Dried roses the easy way

This is an easy way to preserve a special bouquet of roses. It makes an easy, natural decoration for your wall. It's a great way to save your Mother's Day bouquet; she'll remember how much you appreciate her for years to come.

Step 1: Preparing the Roses

Long before the flowers fade, remove them from the vase.
Remove any faded leaves and blooms.
Using a handy-dandy pruner, trim stems. (If I win the contest, I too, will have a handy-dandy pruner.)

Comments

[akaStacy]

I have been drying flowers for years. For best results you need air circulation around each flower so you don't get one side that is flat or shaped funny. You can use hangers, just be sure to secure the flowers so they are not touching. You can also use string tied horizontally to hooks in the ceiling. Just be sure to tie knots every few inches to keep the flowers separate. Chain also works because the links separate the flowers. You can also use a drying rack if you plan on drying flowers often (I can tell you how to make one if you want, just contact me at contactanastasia (at) yahoo (dot) com. The very best way to dry flowers at home in my opinion is with silica gel because the petals don't turn out wrinkly, but it's much more complicated. I would be willing to explain if anyone wants to know.

I prefer to leave some of the leafs on when I dry flowers, but that is personal choice. Many types of greenery can also be dried. For most you can use the directions for flowers above. For ferns what you want to do is lay them flat between a few sheets of newspaper. This produced a pretty nice effect. You don't want to completely press them flat because that wouldn't look natural. Putting 3 or 4 sheets of newspaper over the top should keep them from curling in on themselves without making them completely flat. More sheets may be needed. Use your judgement. You want the paper to hold the leaves down, but not flatten them.

There is also a way to preserve greenery in glycerine. It can be bought at most craft stores. It is nice because whatever you preserve will not be totally dry and brittle. It is more of a slightly flexible waxy effect from what I have read. The downside is the foliage turns color, but it gives you autumn hues like browns, etc. I have seen some finished pieces and they were quite pretty. The instructions for use are on the bottle. You find it in the floral department of craft stores. From what I understand you can buy glycerine other places for a lot less money. You would just have to look up the instructions. I know you heat the glycerine and put your stems in. The foliage sucks up the glycerine. That's all I know off hand though.

It is also very important to give the flowers enough time to dry completely. If you turn them upright to soon the heavy flower heads will flop to one side. This is especially true for roses and other flowers with a heavy head.

I hope this help at least one person Feel free to message me with any questions. I have a lot of experience and numerous books on both drying and pressing flowers.

[sunshiine]

I enjoyed your tutorial!  Can't wait to try it!

[Strawberryholt]

If you know you are going to save the roses then when you are nearing the day replace the water re cut the stems and put glycerin in the vase with warm water. it will make your dried roses less brittle.

[ElChick]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that next time we dry some flowers! :)

[monkeywoman]

Here's an additional tip: when you dry your roses against the wall one side will end up flattened. In order to avoid that, hang them from a lamp or light fixture or anything else that sticks out from the wall. Good luck!

[linuxmom]

Nice tip...thanks.

[ElChick]

When drying my wife's flowers, I hang them from a "cup hook" I have set into the ceiling in the corner of our bedroom. This way it also has the added advantage of sprucing up the decor while they dry! As a side note, this is also a great way to dry herbs. When drying herbs, you hang them upside down so all of the essential oils "drain" into the leaves and concentrate the flavor. (At least, that's how it was explained to me.) Anyway, it works. We always have spearmint, basil, lemon thyme, and other herbs drying in our house during the summer. Nice 'Ible!

[LustfulBites]

I love saving the roses my boyfriend grows me. I also Put Hair spray on them so they keep their color over time and put pretty beads on the string :)

[MissPennyFarthing]

He grows them for you?! That's so nice! :-) Do you use the hair spray before you hang them to dry, or after?

[foxy1paco]

I did the same thing, basically, I took my graduation rose and hung it by thread from a rafter in the attic for a week in the summer. Who needs water for their flowers/memories when they have dried ones. Mine still stands great in the vase on my nightstand. So, all in all, good idea.

[ARVash]

I love roses (:

[Spl1nt3rC3ll]

:/ I can't vote for you because the button says "enter here" instead of "Vote". When I click it it takes me to the contest homepage...

[LinuxH4x0r]

Try this
http://www.instructables.com/contest/flowers/?show=ENTRIES&sort=USERVOTES

Hope that helps!

[linuxmom]

You can VOTE for me on the contest page-just scroll down to the entries.....thanks for your support

[Stalker]

I don't know if it would help, but I heard that adding glycerol to the water in which roses are kept makes them last longer. Mayby it will also help to preserve them.

[Dungeonbrownies]

I could never figure out why they wouldnt dry right and resorted to pressing rosese, which didnt turn out too well, this is useful, thanx

[linuxmom]

Hopefully, you'll find it as easy as I do. I, too, have pressed roses but usually the crumbled on me when I tried to do anything with them. Any ideas out there for pressed roses?

[LinuxH4x0r]

Great job, hope we win!

[linuxmom]

You're the best! Thanks for all you do

[LinuxH4x0r]

Voted and +