Fresh flowers are often at the centre of special occasions. A wedding is one of them, and instead of throwing a special and meaningful bouquet in the bin, why not preserve it?
Preserving a bouquet is a great way to create a lasting memento, but how do you do it? In this post, we’ll share the different ways you can preserve flowers yourself.
Drying your flowers
For you to be able to preserve your bouquet, the flowers need to be dried. There are several ways that you can do this:
Air drying
Air drying is easy and doesn’t require much effort. You can air-dry your bouquet by trimming any excess leaves or foliage on the bottom of the stems. Using a piece of string or similar, tie around the bottom of the bouquet leaving some extra for hanging.
Hang the bouquet upside down so it hangs freely ensuring it is out of reach if you have young children or pets in the house. Bouquets that have flowers and foliage with longer stems and robust flowers tend to dry better. Small petaled flowers and those that contain a lot of pollen, aren’t great for drying as the little petals and pollen will typically fall out.
Drying flowers with a microwave
There are a couple of benefits to drying your flowers using a microwave. They dry out much quicker and typically retain more of their original depth of colour. If you have an exceptionally large bouquet, drying via this method may not work as it won’t fit properly. This technique is best reserved for small posies.
You’ll need a microwave-safe plate and paper towel. Place a sheet of paper towel on the plate and then the bouquet on top of that. Microwave for 1 minute and continue to microwave at 30-second intervals until they are dried. Once they have dried, let them sit for 30 minutes before touching them.
Make sure you remove any ribbon, string, or anything else on your bouquet that isn’t organic before microwaving them. Remember less is more when doing it this way as you can always microwave for longer, you cannot un-microwave your flowers if you put them on for too long.
Silica Sand
Silica sand is another effective way to dry your flowers. You’ll need an airtight container big enough to house your bouquet and enough silica sand to cover the bouquet in the container. Place around 30mm of silica sand into the bottom of the container to prop the bouquet up, stem end first. Trim off any wilting, dying or excess flowers and foliage first.
Cover the bouquet with the sand ensuring you do this slowly to avoid damaging any petals in the process. Once you have covered the bouquet with silica sand, place on the lid. After a week or two, your bouquet should be beautifully preserved. Remove it from the container, ensuring you dust off any remaining silica sand with a soft brush.
Silica removes remaining moisture in the flowers and stems and can increase the rate the flowers dry.
Preserve your bouquet in resin
Resin is a product that has taken the DIY and craft world by storm in recent years, and it’s a great way to maintain the original appearance of your bouquet. You’ll need a silicone mould, resin and hardener.
Arrange your flowers as you please in the mould, measure up your resin and hardener before mixing the two together. Once you have mixed both the resin and hardener, you can then pour it over your flowers. Allow it to cure before attempting to remove it from the mould.
Press the flowers
Pressing your bouquet is a beautiful way to display your arrangement. This is easy to do, and you can either press the entire bouquet or individual flowers. Place the flowers on wax paper ensuring they are positioned where you want them to be.
Place another piece of wax paper on top of the flowers and then place them in the middle of a heavy book such as a large textbook or telephone book. Put additional weight on top of the book such as weights or more books to keep it compressed. Leave for a week at the minimum. You can then display your pressed flowers in a frame or however else you like.
Dip them in wax
Dipping your flowers in wax will preserve them but not forever, so if you just want them to last longer than a week, this is the perfect solution. You’ll need a saucepan and some paraffin wax.
Dip the flowers individually into the wax once it’s melted and slightly cooled, remove and allow to dry. These will last for around 6 months, and this process maintains the natural colour of your flowers.
Chat to your florist!
If you know you want to preserve your fresh bouquet, make sure you have a chat with your florist about which flower and greenery choices are best. This will ensure you maintain a full bouquet that remains as intact as possible. Some delicate flower types aren’t suitable for preserving and you may not achieve the result you had hoped for.
We hope this post has given you an idea of how to preserve your bouquet yourself, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our friendly team here at Mrs Gibbons Flowers. We specialise in Brisbane Wedding Florist and event flowers brisbne and gold coast and would love to help if we can.
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