Product Description

The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers

No ink, no paint--just a hammer!

Who would imagine that flowers and leaves from your garden, from a houseplant, or even from a store, could be used--without the fuss of ink or paint--to make beautiful, lasting images? This remarkable new book shows you how to transfer pigment directly from a flower or leaf onto fabric or paper for an exquisite imprint--with just a hammer!

Complete instructions on choosing the best plants, selecting fabrics and paper, hammering flowers, and preserving your botanical impressions

More than 50 projects, including greeting cards, wrapping paper and ribbon, journals, place mats, napkins, throw pillows, wall hangings, curtains, T-shirts, scarves, baby gifts, Christmas ornaments, and much more--all with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions

Gorgeous color photographs and illustrations throughout

Craft and gardening enthusiasts alike will enjoy this beautiful book that combines two of the most popular and rewarding hobbies in America. Parents, teachers, and children will love it, too!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #593808 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Garden writer Laura C. Martin introduces The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers, an activity using the pigments of plants for decoration. This craft is so easy one can "simply pick a flower, place it on paper or fabric and hammer away," Martin explains. She easily guides the beginner through preparation, listing the tools needed in addition to the hammer, suggesting choices for plants darker pigments usually yield better impressions; paper and fabric with natural fibers absorb better; pretreating helps the color to take and last longer. More than 150 color photos and illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Martin is well known as the author of many books on gardening and nature crafts. Although pounding flowers and leaves with a hammer seems an unlikely way to decorate paper or fabric, it produces a delicately colored image that can be used as is or embellished with ink or stitching. In addition to basic techniques and step-by-step projects for decorated household items, there is a guide to plants suitable for pounding. This is an excellent choice for libraries looking for something new to add to their gardening and crafts collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover
The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers

No ink, no paint--just a hammer!

Who would imagine that flowers and leaves from your garden, from a houseplant, or even from a store, could be used--without the fuss of ink or paint--to make beautiful, lasting images? This remarkable new book shows you how to transfer pigment directly from a flower or leaf onto fabric or paper for an exquisite imprint--with just a hammer!

Complete instructions on choosing the best plants, selecting fabrics and paper, hammering flowers, and preserving your botanical impressions

More than 50 projects, including greeting cards, wrapping paper and ribbon, journals, place mats, napkins, throw pillows, wall hangings, curtains, T-shirts, scarves, baby gifts, Christmas ornaments, and much more--all with easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions

Gorgeous color photographs and illustrations throughout

Craft and gardening enthusiasts alike will enjoy this beautiful book that combines two of the most popular and rewarding hobbies in America. Parents, teachers, and children will love it, too!

About the Author:
Laura C. Martin is an accomplished writer, botanical illustrator, lecturer, and storyteller. She has published more than 15 books on gardening and nature crafts. Ms. Martin lives in Atlanta, where she writes, quilts, paints, and spends as much time as possible in her garden.

Customer Reviews

Flower Pounding is Awesome
The Art and Craft of Flower Pounding is awesome. This arts and crafts book is well written with easy to understand directions. The photographs of the projects presented in this book is a motivator in itself. The ideas are endless. Flower pounding is easy enough to do for a child's summer project as well as for an adult. My family is really enjoying this new craft so much that we had to go out and purchase a few more hammers! I highly recommend this book - especially if you are looking for a new, easy and unusual craft - this is it!!!!

A wonderfully stress-relieving craft using flowers & leaves!
I found Laura Martin's book over a year ago, and following the very easy to understand steps, have learned to pound flowers, leaves, and stems onto treated material (she gives the receipe)and also on paper. I have been able to spend many stress-relieving moments with my board and hammer in my little flower garden on cool mornings capturing and preserving the lovely blossoms which I have used to make very special cards, gifts, and treasures that will last a lifetime. I am now teaching this art to a few good friends and some young girls in our homeschool group, encouraging them to buy this book! My 9 year old daughter and I love to make "Flower Fairies" and "Flower Ballarinas" to put on cards, in frames, and on material for pillows and handmade journal covers, etc. The ideas shared have endless possibilities! If you have had a stressful day, go outside in a shaded area, sit on a blanket with your supplies, pick a few wildflowers, or blooms from your garden, or even some from the flowers you find in the floral market of your grocery store, and pound to your hearts content! I especially appreciate Laura Martin's knowledge of flowers shared in her "Plant Guide" in the back of the book. It has inspired me to plant more flowers, spend more time at the floral market and public gardens. I have even purchased seeds from a Wildflower Company online to grow this spring on our 1/2 acre of land that is usually overgrown with weeds! When I visit our kids in Oregon next month, we plan to find some ferns on our hikes that we will pound while taking a rest from our hiking. We will have these beautiful plants preservered as a wonderful reminder of our visit! As a homeschool family, we are using this art to teach our daughter about botany, keeping a visual record of the plants & wildflowers in a notebook, and then looking up the names in books at the library. And we are learning how to cultivate the flowers and are keeping a diary of that process! Highly recommend this book and craft for Garden Clubs, Girl Scouts, and the boys like it, too!

The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers
Had heard about this craft and saw a copy of the book my sister checked out from the Oregon City Library. I ordered it the next week. I love this book! It has everything that I need. Hope to order other books by same author that were on your list.