Most women (and some men I’m sure) love receiving a beautiful bouquet of flowers. But beauty doesn’t last, and soon they begin to wilt to complete the death sentence created when they were cut.
But, they don’t have to die! There is a way to keep their beauty in our homes and hearts forever, and that way is to dry them out. Why have vases of fake fabric and plastic flowers around your house, when you can have real ones with sentimental nostalgia too.
I normally don’t like to receive cut flowers, I’d rather receive a plant; however, I still appreciate them on the rare occasions I receive them. Such as my graduation in December – my Aunt gave me a beautiful bouquet of dyed purple, pink, green, and white roses. Instead of fretting of their beginnings and sustainability, I turned off my brain and just enjoyed them. I knew I wanted to dry them out.
My mom was appalled to come home and see the flowers hanging upside down, just days after I received them. “What are you doing!? They are still so fresh and beautiful!” Well, it’s simple. I want to preserve THAT perfect beauty, so I dried them at that moment, instead of waiting until they started to wilt. It’s an trade-off, but well worth it. Now I have a bouquet of perfect looking roses forever.
They have been sitting at my boyfriends house wrapped in newspaper with a Christmas present bag as a temporary vase – for the last 2 months. So today I decided to stop procrastinating and do something with them.
Here is what I came up with:
This was my first time creating an arrangement of flowers. I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome. Definitely looks WAY better than the Christmas bag I had them in.
1) Dry out your flowers by tying a twine around them and hanging them in a warm, sunny spot. Ideally, do this at their prettiest phase.
2) Once dry, remove most of the leaves from the stems. Leave a few pretty leaves near the top.
3) Crumble up some of the leaves and place them in the bottom of your vase.
4) Begin arranging your flowers in the vase. Ideally, I think this is a 2 person job unless you are a pro. My arrangement probably would have looked alot better if I had a helper. Cut the stems to layer the height of the flowers. Only cut a little at first, because you cannot add length back.
If you have any of that flower foam used to arrange fake flowers, you can stick your flowers in it. As I was working with materials at hand that I could reuse, I had to make do without. Step 5 will create a cushion around the stems and help hold them in place. Which is why you need a second set of hands in the meantime. My flowers moved around so much, between this step and the next, that this one is like a rough draft, and step 6 is the final draft.
Be careful at this step as your petals are delicate. Save any fallen petals in a separate pile. If you are working with roses, it may be easier if you remove the thorns. Once I got my flowers in the arrangement that I liked, then I loosely tied them together near the middle of the stems with the ribbon I had used to dry them. Make sure you tie it low enough that the leaves in step 5 will cover it.
5) Begin adding the rest of the leaves around the stems. Fill the vase as much as you desire, I recommend about 2/3 full.
6) No doubt your flowers will have shifted during step 5. With the leaves done and in place, arrange your flowers into their final arrangement. This is the time to be anal and micromanage. The leaves will keep the flowers in place.
7) Place the extra petals you had on the top of the leaf pile. Consider stuffing some further down using a prod like the handle of a cooking spoon. If you have enough petals, you may want to make layers of leaves and petals. Ultimately step 5 and 7 is up to your creativity and will depend on what flowers you are using, how many leaves and petals you have, and other materials you have on hand.
Wallah! You now have a lovely arrangement of flowers made by the earth and you! Enjoy.
Let me know what you think, AND please let me know if you decide to try this yourself and how it turns out.
hugging you GOODBYE 