Dried Flowers and Floral Arrangements

Flowers

The language of flowers is complex and a single flower can take on multiple meanings, although most are connected to beauty. All flowers have to droop and lose their beauty after being harvested, unfortunately. The good news is that one can enjoy pretty blooms for much longer by drying them. Dried blooms may be used for several things. Special occasions such as Valentine's Day usually prompt persons to start drying blooms because of the number of flowers that are given out and received. You may want to time your flower drying before summer, so that you can make the most of more wild blooms, as many people do. You can air dry your flowers to preserve them. Most people remove leaves and small shoots from the stems prior to bunching up several flowers to be dried. Tie the bunched-up flowers with a cord and hang them with the flowers pointing to the floor. If you want your flowers to dry more quickly, make sure there is breathing room in between clumps. Keeping the stems in an upside-down position ensures that the stems remain straight. Doing it the other way usually produces rather droopy-looking flowers. If you have a shadowy, dry space in your home, this is the best place for drying flowers. The hues of dried blooms are preserved by removing them from the touch of the sun. You must be certain that there is no moisture in the drying area. Wait at least two weeks before testing whether the air-dried blooms are ready yet or not. If you dry them in a more humid environment, it takes longer for the flowers to be dried properly. While it is easy to determine when the drying process is complete as a dried flower will feel stiff and dry, it is best to check on the buds every two to three days to be sure. Blooms with a higher moisture content dry better with the use of a drying agent such as silica gel, which can be readily bought in craft stores. You may even dry flowers by pressing them between sheets of paper and pressing down on them. If you press your preserved flowers, be prepared to wait as much as over a month for them: silica gel usage would require you only a few days of waiting, on the other hand. Immediately upon completion of the process, one may use one's preserved flowers. Just because a flower has been dried does not mean it can no longer be used in a floral arrangement, as many arrangements actually use them. It is entirely possible to make do with a simple application too: put your flowers in a basket of some sort and put that in a room where you want some extra accent with the d©cor. Be warned that these dried floral arrangements shall tend to gather dust. You can simply work with a light duster to keep them clean. One may even place some mothballs near the buds to keep them from being eaten by various insects. The art of drying makes it possible to enjoy the colors and vibe of summer and spring all year round. You can get a lot of great decorative materials from flower drying. This craft is most often practiced by those who want to keep the memorable bouquets they have received.