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Pounded Flower Print Craft
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How to Make Flower Pounding Art

Try flower pounding for an easy and gorgeous nature craft! Use real flowers and a hammer to transfer natural pigments onto paper and create your own beautiful floral artwork.
Active Time45 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Yield: 1 hammered flower art
Author: Debbie Chapman
Cost: $5

Equipment

Materials

Instructions

Step 1: Find what you need

  • Gather your supplies and materials.
    Flower Pounding Supplies

Step 2: Arrange flowers on paper

  • Cut a variety of flowers and greenery as close to the bloom as possible.
    Flower Pounding
  • Place a piece of paper towel on a wooden cutting board. Then set a piece of watercolor paper on top.
    (We cut our paper to 5x7 inches, but you can use whatever size you'd like.)
    Flower Pounding
  • Arrange your flowers upside-down on the paper (with the good side facing the paper).
    Leave a bit of room between the flowers, so that when they flatten out they're not overlapping.
    Flower Pounding

Step 3: Tape the flowers in place

  • Then use washi tape (or another low-tack tape that won't rip the paper) to keep the flowers in place.
    This is optional, but ensures that the flowers won't shift when you hammer them.
    Flower Pounding
  • If you have flowers that stick up a lot on the bottom (such as marigolds), cut the excess off.
    This will make hammering easier and, as long as your flower is taped down well, it should stay in place.
    Flower Pounding

Step 4: Begin hammering the flowers

  • Cover the paper with another piece of paper towel and begin hammering gently on top of the flowers.
    Flower Pounding
  • As you hammer you should see the flower dye come up through the paper towel.
    You can lift the paper towel occasionally to check where you still need to hammer.
    Flower Pounding

Step 5: Remove the flowers

  • Remove the paper towel, carefully lift the tape, and peel the flowers off of the paper.
    Flower Pounding
  • Use tweezers to lift any petals and flower parts that remain.
    If you can't get all the debris with tweezers, gently brush the paper with paper towel.
    Flower Pounding

Step 6: Add details around the flower prints

  • Optional: Use a fine line drawing pen to outline the flowers and add details.
    Flower Pounding
  • Your flower pounding art is complete!
    Flower Pounding

Video

Notes

Looking for more nature crafts? Here's a few of our favourites:
How to Press Flowers
How to Preserve Flowers in Resin
Dinosaur Garden