Ornamental grasses are lovely in the garden and also in the home as wall art. Two of my more recent pressed flower pieces pictured here are of ornamental grasses from my friend Jimmy's 2013 garden.
This variety is Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' which is a drought tolerant grass that forms neat clumps of purplish maroom blades. The clumps are topped by rose red flower spikes summer throught fall.
Growing Fountain Grass as an annual is very easy. Pressing these flower spikes and blades is more of a challenge. They are too long to fit in a microfleur (microwave flower press) or even in a large book. So I placed them between two large pieces of absorbent paper, spread them out so they weren't overlapping, put lots of weight on top (heavy books and bricks!) and there they stayed, on the floor, until all the moisture was out of them. After about 6 weeks the grasses were ready to be made into wall art..
I chose to use an off white, loose weave, linen fabric for a background, rather than paper. Fabric glue, tweezers and a soft brush were the only materials and tools needed to adhere the grasses to the fabric. These original pieces are in 16 x 20" quality wood frames with double acid free mats and conservation glass. They are available for sale by contacting me directly at rodenora@gmail.com.
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