Pressed Flower Art: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft (Heritage Crafts Today Series) [Hardcover]

W. Eugene Burkhart Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2008

The art of using pressed flower materials to create pictures and designs has been popular throughout history in cultures around the world. Acclaimed artist W. Eugene Burkhart Jr. passes on the craft in this handy, full-color how-to guide, sharing information on tools and materials, detailed step-by-step instructions and photographs that demonstrate basic skills, an assortment of projects, patterns and design ideas, tips for choosing the right frame, and more. Hidden lay-flat spiral binding for easy use.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Hidden spiral binding allows book to lay flat. 382 color photos, 16 patterns.

About the Author

W. Eugene Burkhart Jr. is an internationally known floral designer, lecturer, and pressed flower artist, who maintains a studio at the prestigious GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading, Pennsylvania. He has won more than 1,500 prizes for his work, including several Best of Show awards at the Philadelphia Flower Show. His pressed flower art is in galleries throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia, and New Zealand.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books; 3rd edition (May 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811703193
• ISBN-13: 978-0811703192
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLET AND HELPFUL WORK. WONDERFUL ART FORM., June 29, 2009

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pressed Flower Art: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft (Heritage Crafts Today Series) (Hardcover)

This is one of the best designed and easy to use books, for its purpose, I'm familiar with. It is a joy to work with.

Now I will be the first to agree with one reviewer here that this work may well be intended, and indeed be more helpful to the beginner than the more experienced, but that is just fine by me. Everyone has to start somewhere, and to be quite frank, the old saying that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks is a complete myth and a saying that should be scrapped, as it has been disproven so many times.

I was sort of raised in a world of flowers and greatly influence by a grandmother who not only was an absolute master gardener, in the Victorian sense of the word, but she had the gardens to prove it. I had a mother that had me collecting leaves and plants and pressing and drying them from a very early age. In recent years I have become fascinated with the collecting techniques of the early collectors of the Victorian Era; Darwin, Hooker, Huxley, Lyell, Wallace and so many others. I have also been photographing wild flowers and plants for more years than I care to admit.

This past summer I helped one of my grandsons in creating a leaf collection, pressing, drying and mounting it, for school and I sort of caught the bug again.

This 159 page book is an absolute wealth of information. From listing and explaining the various basic tools needed, to drying techniques, it is all here. The majority of the book is filled with pictures of hundreds of specimens and what they will look like when properly pressed and dried. Now my primary interest at this point is the making botanicals, i.e. the preservation and display of the entire plant, bloom, foliage, root and all. This is no simple trick and if you do not believe me...try it. While this work did not give me all the answers I needed, it certainly gave me many and sent me in the right direction for those that it failed to address.

This work does address methodology of using mixed media when you get into the area of creating actual pieces of art and offers up some very creative ideas the reader may not have thought of him or her self. The wire binding allows the book to lay flat while using it and the covers are quite heavy and a very high quality gloss paper has been used. The photographs are wonderful and the directions are extremely precise and easy to follow. It dose explain the process of using a microwave rather than time to dry your plants and flowers, something that at first offended something deep within me, but like all old dogs, I suppose I will have to learn to give up some of my long held prejudices. Hey, it improves the color of the final product which is something that appeals to me.

This is an art form that has been with us for thousands of years and needs to be with us longer; let's not loose bits of our heritage through neglect.

Personal Note: The only complaint I have with this work is that I wish the author had given about a page and a half rant on ethical collecting practices. People need to take care of when, where and how not to collect. Many of our wild flowers and plants are endangered now, and it is not a good thing to go romping through the fields and woods indiscriminately ripping flowers and plants up. I recently went to a wild flower preserve (prairie flowers) to do some photographing and discovered one couple digging away like crazed gophers in order to collect "wild flowers" for their garden at home. I fear I had words with them. I fear they may have stories to tell their grandchildren of their encounter with the bearded hillbilly camera swinging wild man they encountered while in the wilds of the Ozarks. My carefully nurtured fence row of Missouri Bittersweet, a plant that is literally being harvested to death by the "craft people" is dead and gone now, simply because of drive by massacres from these people. Folks, take care of what we have or we will not have it much longer.

Anyway, this is a wonderful little book for both beginners and for old pros alike. I do highly recommend it!

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great info for pressed flower art, March 8, 2009

By 

H. austin - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pressed Flower Art: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft (Heritage Crafts Today Series) (Hardcover)

I got this book as I am a pressed flower artist and belong to the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. It was highly recommended by the members of the guild. I was not disappointed, as the instructions were concise and easy to understand. The examples were beautiful and the added perk of images that can be copied was a plus. I also like how the book lays flat, so if I am working on a project, I can easily reference any area. Eugene lists the flowers he used to create his masterpieces, so I can source them from my local nursery. Karen Austin

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pressed flower art - good for beginners, April 17, 2009

By 

M. A. Rivadeneira-Whelan (Tucson, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pressed Flower Art: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Learning the Craft (Heritage Crafts Today Series) (Hardcover)

I bought and reviewed this book and returned it right away because I thought this book is good for beginners, people who've never done any flower pressing. I've done some and already knew what the book shows. I wanted to see more detailed explanations about how to do the whole procedure, from picking to applying the dry flower on a given surface. The book lacked some important details for someone who want to do more than just flower pressing/drying and frame it.
However, if you're new at this, this book will help you start.