| Drying flowers is a way to keep memories of an | | | | roses, carnations and asters. You can purchase |
| event or place for a long time. Whether they are | | | | silica gel at any craft store. All you need is an |
| flowers from a bridal bouquet, or from your | | | | airtight box (preferably plastic) and silica gel. Lay a |
| garden, drying flowers is easy to do. When | | | | bed of gel in the bottom of the container. Place |
| harvesting your flowers for drying, the best time | | | | your flowers on top of this bed and gently |
| is in the morning before the sun has had a chance | | | | sprinkle the silica gel on the flowers until they are |
| to make the flowers warm. Cut a good length of | | | | covered. Using a spoon works best for this to get |
| stem with the flowers, as you can always | | | | the gel into the crevasses without crushing the |
| remove whatever you don't need. The method | | | | blooms. Cover the box and wait 48 hours. That's |
| of drying that you use will depend on the type of | | | | it! Silica gel works very fast and the flowers hold |
| flower and craft project you will be doing. Air | | | | their color. The great thing about silica gel is that it |
| drying works well with sturdier flowers such as | | | | can be reused. You just need to place the silica |
| statice, marigolds, strawflowers and decorative | | | | gel onto a baking sheet in your oven at 200 |
| seed pods. The sturdier the flower head, the | | | | degrees to dry it back out again. |
| better they air dry. Separate the flowers into | | | | For the most natural appearance of dried flowers, |
| groups of 8 or 10 stems. Remove any diseased | | | | try glycerine. This is really preserving and not |
| leaves that you see on the stems. Bundle a group | | | | drying, but the results are wonderful. The foliage |
| of stems together and use a rubber band at the | | | | on the stems will stay a bright green and the |
| end of the stems to hold them together. Make | | | | flowers will be a bit sturdier. Prepare the stems |
| sure that the rubber band is very tight. As the | | | | by removing any bottom leaves. You may want |
| flowers dry, the stems will shrink and the rubber | | | | to thread a piece of florist wire into the flower |
| band will shrink with them. You also want to make | | | | head to keep it from drooping, or tie the stem to |
| sure the stems are long enough so that the tops | | | | some type of support, like a skewer. Mix |
| of the flowers aren't smashed together when the | | | | together one part of liquid glycerine to 1 part of |
| stems are rubber banded. Now you just need to | | | | warm water for fresh flowers and one part |
| hang the flowers upside down. You can use paper | | | | glycerine to two parts of water for woody |
| clips, string, wire hangers (unraveled) or florist | | | | stems. Submerge the stem end only into this |
| wire. Connect the hanger to the rubber band and | | | | mixture. This process can take 2 to three weeks, |
| hang in a dry place away from direct sunlight. | | | | replace any absorbed solution. Once preserved, |
| Depending on the flower it will take two weeks or | | | | remove and rinse the stems, then wipe off any |
| so for them to be completely dry. | | | | mixture that might have seeped out of leaves. |
| You can also use silica gel to dry your flowers. | | | | There you go - three different ways to dry your |
| (Silica gel is the stuff that you find in your shoe | | | | flowers. Try all three methods and mix the |
| box in little packets). It removes moisture from | | | | resulting flowers into your craft projects for a |
| flowers without crushing them. This works great | | | | multi depth arrangement! |
| for very delicate flowers such as hydrangea, | | | | |