DIY leaf herbarium: ideas for creativity. Collecting a herbarium from autumn leaves Herbarium from leaves for kindergarten

Bathroom 25.10.2023
Bathroom

Autumn is a very beautiful time of year, golden foliage, deep blue sky, dried flowers and leaves. I want to save some landscapes and place them in my home so that they give warmth and please the eye on long winter evenings. Autumn is the best time to collect and make a herbarium of flowers, spikelets and leaves.

To make a herbarium with your own hands that will last a long time, you need to know several nuances and rules for its collection and design. Firstly, it is better to collect materials and plants for a future herbarium in dry weather, because wet flowers and leaves are more difficult to store. Secondly, in addition to standard plants that are usually used for flower arrangements, you can also select whole buds and individual petals, spikelets, seeds, etc. Thirdly, it is better to collect already fallen leaves and dried flowers, rather than plucking all the plants in a row, destroying nature. And it’s easier to dry dry materials at home.

How to make a beautiful herbarium

If you can find several leaves or flowers that are similar to each other, this can result in a very original symmetrical composition. You can collect everything you catch your eye in the forest, with a little imagination, and every piece and element will take its rightful place in the future herbarium. The best helpers in collecting materials for a herbarium are children - they don’t think about where and what can be used, but take everything in sight. Then you have to invent and find ways to attach all the collected plants, but the result is amazing.

Leaves and flowers are stored best and longest in dried form. To dry plants correctly, you can use one of the proven methods:

  1. Use paper and a press. A stack of books or several planks can serve as a pressing material; they will fix the drying of the leaves and level the materials. Each leaf or flower is covered with a piece of paper, newspaper or napkin, and a heavy press is placed on top. If you have an old, heavy book, you can dry the leaves between its pages, but you need to understand that the pages of the book will most likely be damaged. It takes 10-14 days for the herbarium materials to dry. If you need to get them dry earlier, you can constantly change the leaves to dry ones, they will quickly take moisture from the plants.
  2. You can use paper and an iron to dry the leaves. The heating temperature should be minimal; the plant is placed between two sheets of paper and ironed several times. This method is suitable if there is no need to preserve the beautiful natural color of plants.
  3. Lately, some creative people have been using the microwave to dry plants. But this method has a significant drawback - the leaves are no longer even after microwave.
  4. Glycerin is another effective method for drying plants; it will keep them in beautiful shape, but will turn brown. To dry the leaves in this way, you need to dilute glycerin in hot water one to three, pour the composition into a container where the plants will be lowered. They should remain in such a vessel for several days. When they darken, you can take them out and dry them.
  5. In addition to the means of drying materials for the herbarium, you need to remember a few more little tricks that will help in creating an original composition. For example, if the plant is dried correctly, it will be level and the top will not tilt down. The leaves can be slightly strengthened to make them denser using a solution of water and PVA glue, which are mixed in a ratio of 1:5.

    You can add any dried flowers to the herbarium, but delphinium and dahlias retain color best and look best in the composition. Flower petals, dried separately from the bud, will last a long time and will decorate the picture.

    Herbarium in the interior

    A herbarium is a flat bouquet that can be stored in several ways: as a decorative panel, in an album, in the form of bookmarks, in a photo album, as a three-dimensional painting and many others.

    Decorative panel of dried plants

    For this option, you need a base, the material of which can be fabric, canvas, or cardboard. The herbarium materials are laid out with the picture that you want to create and preserve, then each element of the composition is glued and left to dry for a day under heavy pressure. The herbarium can be laid out from painted plants and elements, or it can remain in its natural color. After all work is completed, the panel must be inserted into the frame.

    The herbarium on album sheets is a mini-guide on botany. A separate plant is glued to each individual leaf. Instead of glue, you can use tape or thread with a needle. The latter option is guaranteed not to affect the evenness of the flower or leaf, and so that the stitches are not so noticeable, you can then carefully tint them with a similar color. To preserve the herbarium for a long time, you can put thin tracing paper between the pages, or even better, place each leaf with a plant in a transparent file. All files can be collected in one folder - it’s beautiful and reliable.

    Bookmarks

    In order to make bookmarks, you need 2 strips of cardboard, which are glued together, and the ribbon of the future bookmark remains between them. A small composition is laid out on the surface of one of the sides; flowers or spikelets are better suited for such a small area.

    The mini-herbarium is covered with tracing paper on top (parchment paper is also suitable) and greased with a mixture of PVA glue and water in a ratio of 4:1. The composition will be visible through the translucent paper, and the edges can be secured by sewing on a machine with thread of any color.

    A painting using plants is a whole art that looks very unusual and beautiful. Part of the picture needs to be drawn with paints or pencils, and some elements should be laid out with petals, grains, and twigs. A little imagination - and the masterpiece will delight you with its originality.

    Look how many different options there are for designing a herbarium. You might find something you like.

    How to design a herbarium

    Photo album - this will be a mini book with a herbarium. Very similar to the way of storing a herbarium in an album, only the pictures and compositions will be small.

    There is another type of herbarium - a clamshell. Sheets of paper are fastened together in a row, and the desired compositions or simply individual plants are laid out on them. When folded, it will be an ordinary notebook or book, and when unfolded, it will be a long strip with mini-pictures of plants.

    Such a miniature composition looks very beautiful on the cover of a handmade postcard or on your favorite diary. It is best to secure the herbarium to the surface using self-adhesive film, which can be purchased at almost any stationery store.

    If the herbarium is made in an album or photo album, the plants can be labeled: names, a short description, medicinal properties (if the plant has them), where and when it was found. Signatures are best done on small labels, which are then pasted in the lower right corner of the page.

    To interest a child in herbarium, you can offer him to buy a special bright album for this activity and an encyclopedia, where he can find all the names of leaves and flowers. You can search for information about plants on the Internet; here you will need the help of your parents. If a child knows that mom or dad will help in compiling a herbarium, the child’s desire will only increase.

    Children are often asked to prepare materials for a herbarium during the summer holidays. A walk through the forest looking for leaves and flowers, and then working on a sketchbook on a quiet evening is a great time for the whole family. When collecting and forming a herbarium, the most important thing is not the end result, but a leisurely process that will bring pleasure and joy to all family members. And the original composition of flowers and leaves will delight you for a long time and remind you of warm sunny days.

    Video about herbariums

    In these videos you will not only learn how to beautifully make a herbarium, but also learn about unusual types of herbariums.

    Adults and Children

    Herbarium

    Herbarium sheet How to beautifully arrange a herbarium in an album? We offer you the easiest way using herbarium templates.

    We will need:

  • A4 folder with files
  • A4 cardboard
  • universal glue, or regular PVA
  • Printer
  • set of templates from our website
  • dry plants
  • colored pens and markers

Print out a suitable herbarium title page, a blank sheet with a frame (for sticking the plant on) and a lined sheet (for brief information about the plant). First, lay out the composition of plants on a sheet, and then carefully stick everything onto the sheet. The sheets should be placed in the folder so that on the spread on one side there is a sheet with a pasted herbarium, and on the other side there is information about the plant. In each file, insert a sheet of cardboard between the sheets of herbariums to make the pages tougher and our herbarium more durable.

Another option for designing a herbarium album. Insert a blank sheet of paper with a frame into a Microsoft Word document as a background and write information about the plant on top and add a photo.

Also, using these templates, you can create not only a beautiful album in a regular A4 folder, but also make a stand from herbariums in a school or kindergarten.

To download the template for the herbarium in good quality, you need to left-click on the picture. The picture will open. Then click on the right mouse button and select the option: save image as.

forarchipeople.ru

How to design a herbarium title page

How to make a herbarium for school? This question arises among parents of schoolchildren who want to help their children with the preparation of a herbarium.

In the summer, children collect various herbs and place them neatly between the pages of thick books. The result is beautiful specimens of plants, but not everyone is able to arrange them correctly and beautifully, and not everyone is able to complete the job; difficulties arise.

The very first question: How to design the title page of a herbarium?

The title page can be formatted as follows:

Everything you need to design a herbarium can be bought at a stationery store.

  1. Folder - file
  2. Binder folder
  3. Adhesive tape or transparent plaster 1 cm wide
  4. White sheets of paper

It all looks something like this:

We file individual sheets in a binder folder.

Folder file - in it the plants are clearly visible and protected from external influences, which is essential for schoolchildren in grades 6-7 and for elementary schools.

This is what the tape or patch for our craft looks like.

The next stage of designing a herbarium for a biology lesson at school is inscribing the names of plants. We print on a printer or write beautifully by hand. Each sheet must be signed. It’s good if you know what the plants are called, so it’s better to dry the herbs that you know, because finding the name by appearance is quite problematic, although you can actually use the image search. Drying fruits is strictly not recommended, since teachers are critical of such herbaria.

We glue our plants with narrow tape or adhesive tape - it is invisible and flowers or herbs stick well to a sheet of paper. We put the sheets into a file, fasten them in a binder, and our herbarium for school is ready.

I hope your herbarium will be rated 5, and the children will learn a lot of new plants.

ucthat-v-skole.ru

How to make a herbarium for school

Collection of samples. To make a herbarium, you will need to collect the necessary samples. This can be done in a forest, park, or vegetable garden - it all depends on the topic of the work. It is important that plants have something in common. For example, a herbarium will be dedicated to garden flowers, forest trees or fruit plants. It is necessary to decide on the topic in advance, and then go in search of samples. They must be fresh, not wilted; dry leaves are also not suitable for this purpose, because during gluing they will simply crumble in your hands.

Drying. To make a herbarium, the collected specimens must be dried. A large, thick book is suitable for this purpose. You should open it to any page and place the plant, having first straightened its leaves. After 20-30 pages, you should put another sample and so on until the space runs out. In order not to spoil the volume, it is recommended to first put the plant in cloth or paper, and then in the publication. Also, this measure will help quickly get rid of the moisture that is present in the samples; you just need to change the fabric every 3 days.

Express drying. To make a herbarium in this way will take at least 2 weeks. If you only have a few days left in stock, you can express-dry the samples. To do this, place the plant between two sheets of A4 paper. After this, an iron is taken in hand and the samples are ironed on both sides. You will have to iron each plant for 10 minutes, then it will dry evenly. All that remains is to put the samples in the book for a few days, after which further steps can be taken.

Creating an album. To make a herbarium, you should remove samples from the book and glue them onto A4 sheets. It is advisable to use fish glue for this, but it is quite difficult to get it, so you can try regular PVA or tape. When the samples are completely dry, you will need to collect them into a single album. To do this, you can use a stapler or hole punch. If the second option is chosen, then the sheets will need to be tied with a beautiful ribbon. You can immediately paste the plants into the album and save time on assembling the herbarium.

Signing samples. It’s not enough to make a herbarium; you should also sign the specimens. It is recommended to write the name of the plants at the top or bottom of the page. It is advisable to find in the encyclopedia not only the Russian name of the samples, but also the Latin one, then the work will become more valuable, the teacher will immediately understand that the student approached the matter responsibly. After that, all that remains is to draw up the title page, writing the last name, first name, class and topic of the herbarium. If possible, it is advisable to describe the purpose of your work and the names of the images on a separate sheet and paste it at the very beginning.

How we sewed a herbarium) Like a master class.

Well, the month of November has arrived, the snow has almost fallen, and the school ordered us to bring snowdrops from the forest to build a herbarium.
Moreover, a branch of spruce or pine, etc. linden with leaves.

For the life of me, I can only recognize a linden tree when it blooms((
And wandering through the forest and looking for a linden tree among the black bare trees - no, this activity is clearly not for me.
Thank God that instead of a linden tree it was possible to bring a poplar tree, which is what we did - we have a poplar tree with leaves under our windows. Yes, yes, in November) With such full green leaves)

Well, when we were rummaging around Sokolniki in search of spruce branches with cones (!), just in case, we collected something else that we came across along the way, and from which the leaves had not yet fallen.

Somehow we dried the leaves under newspapers and sewed them onto cardboard (270 g/m2), as ordered, but we are not looking for easy ways! Then it dawned on me that by the time the little one drags these pieces of paper to school, all that will be left of the herbarium will be horns and legs.
I had to fork out for binding cardboard and sat there gluing the sheets to the cardboard.

I didn’t intentionally decorate it with pretty things; in general, this is not my thesis work, but if the child needs something, let him decorate it himself. There are materials in the house.
The child limited himself to modest minimalism - he signed the names of the plants and the title page.

So that the sheets in the herbarium could be stacked on top of each other without damaging the cones, a simple design was invented - an ordinary cotton rope was inserted into the holes, and a knot was tied between the two sheets - this created a fairly spacious place in the spine.

Well, to finish, I simply tied the ends of the rope loosely so that the pages could be easily opened.

Probably, each of us at least once in our lives had to wonder how to make a herbarium.

Why is this necessary? The reasons can be very diverse. For example, to preserve a picked flower, save leaves for some craft, or simply prepare for a biology lesson at school.

This article will not only tell you how to make a herbarium yourself. The reader will become familiar with several ways to dry plants at home. In addition, valuable tips and tricks will be provided on how to achieve remarkable results with minimal effort.

Herbarium of leaves. General definition of the concept

First of all, we note that a herbarium should be understood as a collection of dried plants prepared in accordance with certain rules. As you know, after the necessary samples have dried, they are laid out on sheets of thick paper.

Recently, a herbarium in biology has been created by almost all schoolchildren and students studying this subject as part of the educational program.

But the first herbariums appeared in the 16th century in Italy. They were invented by a doctor and botanist named Luca Ghini. By the way, he is also the founder of the world famous Pisa Botanical Garden.

Unfortunately, the herbarium created by the inventor himself has not survived, but the work done by his direct students has survived to this day. Considering the concept in a broader sense, it should be said that it is a process that includes storing a collection and processing it.

Note that all created herbaria are registered in a special international database called The Index Herbariorum. Each set of dried plants is assigned a unique code consisting of one to six English letters.

Drying the old fashioned way

Experts say that making a herbarium with your own hands is quite simple, but some general rules still have to be taken into account.

First of all, we remember that we are not collecting wilted flowers, but fresh ones. As a rule, buds and trunks with leaves are used. Only if necessary can the root system be dried.

The collected plants must be flattened, which means the petals are removed from the massive flowers, after which the flowers are carefully aligned and squeezed with your fingers.

Next, an ordinary book comes to the rescue, and preference should be given to the heavier one. Open the publication to any page and put a couple of napkins inside, placing flowers and leaves neatly in the middle.

If the representatives of the flora are modest in size, skip a few pages and repeat the procedure. For large copies, it is recommended to use separate books.

Sometimes when drying particularly fragile flowers you may need a cloth. For what? The fact is that in this case the herbarium (flower, leaf, root system) turns out to be more durable, and, if such a need arises, it can be easily transferred to another book.

In general, experts advise doing just that. Those. After several days of drying, transfer the fabric with flowers to another book. For what? To get rid of the moisture inside the plant as quickly as possible.

After all these manipulations, we transfer the dried flowers onto so-called acid-free paper.

What is the principle of the modern approach?

You can make a herbarium with your own hands using more modern methods. For this you will need:

  • Chipboard (2 sheets);
  • several rubber bands;
  • absorbent paper;
  • microwave.

We place 3 sheets of absorbent paper on the chipboard, place flowers, which are covered on top with paper and the remaining piece of chipboard.

Each side is secured with rubber bands. We place all this in the microwave, turn on the device at medium temperature, setting the time to several minutes.

We take out our plants and wait for them to cool completely. Most likely, the task will be completed perfectly, but it is still recommended to check whether the flowers are dry. If necessary, the procedure will have to be repeated.

Do-it-yourself herbarium using modern equipment

It should be noted that to implement this method you will have to spend some money.

First of all, we purchase a microwave oven press. Please note that it must be made of a safe material, for example, ceramic, and consist of two pieces, between which flowers and leaves should be placed.

You can buy such a press in a store or even make it yourself. To do this you will need two ceramic tiles, 2 small sheets of cardboard, paper the size of the tiles and several large rubber bands.

1. Place one piece of cardboard and paper on the prepared ceramic tile.

2. Place flowers on top and cover with the remaining paper, cardboard and a second ceramic tile.

3. Tie with rubber bands and place in the microwave.

4. Turn on the device for just a minute.

5. Check how the drying process is going and return the structure to the oven for another half a minute until the flowers are completely dry.

6. We take them out of the press and use them to create our own creative compositions.

  • Plants are collected exclusively dry.
  • It is advisable to preserve all parts of the flower or leaf, first carefully straightening them.
  • Sometimes, in case of emergency, plants are dried between sheets of paper with a warm iron.
  • For fixation, so-called fish glue is used.
  • Plants are stored at full size.
  • One copy is placed on each sheet.
  • The folder is not tied up.
  • The plant genus is written at the top and the title page of the herbarium is drawn up.
  • The type of flowers or leaves collected is indicated on the back.

What plants should you collect?

First of all, we note that for the herbarium specimens should be collected without obvious damage caused by insects, fungi or mold.

Herbaceous ones, as a rule, are taken together with the root system, but for drying trees and shrubs, it is enough to take a shoot or twig. Considering that some of the collected plants may be spoiled during drying and storage, it is necessary to collect with a reserve (instead of one leaf or flower, stock up on two or three).

It happens that during the so-called quiet hunt for representatives of the flora, the weather is not too hot, and the plants required are not very tender. In this case, the collected collection can be stored for some time in a plastic bag, and then transferred to a herbarium folder.

Labeling

How to arrange a herbarium correctly? This process is no less important than collecting and drying. Agree, you want to periodically view specimens of amazing beauty on your own, or even show off the collection to friends or colleagues.

It is believed that the herbarium must contain the following information:

  • date and place of collection (region and district, vicinity of a populated area, shore of a reservoir, etc.);
  • habitat (for example, wet meadow, birch forest, lawn, roadside, swamp, etc.);
  • the name of the collector himself.

Temporary labels are filled out during the process of collecting plants in order not to forget where what material was obtained. Plants with a permanent label made in accordance with all the rules are placed in the herbarium net.

How to properly attach and store a herbarium?

Remember: you cannot firmly attach the plant itself or its parts to a sheet of paper. Otherwise, your copy will break even with a slight bend.

We attach it so that the leaf (or flower) does not dangle on the paper, and its parts do not hang down.

Thick roots and shoots are sewn on with soft-colored cotton threads. The stitches should be separate, tied with a double knot on the front side of the herbarium sheet. On the other hand, each stitch must be coated with thick glue. This action will prevent the thread from slipping; you should not pull it from the reverse side between the stitches, because this may damage the underlying herbarium sheet.

Thin parts of the plant are secured using strips of paper. The strips, in turn, are attached to whatman paper.

The plant should not be fixed by the tip. This will lead to breakage. A strip of paper is usually located near the base of the leaf (under the flower).

The label is placed in the lower right part of the sheet, although it can be placed in another place. You can store mounted sheets in shirts (newspaper, craft paper).

Many collectors advise additionally capturing the herbarium. The photo, you see, is stored longer, although it has no true value.

Collecting and drying plants is a fun activity for the whole family

If you are not a biologist or a student of the relevant department, before making a herbarium, you should still ask yourself whether this activity will bring the expected pleasure. People experienced in this matter assure that everything will happen, especially if you involve your baby in this exciting pastime. When a child takes part in collecting plants, he remembers what they look like and what they are called.

Both children and adults will be interested in learning about the origin of such unusual names as shepherd’s purse, celandine, coltsfoot. For example, not everyone knows that celandine received this name because of its properties that promote the rapid healing of wounds and abrasions. And if you look closely at the leaves of a shepherd's purse, you will notice their resemblance to the hearts or tiny bags of shepherds.

Educational facts

We already know how to make a herbarium on our own and without outside help, but it would not hurt to familiarize yourself with rare data regarding this activity.

For example, many people know that the method of drying plants between sheets of paper was invented by Luca Ghini. The invention of the term itself belongs to another person - Joseph Tournefort, a traveler and botanist from France.

No description in words can replace a herbarium sheet. This is what Carl Linnaeus thought. And it was he who determined the technology for collecting plants, which has undergone virtually no changes to this day.

By the way, great people also collected the herbarium. The first leaf in Russia was dried by Peter the Great, adding a short inscription to it: “Torn of 1717.”

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Imagine that you are reading a magical book with photos that will make your soul freeze. Page after page takes you to unknown lands, tells a story about something wonderful and how beautifully this world works. Who is the author of this work? Nature. And the name of the masterpiece is “Herbarium of leaves with flowers.” Let's read this book together to understand why it was written? Who is it intended for? And for those who have a desire to try their hand at it and help the Author continue this grandiose work, we invite you to learn how to make a herbarium with your own hands.

Let's find out together: what a herbarium is and what its goals are; little secrets of the herbalist: suitable plants, what conditions for drying a particular plant, how to distribute the herbs; how to collect a herbarium and what are the rules for its design.

About the herbarium

It is interesting that the first memories of a herbarium made by someone do not speak about the scientific purpose of the collection, but have romantic roots. The thing is that in such an unusual way the lovers preserved signs of attention. They wanted to dry the beautiful flower given to them to remember their loved one.

But in the 15th century, books about plants began to appear. Some of them were true, some were myths and legends. And it was not possible to take photographs then. Therefore, the production of the herbarium was carried out using more or less accurate drawings, from which it was sometimes difficult to identify a particular plant. But in the middle of the 16th century, scientific works suddenly began to appear with examples of glued dried plant parts.


The appearance of the botanical collection has remained virtually unchanged since then. But they began to collect it more often at home for children at school, and even for kindergarten. Why? Who needs it? And what is the purpose of such a collection?

How your herbalist will look depends directly on what your goals are for compiling a herbarium.

Classification:

  1. Special. For example, a herbarium for an elementary school.
  2. Systematic. Any system is taken as a basis. For example, by genus or family, the same colors of a dried plant, or a collection in the order of letters in the alphabet.
  3. Periodic. Organized according to the periods in which the materials were collected.
  4. Thematic. Medicinal, cereals, weeds or from indoor flowers, etc.
  5. Morphological. When material of the same type with modified organs is dried.
  6. Floral. All plants of a certain region.

Suitable plants

  • Herbarium leaves must be healthy and undamaged by insects.
  • Carefully dig them out along with the roots; free the rhizome from the ground.
  • You can make a high-quality and durable herbarium from leaves only if you collect them during the day in warm sunny weather.
  • The sample must have blooming flowers, preferably fruits too.
  • Don't limit yourself to just one sample. It is advisable to collect in reserve so that you can choose the best option for making an herbalist.
Necessary tools and materials for collecting material to make a herbarium of flowers: a spatula, a knife, an excursion folder (they can be made from two sheets of plywood/cardboard), newspaper “shirts” for drying, a label and a pen.

What to note on the label: name of the plant, name of the area and its designation (forest, field), date, who collected it (if there was a group trip, and if you collected it yourself or with your children, you don’t have to make such a note).

Conditions for drying a particular plant



The collected roots, so that they dry faster, are cut lengthwise with a sharp knife.

Flat drying is the most common. The material dried in this way can be used for decorative appliqués and albums.

How to make a herbarium yourself using the flat drying method.

Step by Step Actions

  1. Things to consider before drying flowers:

    Plants are collected only in dry weather;
    - It is advisable to find a place away from the roadway;
    - The time to choose is when the air has warmed up;
    - Only a fresh plant is suitable, without any signs of wilting.

  2. We choose a suitable book, such that our leaves can be placed freely on the page.
    Don't forget, if you don't want to ruin the book, and the plants dry out faster if you put them with clean paper on both sides.
  3. You need a press that will press the book. These may be other weighty printed publications.


Do you want your plants to dry quickly and reliably? Then it’s worth changing the paper every day for a week to clean and dry.

When the leaves dry, they release moisture, which is absorbed by the paper. If you do not change it, this will affect the quality and appearance of the material.


In the future, you can remove the plants from the book and store them in a dark place. Of course, losses are inevitable. But they can be reduced.

How long does it take to dry plants? A small amount of material will be ready in 2-3 weeks. For dense and voluminous ones, a month is needed.

In addition to the usual book, you can use a hot iron. How to dry them correctly? Lay the plant flat on a sheet of paper and cover it with another sheet. Press with an iron and then iron.


Interesting!

Blue/light blue flowers will not lose their brightness if placed in denatured alcohol for half a minute.

The density of the plant is achieved by letting it lie in a solution of PVA and water (4:1).

A solution of glycerin and water (60 degrees), 3:1, will preserve the shape of flowers. But at the same time, the solution makes the plants darker.

To dry the dandelion and prevent it from falling apart, it is picked when the box with umbrellas has opened slightly. A wire is threaded through the stem and the dandelion head is lowered for 10 seconds. into boiling water.

The whole process takes just a couple of minutes if you use the microwave at the lowest power.


How to dry bulk material, for example, what to do with a flower bud? To do this, parts of trees or flowers are placed in boxes and covered with sand or silica gel. In this case, the buds should look down.

How to properly dry flowers for an outdoor herbarium? You need to do this in the shade. The flowers have their buds facing down. And the plants should not touch each other.

How to distribute herbs in an album

Making a herbarium begins with mastering the main rule: all plants are attached to the sheets of an album, and they are covered with tracing paper (there are special albums for herbariums that can be bought at a bookstore, in the stationery department).


To mount the material, you can use threads: white or green, paper straws and glue. But under no circumstances should you use plaster or tape.

How many plants should there be to make up a collection? What size the collection will be is up to you to decide. You can even compile many volumes.

If you don’t have a special album, you can make it yourself using regular album sheets and transparent files.


But in order to arrange everything beautifully, it is advisable that there be one type of plant on one sheet. If it is larger than the page, the material can be trimmed in several places.

Important! Each page must be signed.

How to make a herbarium with a child so that the baby will also find it interesting? You can decorate everything creatively by adding drawings.

See a few more ideas for creativity, perhaps this unusual design will inspire you to do something interesting and creative:

















How to organize and organize a meeting

But that is not all. Let's talk about how to design a herbarium not only for school, but also for decorative purposes.

There are 2 options:

  1. First. Glue one plant in the middle onto a sheet of paper.
  2. Second. Select the size of cardboard to which to attach the flower arrangement with glue, taking into account the color scheme and shape of the material.
If we are talking about how to make a herbarium for school, the first option is suitable.

With the second option, it is very important to take into account all the nuances. Therefore, do not rush to glue your composition until the desired option is found. First, lay out all the flowers and leaves on the paper, you can even take a photo so that it will help you stick to the plan when you glue.

The picture is ready and can be completed with a suitable frame. Now you can decorate the wall with such an original panel.

Content

Autumn is a very beautiful time of year, golden foliage, deep blue sky, dried flowers and leaves. I want to save some landscapes and place them in my home so that they give warmth and please the eye on long winter evenings. Autumn is the best time to collect and make a herbarium of flowers, spikelets and leaves.

To make a herbarium with your own hands that will last a long time, you need to know several nuances and rules for its collection and design. Firstly, it is better to collect materials and plants for a future herbarium in dry weather, because wet flowers and leaves are more difficult to store. Secondly, in addition to standard plants that are usually used for flower arrangements, you can also select whole buds and individual petals, spikelets, seeds, etc. Thirdly, it is better to collect already fallen leaves and dried flowers, rather than plucking all the plants in a row, destroying nature. And it’s easier to dry dry materials at home.

How to make a beautiful herbarium

If you can find several leaves or flowers that are similar to each other, this can result in a very original symmetrical composition. You can collect everything you catch your eye in the forest, with a little imagination, and every piece and element will take its rightful place in the future herbarium. The best helpers in collecting materials for a herbarium are children - they don’t think about where and what can be used, but take everything in sight. Then you have to invent and find ways to attach all the collected plants, but the result is amazing.

Leaves and flowers are stored best and longest in dried form. To dry plants correctly, you can use one of the proven methods:

In addition to the means of drying materials for the herbarium, you need to remember a few more little tricks that will help in creating an original composition. For example, if the plant is dried correctly, it will be level and the top will not tilt down. The leaves can be slightly strengthened to make them denser using a solution of water and PVA glue, which are mixed in a ratio of 1:5.

You can add any dried flowers to the herbarium, but delphinium and dahlias retain color best and look best in the composition. Flower petals, dried separately from the bud, will last a long time and will decorate the picture.

Herbarium in the interior

A herbarium is a flat bouquet that can be stored in several ways: as a decorative panel, in an album, in the form of bookmarks, in a photo album, as a three-dimensional painting and many others.

Decorative panel of dried plants

For this option, you need a base, the material of which can be fabric, canvas, or cardboard. The herbarium materials are laid out with the picture that you want to create and preserve, then each element of the composition is glued and left to dry for a day under heavy pressure. The herbarium can be laid out from painted plants and elements, or it can remain in its natural color. After all work is completed, the panel must be inserted into the frame.

In album

The herbarium on album sheets is a mini-guide on botany. A separate plant is glued to each individual leaf. Instead of glue, you can use tape or thread with a needle. The latter option is guaranteed not to affect the evenness of the flower or leaf, and so that the stitches are not so noticeable, you can then carefully tint them with a similar color. To preserve the herbarium for a long time, you can put thin tracing paper between the pages, or even better, place each leaf with a plant in a transparent file. All files can be collected in one folder - it’s beautiful and reliable.

Bookmarks

In order to make bookmarks, you need 2 strips of cardboard, which are glued together, and the ribbon of the future bookmark remains between them. A small composition is laid out on the surface of one of the sides; flowers or spikelets are better suited for such a small area.

The mini-herbarium is covered with tracing paper on top (parchment paper is also suitable) and greased with a mixture of PVA glue and water in a ratio of 4:1. The composition will be visible through the translucent paper, and the edges can be secured by sewing on a machine with thread of any color.

Herbarium painting

A painting using plants is a whole art that looks very unusual and beautiful. Part of the picture needs to be drawn with paints or pencils, and some elements should be laid out with petals, grains, and twigs. A little imagination - and the masterpiece will delight you with its originality.

Photo

Look how many different options there are for designing a herbarium. You might find something you like.

How to design a herbarium

Photo album - this will be a mini book with a herbarium. Very similar to the way of storing a herbarium in an album, only the pictures and compositions will be small.

There is another type of herbarium - a clamshell. Sheets of paper are fastened together in a row, and the desired compositions or simply individual plants are laid out on them. When folded, it will be an ordinary notebook or book, and when unfolded, it will be a long strip with mini-pictures of plants.

Such a miniature composition looks very beautiful on the cover of a handmade postcard or on your favorite diary. It is best to secure the herbarium to the surface using self-adhesive film, which can be purchased at almost any stationery store.

If the herbarium is made in an album or photo album, the plants can be labeled: names, a short description, medicinal properties (if the plant has them), where and when it was found. Signatures are best done on small labels, which are then pasted in the lower right corner of the page.

To interest a child in herbarium, you can offer him to buy a special bright album for this activity and an encyclopedia, where he can find all the names of leaves and flowers. You can search for information about plants on the Internet; here you will need the help of your parents. If a child knows that mom or dad will help in compiling a herbarium, the child’s desire will only increase.

Children are often asked to prepare materials for a herbarium during the summer holidays. A walk through the forest looking for leaves and flowers, and then working on a sketchbook on a quiet evening is a great time for the whole family. When collecting and forming a herbarium, the most important thing is not the end result, but a leisurely process that will bring pleasure and joy to all family members. And the original composition of flowers and leaves will delight you for a long time and remind you of warm sunny days.

Video about herbariums

In these videos you will not only learn how to beautifully make a herbarium, but also learn about unusual types of herbariums.

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Probably, each of us at least once in our lives had to wonder how to make a herbarium.

Why is this necessary? The reasons can be very diverse. For example, to preserve a picked flower, save leaves for some craft, or simply prepare for a biology lesson at school.

This article will not only tell you how to make a herbarium yourself. The reader will become familiar with several ways to dry plants at home. In addition, valuable tips and tricks will be provided on how to achieve remarkable results with minimal effort.

Herbarium of leaves. General definition of the concept

First of all, we note that a herbarium should be understood as a collection of dried plants prepared in accordance with certain rules. As you know, after the necessary samples have dried, they are laid out on sheets of thick paper.

Recently, a herbarium in biology has been created by almost all schoolchildren and students studying this subject as part of the educational program.

But the first herbariums appeared in the 16th century in Italy. They were invented by a doctor and botanist named Luca Ghini. By the way, he is also the founder of the world famous Pisa Botanical Garden.

Unfortunately, the herbarium created by the inventor himself has not survived, but the work done by his direct students has survived to this day. Considering the concept in a broader sense, it should be said that it is a process that includes storing a collection and processing it.

Note that all created herbaria are registered in a special international database called The Index Herbariorum. Each set of dried plants is assigned a unique code consisting of one to six English letters.

Drying the old fashioned way

Experts say that making a herbarium with your own hands is quite simple, but some general rules still have to be taken into account.

First of all, we remember that we are not collecting wilted flowers, but fresh ones. As a rule, buds and trunks with leaves are used. Only if necessary can the root system be dried.

The collected plants must be flattened, which means the petals are removed from the massive flowers, after which the flowers are carefully aligned and squeezed with your fingers.

Next, an ordinary book comes to the rescue, and preference should be given to the heavier one. Open the publication to any page and put a couple of napkins inside, placing flowers and leaves neatly in the middle.

If the representatives of the flora are modest in size, skip a few pages and repeat the procedure. For large copies, it is recommended to use separate books.

Sometimes when drying particularly fragile flowers you may need a cloth. For what? The fact is that in this case the herbarium (flower, leaf, root system) turns out to be more durable, and, if such a need arises, it can be easily transferred to another book.

In general, experts advise doing just that. Those. After several days of drying, transfer the fabric with flowers to another book. For what? To get rid of the moisture inside the plant as quickly as possible.

After all these manipulations, we transfer the dried flowers onto so-called acid-free paper.

What is the principle of the modern approach?

You can make a herbarium with your own hands using more modern methods. For this you will need:

  • Chipboard (2 sheets);
  • several rubber bands;
  • absorbent paper;
  • microwave.

We place 3 sheets of absorbent paper on the chipboard, place flowers, which are covered on top with paper and the remaining piece of chipboard.

Each side is secured with rubber bands. We place all this in the microwave, turn on the device at medium temperature, setting the time to several minutes.

We take out our plants and wait for them to cool completely. Most likely, the task will be completed perfectly, but it is still recommended to check whether the flowers are dry. If necessary, the procedure will have to be repeated.

Do-it-yourself herbarium using modern equipment

It should be noted that to implement this method you will have to spend some money.

First of all, we purchase a microwave oven press. Please note that it must be made of a safe material, for example, ceramic, and consist of two pieces, between which flowers and leaves should be placed.

You can buy such a press in a store or even make it yourself. To do this you will need two ceramic tiles, 2 small sheets of cardboard, paper the size of the tiles and several large rubber bands.

1. Place one piece of cardboard and paper on the prepared ceramic tile.

2. Place flowers on top and cover with the remaining paper, cardboard and a second ceramic tile.

3. Tie with rubber bands and place in the microwave.

4. Turn on the device for just a minute.

5. Check how the drying process is going and return the structure to the oven for another half a minute until the flowers are completely dry.

6. We take them out of the press and use them to create our own creative compositions.

  • Plants are collected exclusively dry.
  • It is advisable to preserve all parts of the flower or leaf, first carefully straightening them.
  • Sometimes, in case of emergency, plants are dried between sheets of paper with a warm iron.
  • For fixation, so-called fish glue is used.
  • Plants are stored at full size.
  • One copy is placed on each sheet.
  • The folder is not tied up.
  • The plant genus is written at the top and the title page of the herbarium is drawn up.
  • The type of flowers or leaves collected is indicated on the back.

What plants should you collect?

First of all, we note that for the herbarium specimens should be collected without obvious damage caused by insects, fungi or mold.

Herbaceous ones, as a rule, are taken together with the root system, but for drying trees and shrubs, it is enough to take a shoot or twig. Considering that some of the collected plants may be spoiled during drying and storage, it is necessary to collect with a reserve (instead of one leaf or flower, stock up on two or three).

It happens that during the so-called quiet hunt for representatives of the flora, the weather is not too hot, and the plants required are not very tender. In this case, the collected collection can be stored for some time in a plastic bag, and then transferred to a herbarium folder.

Labeling

How to arrange a herbarium correctly? This process is no less important than collecting and drying. Agree, you want to periodically view specimens of amazing beauty on your own, or even show off the collection to friends or colleagues.

It is believed that the herbarium must contain the following information:

  • date and place of collection (region and district, vicinity of a populated area, shore of a reservoir, etc.);
  • habitat (for example, wet meadow, birch forest, lawn, roadside, swamp, etc.);
  • the name of the collector himself.

Temporary labels are filled out during the process of collecting plants in order not to forget where what material was obtained. Plants with a permanent label made in accordance with all the rules are placed in the herbarium net.

How to properly attach and store a herbarium?

Remember: you cannot firmly attach the plant itself or its parts to a sheet of paper. Otherwise, your copy will break even with a slight bend.

We attach it so that the leaf (or flower) does not dangle on the paper, and its parts do not hang down.

Thick roots and shoots are sewn on with soft-colored cotton threads. The stitches should be separate, tied with a double knot on the front side of the herbarium sheet. On the other hand, each stitch must be coated with thick glue. This action will prevent the thread from slipping; you should not pull it from the reverse side between the stitches, because this may damage the underlying herbarium sheet.

Thin parts of the plant are secured using strips of paper. The strips, in turn, are attached to whatman paper.

The plant should not be fixed by the tip. This will lead to breakage. A strip of paper is usually located near the base of the leaf (under the flower).

The label is placed in the lower right part of the sheet, although it can be placed in another place. You can store mounted sheets in shirts (newspaper, craft paper).

Many collectors advise additionally capturing the herbarium. The photo, you see, is stored longer, although it has no true value.

Collecting and drying plants is a fun activity for the whole family

If you are not a biologist or a student of the relevant department, before making a herbarium, you should still ask yourself whether this activity will bring the expected pleasure. People experienced in this matter assure that everything will happen, especially if you involve your baby in this exciting pastime. When a child takes part in collecting plants, he remembers what they look like and what they are called.

Both children and adults will be interested in learning about the origin of such unusual names as shepherd’s purse, celandine, coltsfoot. For example, not everyone knows that celandine received this name because of its properties that promote the rapid healing of wounds and abrasions. And if you look closely at the leaves of a shepherd's purse, you will notice their resemblance to the hearts or tiny bags of shepherds.

Educational facts

We already know how to make a herbarium on our own and without outside help, but it would not hurt to familiarize yourself with rare data regarding this activity.

For example, many people know that the method of drying plants between sheets of paper was invented by Luca Ghini. The invention of the term itself belongs to another person - Joseph Tournefort, a traveler and botanist from France.

No description in words can replace a herbarium sheet. This is what Carl Linnaeus thought. And it was he who determined the technology for collecting plants, which has undergone virtually no changes to this day.

By the way, great people also collected the herbarium. The first leaf in Russia was dried by Peter the Great, adding a short inscription to it: “Torn of 1717.”

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