Dried Flowers: Preserve flowers at home
Seeing the world around us we feel so thankful for the lush greenery, the luscious fruits and the glorious flowers. They fill our hearts with delight and we can’t help wondering about the Creator’s ingenuity and benevolence. It prods us to think how we can save the freshness and beauty of the flora from the onslaught of time. Thankfully there are methods of retaining and preserving these treasures of Mother Nature. By doing so not only we are protecting the charm of the flowers but also preserving the memories of a cherished occasion or that of a beloved near and dear one. The culture of flower preservation has been in practice since the ancient times in Europe and Japan. In the following paragraphs we will have some of the simplest methods of preserving flowers:
HANGING TO DRY
One of the simplest and most inexpensive ways of preserving flowers is to hang them to dry. In this method you have to tie the stems of the flowers with a band, preferably not a wire and hang them upside down in a warm, dry, dark room. Within one or two weeks you can be sure the pretty things will be dry. But try to make sure that the room is not humid at all.
The greatest advantage of this method is that the flowers don’t lose their shape or colour except reds and pinks in some cases. For this you can keep the flowers face up or facedown in a box filled with a mixture of half cornmeal and half borax. The flowers must be covered by it. Be careful not to keep the flowers to long in the mixture or else they may become brittle
SAND DRYING
It is also a convenient way to dry flowers. For this you must cover the bottom of a box full of holes. Then pour fine.dry, clean sand on it up to two-inches. Place the flowers facedown on the sand and cover with more sand. After 7-10 days punch holes at the bottom of the box and allow the sand to leak through, then carefully take out the dried flowers.
GLYCERIN
By this method you can preserve both flowers and foliage .For this you have to heat a mixture of one part glycerin and two parts water. Place the stems when the mixture is still warm. To retain the original color take it out after 36 hours. The stems usually become discolored when kept in glycerin, for that you can add green cake coloring.
PRESSING
The best way to preserve fragile flowers is to place them in newspapers and put a weight on them. This is done since the newspapers are of a very absorbent nature.
OVEN DRYING
This method you can try at home easily. Take an ovenproof pan and pour 1 inch of sand. Place the flowers on it and put the pan inside the oven, which must be set at its lowest reading.
So in the above manner the beauty of nature can be preserved and cherished for years to come.
