Flowers in Wax Paper

Ruben and I made this last spring.  We went to the garden, collected flowers, arranged them on wax paper, put another layer of wax paper on top, placed the whole thing between tea towels, and ironed it until the wax paper was well stuck together.

This is certainly not my original idea; I learned how to do it almost forty years ago, when I was in preschool.  But, I did discover something good when I did it with Ruben:  magenta bougainvillea and red geraniums keep their vibrant colors for months!  The orange nasturtium stayed pretty bright, too, but the fact that the bougainvillea and geraniums have such flat petals made them very easy to use.  The other bright petals and leaves that we tried faded fairly quickly, some turning brown as soon as we ironed them.

I'm going to make some big sheets of this to use as a window treatment in my kitchen.  My window is on the shady north side of the house, so I think that will help the flowers resist fading, and I'm sure it will look nicer than the raggedy paper shade that's been there for the past eight years.  I'll show you some pictures when it is all done!

On another note, I would like to wish a very happy TENTH birthday to one of my favorite readers, Beatrix!!!