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gw_oakley

Are you drying your flowers?

Oakley
13 years ago

Since I discovered Silica Gel I'm having a blast snipping some blooms and drying them for display over winter.

I found a pretty $10.00 3-tiered plate stand thingy at Amazon with flowers as the pattern (kind of like tea rose), and I'm placing my dried blooms on it for the winter!

It's so easy and dries in a matter of 4 days! Much better than flower pressing or hanging to dry.

Comments (6)

  • lily51
    13 years ago

    I have grown everlastings for many years. The annual statice is beautiful and easily air dries. Globe amaranth (gomphrena),paper daisies, hydrangea, german statice are also ones that dry easily in air--choose a dark place so that the colors do not fade.

    When I grew a 1/4 acre of statice I would gather the flowers on the long stalks, hang them in what used to be the grainery in the barn, then sell to craft stores. The sight of all that statice in the field and in the barn let me pretend i was growing flowers in Provence! I'm growing it all again, but on a much smaller scale.

    I use two old screens in wooden frames bought at a garage sale to dry the blooms of things like the paper daisies.
    Have also used electric dehydrators, which work well.

    Pressing flowers and leaves is also a way to preserve specimens, which then can be used for art ideas.

  • ianna
    13 years ago

    I have one too - the one you can microwave and create your dried flowers. But I didn't like the results. The flowers look horrid. Reminded me of old victoriana decors.

    Instead, I prefer to dry flowers between the pages of a telephone book. And I like to dry lavender and form them into sachets or wreaths or maybe just stand them in a bunch.

    There's a lady who sells her creatings in a trade show that comes up once a year. Her creations utilizes old wood which she forms into picture frames, paints them off white. With that she adds her pressed flowers - usually queen's Anne Lace and Annabelle Hydrangeas and sells them for $60 or more. Her things have sold well. She's got this shabby chic theme going.

  • luckygal
    13 years ago

    Right now I have a wagon full of light blue delphinium flowers drying on a large towel in the garage. I was too tired to walk out to the shed to get the drying racks DH made me and I've dried flowers on towels before. I just turned them this am and they are drying nicely. The garage is fairly dark so they are retaining their color well. I didn't even cut off the individual flowers, just clipped the top of the stalks. I've dried other flowers but never delphs before so don't know how long their color will last. While I have a flower press I've never used it but have pressed various flowers between paper towels or tissues in a large phone book. Pansies work well as do other single flowers.

    I've also made flower wreaths by weaving flowers on their stems around wire coat hangers bent into either round or heart shapes. They're really easy to make and dry in place.

    Hope to see some pics this winter of how everyone uses their dried flowers.

  • Oakley
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I have a flower press but it smashes the flowers. The gel keeps them whole and the leaves separated.

    I still have dried Globe Amaranth from last year. Lavender and blue Salvia are other easy to dry flowers hanging by a bunch.

    I can't wait until my plate is stacked deep in dried flowers. I might even put them in an apothecary jar.

  • Oakley
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Here are a few of my flowers in a jar. This is kind of fun! They won't get dusty this way either.

    {{gwi:720272}}

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    13 years ago

    I received a microwave flower press last Christmas and haven't tried it yet. I'm going to give it a shot soon I hope. I've dried a couple in a telephone book but never did enough to do anything with them. I LOVE that idea of putting them in a covered container to keep them from getting dusty, Oakley!

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