Making pressings of seaweeds
Sort and clean your algae.
Find a suitable size specimen that fits your paper.
Crustose and coralline species are
usually air-dried without pressing and
stored in containers.
Pour clean seawater
into the pressing tray over a sheet of
herbarium paper.
Place your specimen on the wet paper
and use forceps to arrange the stipes
and blades to create a pleasing composition.
If your algae is filamentous, use a paintbrush
to gently position the blades.
If necessary, trim the specimen of
crowding blades to better show the
natural branching pattern of the algae.
Lift the paper from the pan at a shallow
angle to keep the algae in place.
Place it on a sheet of blotter paper or clean newspaper.
Assemble the plant press in the following  sequence:
Lay a sheet of cardboard on the inside
face of a frame.
Lay the blotter paper
and mounted specimen.
Cover with wax paper and another sheet of blotter paper.
Finish with another sheet of cardboard.
You may repeat these steps for more
specimens; just continue stacking the
press in the same order.
Weigh down the press evenly with a heavy object, such as a bucket of sand or seawater.
Check the press daily and
replace any damp blotter papers with
clean dry paper.
Remove the pressed
specimens and label them with the
seaweeds' scientific names, the date and
location where they were collected, the
names of the persons who collected them,
and the source book used to identify them.
Herbarium sheets of your pressed
specimens can be laminated for lasting protection.
Your class can make a reference collection that            will be useful for years to come.
