Preserving real flowers

There appear to be 101 ways to preserve real flowers. Those little powdered packets from the florist or write ups promise an aspirin in the water will cure all. However, I've never had great luck with any of those methods.

When I receive real flowers and wish to hang on to their memory for a long time to come, this is the way I do it.

1. Take action on first wilt

At the first sign of a flower wilting in the bunch, this is the time to take immediate action or you'll loose the effect. Remove the flowers from their water source and place onto a flat surface.

2. Arrange

Take note at this time how you'll be displaying them. Mine will be displayed from up above hanging upside down, so I nudged the top flowers to be higher, and the bottom flowers lower. Bind together.

3. Hang

My plan is to leave them here, however you could separate the bunch and do whatever you wish although they are extremely fragile once dry. I've found the best method is to dry them in the arrangement of your choice. If you wanted to display the roses separately, I'd hang each rose upside down without having them touch each other.

Dress them up with raffia, twine, ribbon, whatever you have on hand. My secret stash of raffia has disappeared so tangled ribbon found in a box was my quick chosen method this round. (I am so going to build a craft area!)

The outcome will be a very dry, slightly time worn weathered appearance. And they are as beautiful dry as alive, just in a different sense.

The above method works with other real dried flowers as well.

Hydrangeas

Here's a real cheat sheet method of drying! The hydrangeas in the above picture were left on the bush since last fall, and I picked them in spring. I loved the sepia tone to them for this picture. Pick the wilted flowers on a dry day and they'll stay like this forever.

Another fab tip for hydrangeas is, pick them when in full bloom when they are the colour you desire the most, then display them how you wish them to stay. They will slowly move and dry in the perfect position.

Status

 

The above picture is an example of what I prefer NOT to do with status. I like to pick status fresh, arrange how it will stay, and it will naturally dry in the exact shape you desire. If I had done that to the above arrangement, you would not see any green stems, just glorious flowers curving around their container.

However you don't always know in the months ahead what you require. So, this works in a pinch. :) 

Baby's Breath

And the exact same holds true for baby's breath. Pick a massive bunch, and place them in an old crate and let them dry. They will dry perfectly in place and look like that for as long as you don't rearrange them!

Keeping the dried flowers out of direct sun will prolong their colour moreso as well. And they do get dusty so I just blow on them from time to time. :)

Do you have any special methods of drying flowers that have worked well for you? Please share! 

Friday is the last day to vote for PAINT. See you Sunday night with a new entry!