Reuse Yogurt Lids To Make The Perfect Dupe For Pressed Glass

Whether you are a flower enthusiast or you just love beautiful decor, glass-pressed flowers are a gorgeous addition to any home. In these lovely pieces of decor, pressed flowers are placed between two pieces of clear glass, protecting the delicate petals and allowing you to look at all of the intricate details. The displays can be flat pieces that hang on a wall or window, or they can be part of other items, like decorative boxes, glasses, vases, and more. 

Achieving the look in your home can get quite pricey, though, with a small, 4-inch-diameter glass-pressed flower display with soldered edges costing about $39 on Etsy. If you are a fan of DIY projects and want to press your own flowers and use them for decor, there is a simple DIY project you can do to get the look without the high price. Rather than glass, you will use the clear plastic lids of yogurt containers on either side of the dried flowers.

Making your own glass-pressed flower display allows you to decide which flowers you want and how to arrange them. Plus, the plastic makes for a durable alternative to glass. To make your own, you will need two clear plastic lids from 32-ounce yogurt containers, some pressed flowers, clothespins, a hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, and a permanent marker. You can also find a small chain to hang your display, or you could leave it without to create a coaster. If you are pressing your own flowers, you will also need a book, a heavy weight, and some absorbent paper.

This DIY project is all about displaying natural and colorful beauty, so getting your flower pressing right is very important for the result. The first thing you need to do is collect your items to press. While flowers are always gorgeous, you can also press other items, like leaves, grasses, feathers, and even insect wings to get the effect you want. If you want the brightest colors, you should gather flowers just before or at their peak bloom, but you can also pick ones at other stages to change the style of your creation. After carefully picking your flowers, place them flat on your absorbent paper, close them in a book, and place additional weight, such more books, on top of the book. 

Newspaper, flat cardboard, and even plain tissues all work well as the absorbent paper. Also, keep in mind that color may bleed from the flowers onto your book pages when choosing the book. Leave your flowers and other items in a warm, dry place for at least a week before checking on them. Be careful when checking on the pressed items, as they might be brittle when they're done. When they are completely dry to the touch, take them out and begin creating your upcycled yogurt container faux glass display.

Once your pressed flowers are ready, cut out a circle from each of the plastic yogurt lids, doing your best to make them even. You can recycle the rest of the lid and the container, or try out some creative ways to repurpose yogurt containers to be useful and sustainable. Take your pressed flowers, and lay them down in your arrangement of choice on one of the circles. Place the other circle on top, and use clothespins or other clips to tightly hold the two circles together. Next, use the hot glue gun to secure the two pieces of plastic together along the circumference of the project, moving the clips as you go. Although you should try to keep the line of glue off the faces of the plastic circles, any imperfections will ultimately add to the soldered effect, so do not worry too much about it.

@sibster_made

I saw a soldered pressed flower frame on Pinterest and tried to recreate it using what i had. How do you think I did? #pressedglass #pressedflowers #trashupcycle

♬ The Journey – Sol Rising

If you want to add a chain to hang your display, stick the ends of the chain to the hot glue before it cools. Once the hot glue is set, cover the glue with a permanent marker or paint in your choice of color. Black, gold, silver, and brass are all great options for this project, and matching the color you choose with the chain will create a nice finish. Overall, this project should give you a beautiful result and is a perfect opportunity to learn how to dry and style your favorite flowers. Just be aware that the hot glue may not create a perfect seal, so your flowers may fade a bit over time.