Press your flowers
Pressed flowers may be the easiest and most recognizable way to dry your flowers. You use weight to press your flowers flat and give it some time to press all of the moisture out. This is a great choice if you’d like to frame your flowers, but if you want your flowers to keep your shape you’ll want to try another method.
Drying time: 3–4 weeks
Materials needed: Flowers and Heavy books or a flower press.
In books:
Place the flowers either directly between the pages or put them first between two sheets of paper towel. Make sure that you have approximately 50 pages between flowers. Weigh the phone book down with a brick and let the flowers dry for three weeks.
Place the additional book on top for extra weight and dry for at least three weeks.
In a flower press:
Most craft stores sell standard presses. They are usually made of plywood boards secured with four bolts and wing nuts at their corners.
Thoroughly dry and remove one batch of flowers before you add another batch. Flowers at different stages of the drying process have different moisture levels.
The pressure is adjusted with the wing nuts. Start with gentle pressure so that the flowers have some air circulation at first. Tighten the press after a few days.
Air dry your flowers
This process also takes a few weeks to complete, but your flowers will preserve more of their shape with this method than with pressing. Your flowers will lose some color and aren’t the easiest to craft with, but they look great in a vase or hanging on the wall.
Drying time: 2+ weeks
Materials needed:
Flowers
Strings
Instructions:
1. Strip excess foliage from flowers and cut stems no shorter than six inches. To help flowers retain their colour during the drying process, make sure to remove them from sunlight as soon as they’re cut. Hang flowers individually or rubber-band stems together to hang a bouquet.
2. Find a dark, dry area with good circulation. Secure the bottom of the flowers’ stems to a hanger so that they hang upside down to dry. Leave flowers for two to three weeks until completely dry.
3. Remove flowers from hangers and spray with unscented hairspray for protection.
We can also preserve your bouquet for you and put it in a frame. Get in touch to talk about it!
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