Before we go to write about dried flowers lets us see what is the importance of flowers in nature? No one can deny the importance of flowers in nature. They not only increase the beauty of nature but also important for birds and insects as they feed on the nectar or seeds of the flowers. Flowers are also used in creating several medicines and health care products so they are equally important for humans too. But what if we dry these flowers? will dry flowers equally beneficial for us?
Let us discuss how to dry flowers and what the advantages of dried flowers are;
How to dry flowers?
There are many ways by which we can dry flowers.
Air dry method
This is the easiest possible way, where you keep your bouquet of flowers placed in air and let it dry naturally. The air takes away the water particles out of the flowers and you get dried flowers in some days. All you have to do is to hang your flowers upside down. But this may also result in loss of flower petals when they dry. So you have to tie them in such a way that they avoid falling off.
Paper dry or book dry method
This is the easy yet time taking method to get dried flowers. All you have to do is to clean the flowers from dust and any liquid over them. Then place them on a newspaper or any plain paper, spread the petals and then cover the flower. Now you can keep this flower in a dry place, you can also put this below a heavy book for pressing the flower and more fast drying process. Secondly, you can also use books to get dried flowers, for this you can to keep flowers directly in a heavier book for several days, or months. So flower drying by the pressing method is very useful
Heat pressing with microwave
As the name may indicate, this method involves heat pressing with the help of the microwave. It is a safe process which gives you dried flowers instantly. Microwave heat is used to remove the water from the flower petals. You have to take two microwave ceramic plate, coffee filters and flowers of course. Now put the plate in a way that it has its face above, place one coffee filter here, then place the flowers then again coffee filter over the flowers and then the other plate in the face above position, now you can put this inside the microwave for one minute and remove it out of the microwave. Check the dryness and repeat if the required dryness is not achieved.
Chemical drying method
There is another way of drying flowers with the help of silica gel. Silica gel is a drying agent and it has been used for this in several ways. How to get dried flowers with the help of silica gel? All you have to do is to take a container such as airtight jar and place silica to get at the 1inch bottom of the container. Now place flowers over it and then again spread silica gel over the flower particularly over the petals completely, then cover the lids and leave it for some days. Check them from time to time until you feel they are enough dried. Then remove the silica gel and clean the dried flowers
Uses of dried flowers
Dried flowers have been used in many ways for decades.
Decoration
You can use dried flowers for decoration purpose, such as in vases, you can hang them on walls or preserve them in glass to create beautiful decoration pieces.
Some edible dried flowers petals are used as desert dressings. Some are also used in making tea along with green tea leaves.
Beauty and skincare
Some dried flower petals are also used in skincare and beauty enhancement. Such as, they are used in the herbal bath, body scrub and facial marks. Some people even use them for hair care.
Dying
Some dried flowers petals have beautiful colours which can be used in dying different things as a natural dye.
Refreshment
People use air freshener with artificial fragrant elements which are actually full of chemicals and not good for health. Why don’t you use a natural way for the refreshment of your rooms? So for this purpose dried flowers are also used, together with some fixatives and essential oils. These things make the fragrance long-lasting in the rooms.
So these were the few uses we described here for dried flowers.
The Heart of Stavern
In the very heart of Stavern, a beautiful little town in Norway, lies our store Stavern Blomstermakeri. We focus on interior, creativity and happiness. We are all about that blossoming feeling from the heart. If you have a passion for flowers, need inspiration or are keen to learn more about what we do here in Stavern, feel free to follow us on Pinterest for inspo, Instagram for photos, Youtube for learning or Facebook for the newest updates.