Nine steps to make your own wildflower seed paper, perfect for cards, crafts and gifts.
Wildflower seed paper is exactly what it sounds like – paper containing the seeds of wildflowers. It can be used just like normal paper, and if you plant it, it could produce some beautiful wildflower patch!
Wild About Wales – previous winners of Grow Wild community project funding to help transform a barren field into a thriving wild garden – have put together these instructions to make your own seed paper at home.
You will need:
- A paper-making screen. You can buy these online, or make your own – it's simply four pieces of wood in a square or rectangle, with a piece of muslin cloth stapled to it.
- Scrap paper
- A large bowl or bucket
- Water
- A hand blender
- Wildflower seeds
- Optional: flower petals for additional decoration. You could make paper only using petals, though it wouldn't be plantable at the end!
Instructions
- Tear scrap paper into small pieces and pop into a bowl or bucket. Cover in clean water (we use rainwater from our water butts) and leave to soak overnight.
- The next day, use a blender to mix the paper and water mixture into a pulp. No lumps should remain.
- Stir in a handful of wildflower seeds and/or dried petals for decoration.
- Put your paper-making frame in a sink, or on another flat surface that will allow water to drain away.
- Slowly pour the pulp mixture over your paper making frame. Try and ensure that an even layer is created, as this will ensure your paper is the same thickness throughout.
- Place a sheet of newspaper over your paper. Press down gently to push as much water out of the pulp as possible. Put the used newspaper on a compost heap.
- Turn the frame over and place it – pulp side down – onto a fresh piece of newspaper/ tea towel/ paper hand towel. Press down on the back of the frame to encourage the paper pulp to stick to your chosen surface.
- Slowly lift the frame, ensuring that the paper continues to stick to your material. If it does not easily do this, you may need to go back a few stages and try and squeeze more water out of the pulp.
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Place your homemade paper somewhere flat, warm and dry, with a good air flow. Drying the seed paper quickly is essential, otherwise the seeds will start to grow! Once the paper is fully dried, peel it from its backing material and use as you please.
If you want to try planting your seed paper, fill a small pot with soil/compost and place a piece of the paper on top (you can tear it into small pieces if you like). Cover it lightly with more compost (not too much, or the seeds won't get any sunlight) and water well. Place the pot in a sunny spot, keep the soil moist, and wait to see if your seeds germinate!
If your seeds sprout, you can transfer them to a bigger pot when they are well established. Follow our instructions on looking after your wildflowers.