How to dry flowers and foliage
Long gone are the days of the dusty dried floral arrangements that rest upon the mantelpiece – dried flowers are back in fashion and they mean business!
Whether you are wanting to dry your flowers to make into something else or just want to keep your flowers dried in a vase to display in your home then there are more than a few methods you can use to achieve this - some are really simple techniques you can follow.
Techniques you can try at home
Air drying
This is an easy way to dry your flowers yourself at home, no specialised equipment is needed and at the end your will have some fantastic dried flowers.
Firsty, lay your bouquet out and seperate the stems - this will allow you to access all the leaves that need trimming off and remove any dead or dying flowers and stems.
Next, trim off any excess leaves and foliage from the stems (you can keep these too and dry them separately!)
Tie with a rubber band and hang upside down in a place with low light
check for signs of mould, due to moisture and humidity this can happen. If needed move to a different location with good ventilation. Be sure to remove and mouldy stems or flowers.
Once dried you should be ready to use these within 2-3 weeks, but some can take a little longer depending on the moisture content and the type of flower, i:e rose heads can take a little longer depending of the size of the rose head.
This is my preferred method and easier to check on how the flowers are getting on so there are not nasty surprises when you come to check them.
Silica Gel
silica gel is a good way to dry your flowers if you are hoping to preserve the shape somewhat however, like all flower drying most will change colour still, this is the nature of flower drying and each flower, even the same species can dry differently.
The initial outlay for the silica can be expensive however, if you are planning on drying multiple flowers then this can be a good investment for the long term as silica gel can be dried out and reused multiple times.
the cons of silica gel I have found however is, especialily with flowers with heads, is the crystals can get stuck inside and adds extra work to remove them.
I have used silica in the past however is can be time consuming and costly in the long run to purchase and maintain if you dry a lot of flowers regularly, not to mention messy!
Pressed flower method
Pressing flowers is an easy and efficient method for preserving your flowers.
Place simple and fairly flat flowers between sheets of scrap paper weighed down with some books
The pressed flowers will be dry in a week and will keep their colours beautifully
Pressed flowers should generally dry in around 3 weeks ready to be made into something else, if not leave for another week or 2 to be sure! Drying flowers and foliage
To sum it all up, there are plenty of methods for drying your flowers, some work best with how you are looking to preserve them longterm, pressed flowers work best for cards, silica and hang drying are good for resin or photo frame designs and even if you just want to place them in a vase.
Have a play around, see what works best for you and the space you have and have fun with it! You will find your own rhythm and make a few mistakes but you will learn so much and make some fantastic preservations along the way!