How to dry flowers

Flowers are a great decoration for home that can brighten your rooms and improve your mood, but normally they can only last a few days or a week at most. Fortunately, with some proper drying methods, you can preserve the flowers both for beauty and for sentimental value for a longer time.

Air-drying flowers

Before air-drying, make sure that the flowers are not fully open because they will further bloom when drying and a fully open flower may lose its petals. Tie up to 10 flowers together and then hang them upside down. If you are dealing with large flowers like roses and peonies, you should hang them individually. The environment for air-drying needs to be dark and dry, such as the closet and the attic. After about two to three weeks, you can take off the flowers from the lines and spray them with aerosol hairspray for protection.

Microwaving flowers

Microwaving is the fastest way to dry your flowers. Roses, marigolds, and zinnias are good options but note that the flowers you choose is half-open and undamaged. Find a microwave-safe container and fill it with silica gel, a desiccant that can assist flower drying. Put the flowers in with blossom up, and then add more gel to cover the petals. After that, you can put the uncovered container in the microwave for about two minutes. Check to see if the flowers are dry periods and if not, microwave another one or two minutes. Finally, cover the container and leave it ajar for a day until flowers are fully dry.

Pressing flowers

Flowers that are suitable for pressing include pansies, lilacs, and other small flowers. You need to at first put your flowers on a sheet of dry paper like newspaper, cardboard, and tissue paper. Place another paper on top of the flowers, and press them with a heavy and large book or dictionary. Make sure the stack is in a well-ventilated, dry environment. After all, these are done, leave flowers for one to three weeks. But remember to replace the papers with dry and fresh ones, and then let it continue to press. The flowers that are pressed for weeks should be thin, crisp, and transparent enough.

How to keep dry flowers

With dry flowers, you can enjoy the pleasure no less than fresh flowers bring. Just display them in craft projects as you like. Dried flowers can also fade by time, so you still need to keep them in cool areas away from windows and other places near direct sunlight or heat.

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