with 10 x A4 sheets of paper to press their flowers between and a pile of newspapers/pieces of cardboard to use in between but you will need a flower press or heavy books. If you don’t have your own press or stack of heavy books and would like to buy one of Jules’ home-made A4-sized presses (they are functional vs aesthetically beautiful but are what she uses to create all of her pressings so are highly tried and tested!) then these will also be available to purchase when you book your place… and if you want to have a go at making your own before the class then drop Jules a line and she can tell you exactly what materials you will need! At Where Inspiration Blooms, we’re big fans of delicious cake! In this class, you can enjoy a choice of traditional and herbal teas from Chesham-based tea connoisseurs, Two Spoons, as well as both caffeinated and decaf coffee. We have dairy and non-dairy milks to suit every preference, and our homemade cakes are always sourced from good local bakers. We also make sure those who need gluten-free options aren’t left out. Please note that we will only be able to run this class/course if we have a minimum of 5 guests. All of our teachers are highly skilled in their fields, but being an artist isn't always a well paid profession so we hope you understand why it's important that we ensure that our teachers can afford to run each of their classes. Should the class not be able to go ahead we will contact you no less than 2 weeks before it is due to start and we will of course, offer you a full refund.