How to preserve your favourite flowers at home – 5 easy tips explained
FLOWERS and bouquets often have a sentimental value, but they don't last forever.
With these few simple tips, you can keep your favourite flowers and even display them around the house.
No matter what the occasion is - a wedding, a birthday, an anniversary, or just a nice gesture, flowers symbolise love and memories.
Preserving flowers at home is easy and cheap, and a great way to hold on to your favourite bouquet for a little longer.
There are some general rules when preserving flowers such as keeping them out of direct sunlight and planning in advance where you would like to display them.
You also need to make sure the petals are still vibrant, colourful, and unstained as you're about to preserve them, otherwise they will become discoloured.
Depending on your budget, patience and the materials you have at hand, here are the best tips to preserve flowers at home.
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1. Hang them upside down to air dry
This is one of the easiest ways to preserve individual flowers and whole bouquets.
Depending on the type of flowers, it can take anywhere from a week to a few months to fully dry them.
First, remove all leaves and foliage from the stem and tie them in small bundles using twine, rubber bands or clothes pegs.
Hang them upside down in a dry, dark, well-ventilated area.
Check every once in a while if they are ready - when they become dry and rigid, it's time to move them.
Display them in a dry, cool place.
A great tip to keep them even longer, is coating them in a few even layers of hairspray after they are fully dry.
2. Press them between books
This is a classic way to preserve flowers, and is almost effortless.
Make sure you have an idea for displaying them afterwards - a clear picture frame works great with this method.
Arrange the flowers the way you want them to be preserved and place them between the pages of a heavy book, such as a telephone directory.
Check that the paper is absorbent and not glossy, so it can soak up the moisture.
Place a few more heavy books or objects on top to keep it completely flat, and leave the flowers pressed for two to four weeks.
To keep them from bleeding through the pages and destroying the book, lay some paper towel or wax paper with the flowers before pressing them.
3. Dry them in the microwave
While it may sound strange, microwaving is a super quick and easy way of preservation.
Before you start the process, make sure to clean the flowers and cut out most of the stem.
Find a microwave-safe container and use silica gel to cover the bottom, no more than one or two inches.
Place the flower blossoms inside and add another inch of gel.
Alternatively, you can use coffee filters or kitchen towel to absorb the moisture.
Set the microwave to medium and microwave for 2-5 minutes in short 10-30 second intervals.
Some flowers, like roses, can withstand higher temperatures.
Once microwaved, let the flowers sit for 24 hours and then lightly brush off the excess gel.
4. Place them in a Glycerine solution
Glycerine preserves flowers and foliage by replacing the water in the plant, making the preserved article bright and long-lasting.
This method is more suitable for foliage, but certain flowers such as hydrangea, gypsophila and bells of Ireland produce lovely results.
For the glycerine solution, mix two parts of lukewarm water to one part glycerine and place the stem of the flower into the mixture.
If you're only preserving leaves, they should be submerged completely in the glycerine-water solution.
It takes between two and four weeks, and the final results are impressive.
5. Encase them in resin
This is a fun way to not only preserve the flowers, but turn them into a great decorative piece, a paperweight, or a coaster.
Get a mould of your choice and fill it halfway with epoxy resin.
Place the flowers inside and arrange them nicely, then fill up the rest.
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Make sure the resin is dry before removing the mould and displaying.
This way, the flowers preserve their shape and colour, and are essentially frozen in time.
