I want to share my experience and tips on how to dry flowers :)

Tip № 1

DRYING FLOWERS IN A BOOK

(OR UNDER PRESSURE)

BOOK is a simple and common way to dry plants, moreover, it is the most successful one! Before drying flowers make sure that they are dry, otherwise they will spoil your book, and flowers may even grow mouldy! Many flowers themselves are juicy and watery that is why you should put them in white writing paper, it is dense and the most suitable, unlike napkins (napkins are printed on plants and spoil the appearance). My personal advice, put all the possible flowers in white writing paper, without exception! Flowers dry in 2 weeks, sometimes faster, for example in only 3-5 days. Many flowers keep their colour, others lose it, it happens in any drying way!

DRYING UNDER PRESSURE is quite effective, there are different variations, that is why I suggest my own version. You will need: pressure, cardboard, cotton, gauze, round cotton pads. You should fill gauze fabric with 1-1.5 cm layer of cotton wool or even more, then fold it in half, and put plants in cotton pads or without them inside, then put gauze fabric in a cardboard box and put press on top, for example, a heavy book etc. Note that you are to straighten plants and place them with their front down before putting them in 2 cotton pads, i.e. top and bottom, they preserve the flower. You can do without cotton pads, then lay the plants out with their front down on cotton wool (cotton wool is already on gauze), fold in half and place them under pressure. Gauze pattern itself may spoil plants, i.e. they get checked and striped, but is it beautiful!? You can experiment and use only cotton wool or gauze fabric and cotton pads, the goal is to preserve shape and volume.

Tip № 2

HANGING FLOWERS

Perhaps, this is the best and the easiest way to dry flowers! Tie flowers with 5-10 cm stem tightly with a thread and hang down, leaving until completely dry! Remember that only dry flowers keep their form, but some plants just dry up and look worse.

After the flowers are dried, they should be preserved :) In dried form, flowers become fragile and brittle. Volume flowers should be stored in plastic cups, or individual boxes, you can decompose them into paper bags (see the photo) and place all dried flowers in a closed box.

Tip № 3

DRYING FLOWERS IN SEMOLINA :)

Do you like semolina? I love it only with jams and sweets! :)

Well, this is a controversial drying method, there are some peculiarities, despite simple tutorials on this topic. In the photos, you can see what happens in the end, how colour and flowers are preserved. Remember that semolina should be dry and better more expensive, it is my opinion, based on the result! It is better to put plants with the front down, or sideways. I came to the conclusion that too much semolina isn't good, it will only be worse, it is better to sprinkle with it a little, otherwise it will only crush the plants, compress them and even result in mold, rotting! Many plants are not able to survive such drying, they crumble. If you pour semolina inside the plants, it won't keep their shape either, but rather crush them (though bell-flowers can undergo such an experiment, but roses become loose and crumble). As soon as flowers have dried, you should remove them gently, catching them accurately, for example, with a long needle, and then clean them from semolina with a brush, if it doesn't work, blow semolina away. Bear in mind, if you leave semolina, then it will appear in your crafts :) for example, in epoxy resin, it may even rot there :)

In the photos, you can see how some plants keep their colour and it's great :)

Now a little about semolina in drying plants process :) Well, I have two types of semolina in the photo (yellow is expensive, white is cheap). Expensive semolina suits the best, it has grain structure, it is denser, while cheaper semolina, on the contrary, is soft, as if wet, it spoils plants and smells like rottenness. I think it is worth drying semolina before you start drying flowers! At first, conduct your experiment with useless plants, to understand how it works, what dries well and how not to spoil something! The main thing in this case is your desire to achieve a positive result!

Friends! It was my little tutorial on drying plants and I told you only about the methods that I tested in practice, and some methods are to be tested (oven, microwave, other types of cereals, salt etc.). Despite difficulties and even losses :) from improper drying, I still was able to dry and save a few plants :) I have volume and flat plants. If you need something or have questions, I am happy to talk and share, both tips and dried flowers!

Good luck!