Hammered Flower Art For Easy DIY Mother’s Day Gift

Step 1: Supplies to Smash Flowers

The most important thing when smashing flowers is the flowers you choose. They aren’t all going to give good end results. The ideal flowers have thin petals and colourful flowers.

Flowers with thick petals, waxy surfaces or light colours are less likely to work.

I used purple pansies for this DIY gift because I had them in the garden already. Other good choices are marigolds, roses and dandelions.

It’s best to choose fresh flowers with vibrant natural dyes.

If you aren’t sure whether a flower will work well, the best way to test it is to try it out on a scrap piece of paper.

For more variation, you can use an assortment of cut flowers. That could be different flowers with complementary colours. Or those with a nice bright flower pigment and different sizes would also look great.

Next, decide on what you want the material of the project to be. This could be fabric, card or in this case, birch plywood.

Birch is a good idea because it is a light wood. It has a rustic look but also shows off the natural pigment of the flowers well.

Step 2: Create a Design for a Hammered Flower Background

It’s very simple to create a basic laser cut file in the xTool XCS software.

This design uses a rectangular background, a thin frame for the edge and the letters for ‘Mum’.

You could also do this by using a letter stencil to cut them out of card.

Step 3: Laser Cut Letters

You’ll need to do a test to work out the best settings for each different material you use. For this 1.5mm Birch plywood, the cut settings were Power 60 and Speed 5.

Adding masking tape helps to avoid char lines where the laser cuts out the letters. If you don’t use tape, you can sand off the darker edges with 180-grit sandpaper.

Step 4: Check Laser Cut Design

Once all the elements are cut out, you should lay them out to make sure you’re happy with them. Do this before starting the flower pounding.

If you’re happy with the size and shape of everything, then you’re good to get the hammer out.

Step 5: Gently Hammer Flowers With Barrier

Firstly, you should lay down something with a hard surface such as a piece of wood. This protects the surface of the work area that you’re working on.

Then you need a barrier between the hammer and the flower. For me, it worked well using cardboard. You can also use a piece of parchment paper or a paper towel.

This barrier means that it’s more likely to keep the edges of the flower intact and the shape remains whole.

The flowers give the best results when the flower head is removed so that they lie flat. Flat flowers give the true petal shape rather than one skewed by the head protruding from the back.

Gently tap with the hammer. With cardboard, you can’t see if the flower print is working so you have to carefully check by removing the cardboard. Within about 10 seconds, these pansies had transferred their colour perfectly.

But depending on the type and colour of flower you use, this will vary.

​If you don’t have a hammer or have children helping, alternatively you can use a rolling pin.

Step 6: Glue Frame Together

The letters and frame are very light so can be held together with wood glue or even double-sided tape.

Apply a thin amount of glue and press down gently until secure. It’s best to remove any excess glue before it dries.

If you create this as a card, then simply attach it to card stock.

For this version, I wanted to make it a fridge magnet. A self-adhesive magnet simply sticks to the back of the wood and once dried firmly attaches to a fridge.

Be careful with which magnets you buy as a lot of the reviews said the magnets aren’t strong enough. One of these magnets did the job perfectly.

Hammered Flowers Mother’s Day Gift

The purple and yellow pansies are such a beautiful combination against the natural birch wood.