Drying flowers

Drying your own flowers

Dried flowers are becoming more and more popular, but how can you do that yourself? How can you dry flowers and which flowers are most suitable for this? We are going to explain that to you in this article. There are several techniques you can use to dry your own flowers. We will explain the 2 simplest ways.

Ways to dry flowers

The two ways that are explained are; drying individual flowers and drying bouquets. A familiar way of drying loose flowers can be used, namely drying the flowers by putting them between the pages of books. In this way of drying you put the flowers between the pages of a book. The heavier the book, the better it works. You can always put extra books on top of it to make it heavier.

Method

Using this method, it takes about 3 weeks for the flowers to dry completely.

If you want to dry a whole bouquet, it is better to do it in the following way. You can hang the flowers upside down to let them dry. First there are 3 steps you have to go through to make it work.

Remove the excess leaves.
Binding the flowers together in small bunches of the same species. It is therefore important that you do not bind different flowers together but rather the same species.
As soon as the first two steps have been completed, you can start hanging the flowers. It is important for the drying process that the flowers can be hung in a dark space with enough ventilation. This could be an attic for example. You should also not hang the small bundles too close together because there must be enough space for enough air to reach them.

The best result with drying flowers

Ultimately, you want the best result from drying the flowers. This is only possible with the ideal conditions. The room where the flowers are hanging has to be dry and warm enough to get the least chance of mould. The time it takes for the flowers to dry is therefore mainly determined by the circumstances in which they are found. It can therefore take between 1 and 8 weeks for them to dry in this way. When the flowers feel a bit brittle they are dry. You can also test this by taking a few flowers and putting them in a vase. If the flowers are still standing after two days, they have dried properly.

Which flowers are most suitable?

Almost all flowers are suitable for drying. However, you get the best results with small, firm flat flowers. The most suitable colours for drying are red, blue, pink and yellow flowers. This is because they retain their colour better after drying. White flowers for example turn brown very quickly. So it is best if you choose colourful flowers.