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Dry flowers are as beautiful as they are hard to make. Here are
the four possible ways of getting flowers dried as soon as
possible.
Air-dried flowers This method is the simplest. It involves
hanging of the flowers upside down in a warm and dry place.
Drying takes about two weeks, depending on the specificity of
the flowers. Wild and garden flowers can easily be dried. Dry
flowers are also made out of "everlasting" plants. For best
effects, you had better bind the flowers together in bunches.
Dry flowers can be produced by mechanical pressure used upon
them. This is the second way to dry a plant. It is easy although
its main feedback is that it leaves the dry flowers flat and
without shape. Take a heavy object and place it on the wrapped
flowers. For the wrapping you can use unglazed paper, such as
newsprint or a telephone book. The drying takes from two up to
four weeks to complete.
A wise way to prevent flattening of the flowers when drying is
by burying them in drying materials, such as mixtures from sand,
or borax, or corn meal. These three materials can be useful only
in drying of specific kinds of flowers. A universal solution is
silica gel. This gel is more expensive than the above-mentioned
materials, but one of its basic priorities over others is that
it can be used over and over again without having to replace it.
It can virtually dry any kind of flower. Getting dry flowers
with the usage of silica gel is very easy. The gel has special
indication when it is wet, so that you can conclude whether the
flowers are dried. Usually the gel is white or blue when it is
dry, and is composed of tiny crystals. If infiltrated by water,
its colour gets more and more pinkish. When the flowers are
dried, the colour of the gel will automatically change. Unused
silica gel must be kept in air-tight containers. To dry the gel
itself after using it with the flowers, you need to spread it on
a tray and bake it in the oven until the crystals are blue
again.
Talking about ovens, another great way to get your dry flowers
is by putting the bunch in the microwave. It can take no more
than several minutes but the effects are really magnificent. To
prevent extreme drying, you may put a cup of water in the
microwave before getting the flowers inside. The bunch itself
must by surrounded by spread crystals of silica gel. Put the
flowers in a microwave container or on a flat tray and keep the
switch on up until three minutes. The dry flowers will be ready
depending on their density and the size and number of petals.
The heating time for denser plants with many petals will be
about 3 minutes. Smaller flowers will take a minute or less to
dry. After procuring the dried flowers, you should let them in
the silica crystals for 12 to 24 hours, so that moisture can be
thoroughly absorbed. Keep the dry flowers in air-tight
containers, as microwave drying is strongly influenced by moist
conditions. To prevent the dried flowers from ruining, you had
better spray the petals with lacquer. Dry flowers can be
produced also by combining the four ways, depending on your own
needs. For more information click Dry Flowers
About the author:
Article by Robbie
Darmona - an article author who writes on a wide variety of
subjects. For more information click Dry Flowers
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