A third way to dry flowers
is really kind of a unique way because it allows you to preserve the full fullness
of a lot of flowers
that have a lot of petals,
such as zinnias and roses and these kinds of things where
you won't lose that three-dimensional effect.
And that's through the use of some type of a drying agent, in this case silica gel. Now silica gel
is available at
just about any hobby or craft store you might want to choose to shop at
and it's a material that basically takes the moisture out of the material
while still preserving the full
shape of the flower you're trying to dry.
We're going to be using zinnias, roses, and some rudbeckia here
as examples
but the thing you need is a container
to place your silica gel in.
It can be anything you want: a cardboard box or in this case a plastic tub.
And you basically put a layer of silica gel in the bottom of the container.
Your flowers are, again, prepared just like anything else, picked properly, the proper time.
They should be dry.
The stem is cut very short.
We're going to replace that stem with a wire when we get done with it,
but it's cut very short
and it's simply
inserted into the silica gel
like that
so that the flower basically lays flat in the silica gel facing
upwards. So we've got zinnias, roses
and we'll put a rudbeckia right there.
and now the next step it simply to take the silica gel
and slowly pour it over the flower
and perhaps shaking the container
so that the silica gel gets between
all of the petals. You want these thing
thoroughly covered and the silica gel
in every nook and cranny of the flower possible. So we've covered that one zinnia,
we're covering this rose. You can see the silica gel going in between the petals like you see right there.
So basically we're covering these flowers with silica gel.
Once covered, the container is set off to dry somewhere. No need to cover the thing,
it allows the moisture to escape,
and just allowed to sit there. Now it may take several weeks for the flowers that have lots of petals
maybe a lot less for the things like rudbeckia with a single petal,
but the beauty of this is once these are uncovered
if we look at this as a dried zinnia
it will retain its three-dimensional shape
color will be almost as you see it right here
and it's ready to be used in a
vase or other type of container as you see fit.
As you can see we've cut these stems very short and now we have to construct an artificial stem.
Simple to do.
A piece of florist wire that you get at any hobby shop, insert it throurgh the base of the stem
up through the center of the flower
a small hook formed at the and of the wire as you see right there
and then pulled right back down through which anchors the wire,
hides the wire,
and creates your artificial stem.
While silica gel can be an expensive investment in flower drying
it's reusable.
All you have to do is that
make sure the silica gel dries out between uses
before utilizing it for another batch of flowers.
Another thing to consider when you're using silica gel is the fact that some flowers have
few petals,
others have many like this zinnia, some of the roses, that kind of thing.
It's probably a good idea not to mix these with these because these are going to take a
lot longer to dry,
these a short amount of time to dry. You may want to be using them sooner, so
try to gather up all your flowers with lots of petals and put them in one box,
those with few petals put them in another box
and they'll dry a lot more uniformly that way,
but also you can then utilize the whole box at one time, but if you don't utilize the whole
box of flowers at one time
these can remain in the silica gel almost indefinitely
because they're preserved
and it's just a matter of using them when you want to,
taking them out very carefully,
shaking them off
and utilizing them in your arrangements.
Using silica gel or other a drying agent
allows you a whole lot more latitude in preserving
the full quality, three-dimensional shape, color
of a lot of garden flowers that you would not normally be able to enjoy
in the dead of winter.