This project began about a month ago. I celebrated my brithday on the 2nd and 3rd of January (though this is not my actual birthday), and upon returning home to Toronto, I brought with me a beautiful bouquet of white daisies from my parents. They know me well, white field daisies are my favourite flower.
When the first blooms began to wilt, my craft encyclopedia was lying open on the table next to them. There happens to be a section on pressing flowers, and so the decision was made. I would preserve the daisies from my thirtieth birthday in some fashion.
The drying process was fairly simple, though I forgot to take photographs - sorry about that. I clipped the blooms with stems initially, but that proved difficult for drying (the petals were coming off when flattened) so I ended up removing most. Without most materials listed in the encyclopedia, I improvised. In the event that one does not own an actual flower press, the recommended layers are corrugated cardboard, blotting paper and news print. Cardboard and newsprint I happened to have, but blotting paper I did not. I used instead some scraps of what was likely
Arches paper left over from my university printmaking classes. Don't worry printmakers, it wasn't worthy of printing anymore. So like a layer cake, I built a stack of cardboard, arches, newsprint, daisies, newsprint, arches, cardboard... repeat. I stacked this on one of the lower shelves of a bookshelf in my living room, weighed down by a heavy dictionary and a hardcover copy of Shakespeare's complete works (much to the frustration of the cat).
About one week later, the flowers were flat, dry and ready for... something.
Weeks later, or more sepcifically, yesterday, I decided. After opening up the encyclopedia once more, I selected a project for which I had all the materials. In hind sight, I wish I had chosen something a little more lasting like the glass coasters, but what's done is done and it looks lovely.
There is a door from my bedroom out to the yard, and it has never had a blind of any sort. Though no problems have arisen as of yet, there is another door into the house right next to it which leads to the basement - that door is used by my landlord. So, it's time to cover up the bedroom window.
Enter waxed paper, more newsprint, an iron, dried daisies, needle and thread.
Step 1: Cut the waxed paper into rectangular shapes to fit the window. Mine had nine panes, 5.5" x 11". The daisies are being sealed into the waxed paper, therefore I cut out 18 rectangles, using a paper cutter to get nice straight edges.
Step 2: Lay some waxed paper out on your ironing board. Place one rectangle down at a time, space out your daisies (or other) and lay the second sheet on top. Be certain that they are as close to perfectly square on top of one another when you place another sheet of newsprint on top. Also make certain that your waxed paper is waxy side in, so that the two sheets melt together, and you aren't getting wax everywhere else. Now, all that is required is a quick ironing at low temperature (I used the silk setting). No need for a lot of pressure, just enough to seal the edges and any bubbles that may be left behind. Repeat this step for all nine panes.
Step 3: This is the tricky part, and it requires some patience. If you're not a very patient person, perhaps do only a few panes per day. With needle and thread, you need to stitch the panes of waxed paper together. If there is no wooden frame on your window, spacing is not an issue. If there is, like my window, you will want to measure distances.
Trim a piece of thread about 4" long so it's easy to work with. Tie a knot at one end (I like a double knot so that I know it won't slip through the hole once hung), and thread the needle. Place 2 of your panes on top of one another, face in, and stick the needle through the corner. Tie another knot at whatever distance from the edge of the paper you need, to allow the proper hanging space. I left 1" from the edge of my sheet of waxed paper for the gap between panes on my door's window.
Once that is complete, thread a few loops into each of the top panes for hanging. That's it that's all! You now have an opaque botanical window covering, that will still let some sunlight in.
My plan for later on, once this window covering is no longer needed, will be to select my favourite daisy, trim out it's waxed paper area, and make a frame for it. Either something flat to go into a scrap book, or big enough to go into a frame. Either way, this project still has life.
Given a busy schedule, production is behind, but I am determined to complete a few choice ornaments for this season. Today began constructive surgery on Santa's face. Tomorrow these will be completed with beards, glasses and hats, but for now, the face is an important step. I have already prepared my watchmaker's cases (Lee Valley Tools) with felt circles and a few layers of mustard seed, so the tools I need for today include tweezers, an accordion glue bottle with a fairly narrow needle, and lots of orange lentils. 
One by one, starting at the centre, the lentils are placed. It is important to picture two as eyes bumps and two as cheek bumps, minimizing gaps so that the face doesn't look too bizarre. My photo here is a little blurry (must locate my tripod), but you get the gist. Tiny glue dot for tiny lentil. The final step is the addition of a nose. For this, I use a knife to carefully cut a lentil in half, and it gets glued to the centre, slightly overlapping the eye bumps.
The less seasonal sheep in the grass.
A lump of coal set on a round, beveled mirror.
