DIY Algae presses are a fun way for students to take a little piece of CIMI home with them. After learning about the three different types of algae (Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta, and Rhodophyta), each student has an opportunity to design their very own algae art piece. Now if you’re trying to do this at home, you may not have easy access to tons of algae, like us, so feel free to go find some plants or flowers in your neighborhood to use.
Things you’ll need:
- Something to press, like flowers or leaves (stay away from anything with a large stem, as it won’t press very flat)
- A piece of cardstock or thick paper cut to about 6 by 9 inches
- Some wax paper or parchment paper
- Cardboard cut into small 6 by 9 inch sections or so
- Rubber bands
- A few heavy books
- Two weeks of patience
- To start, gather all your plants and decide upon a design that you want to create.
- Take your piece of cardstock and carefully place your plants down in the shape you picked out. Try not to overlap pieces of plants, instead try to keep just one plant layer all over your paper.
- Do not use glue to stick the plants down; they will change shape and size as they dry.
- Once you have positioned your plants as you like, place a sheet of wax paper on top of your creation. This will keep the plants from sticking to the cardboard as they dry.
- When you are ready, place the cardstock and wax paper in between two piece of cardboard. Basically making a sandwich.
- Then use 4-5 rubber bands in both directions to hold your project together.
- Find a few heavy books and place your project in a cool dry place for about 2 weeks.
- If you check your press after two weeks and its not completely dry, leave it there for another week.
- Once everything is dry you can remove your press from the cardboard and wax paper. If the plants aren’t staying in place, feel free to glue them or get your press laminated, this will protect it from general wear and tear.
