Souvenirs de Fleurs: A Pressed Flower Keepsake Book [Hardcover]

Louise Kollenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

Bargain Books are non-returnable.

Preserving the radiance of flowers has never been so simple or so elegant. This innovative book contains all you need to start your own pressed flower collection and preserve memories. With a comprehensive introduction to the art of pressing flowers, 12 glassine envelopes for storage and display, a section of absorbent pages for pressing, room for notes, and a traditional Asian-style binding, Souvenirs de Fleurs is a creative and inspiring resource for novices and experts alike. In addition, its beautiful, bright pages feature the delicate pressed flower collages of artist Louise Kollenbaum.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The murmur of bees, the scents of freshly cut grass and sunbaked earth... The tranquility of a summer afternoon is captured in this unusual, delicate journal. Souvenirs de Fleurs: A Pressed Flower Keepsake Book is a guide to the gentle craft of flower pressing, storing, and mounting. A brief history of Victorian flower pressing is included, as well as pages for pressing, glassine envelopes to showcase your treasures, and plenty of space in which to record your reminiscences. --Julie Ubben

Review

Spring's blooms wither all too soon, but 'Souvenirs de Fleurs,' a journal on how to press flowers like the Victorians did, lets them live on. Louise Kollenbaum describes how to prepare and press your delicate keepsakes and includes blank pages you can fill with your own reflections on garden strolls. But it's her drawings that make you want to take up the genteel hobby; her translucent blooms seem smoothed onto the pages, with petals of orange and purple imposed on the free-flowing script of a fountain pen. -- San Francisco Magazine

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; Gift edition (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811819566
• ISBN-13: 978-0811819565
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,898,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful To Look At & Wonderful To Peruse, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Souvenirs de Fleurs: A Pressed Flower Keepsake Book (Hardcover)

This is a delightful book. As you read you come to realize even more how beautiful each & every flower is in your garden and how beautiful they can be preserved. I enjoyed Souvenirs De Fleurs so much I purchased three more and have given them to my daughter, my daughter-in-law and a good friend. It was a perfect way for me to say I love you and you are in my thoughts!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is mainly a journal., October 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Souvenirs de Fleurs: A Pressed Flower Keepsake Book (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a book with lots of photographs of pressed flower projects, and lots of "how to" information, this is NOT the book for you. The book begins like a novel (it's a narrative by the author about her enjoyment and experiences collecting and pressing flowers) and the ends as a journal.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exquisite book, September 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Souvenirs de Fleurs: A Pressed Flower Keepsake Book (Hardcover)

Review of SOUVENIRS DE FLEURS

The writer, Louise Kollenbaum, takes the reader by the hand and guides one into the garden, the meadow, down the little path to the woods, and as she leasurely walks , she gathers her flowers like her chapters, points out the beauty of a petal, the shape of a leaf, makes you notice, pauses while you gaze at one of her amazing compositions, tells you what is easy, what is hard at first, explains in simple, patient words how you do it, and reveals the secrets of the craft. While you marvel at the endless creative possibilities, wondering how your guide found the way, she tells her own story of gathering and pressing flowers in an artist's way, and shares her discoveries, failures, adventures with humour and humble wisdom. In the same leasurely pace she walks you into the history of flower pressing with its high bloom in the Victorian age and its romantic mysteries of flower symbolism which allowed lovers to exchange secret messages without words. In the writer's inviting language, it all sounds easy and enchanting at the same time, like an irresistable pleasure. In the end she hands you her book and says, "Now it's your turn." You find much more in SOUVENIRS DE FLEURS than chapters on the technique (the equipment, the gathering, pressing, storing, and the mounting of flowers) and on "Flower Projects" or creative ideas for making use of your collection. In addition, you find delicate sleeves of translucent paper to store your own pressed flowers and leaves, and you suddenly notice that the whole book comes in the shape of an album, allowing to billow with your own findings and creations. You also find a glossary of botanical terms, a list of flowers with their ancient symbolical meanings, empty pages for drawing and sketching on your botanical outings, and finally beautifully lined pages for your gathering diary, interspersed with quotes from famous gardeners like Vita Sackville-West or writers like Oscar Wilde.