In this article I share with you one of my favorite pastimes! I will show you how easy it is to dry flowers at home.
I love to pick flowers and dry them in my special press or in a thick book. I may be from another era, but I consider this #slowliving relaxing activity is truly magical.
Isn’t it somewhat poetic that we can extend the life of flowers by drying them? Once you put them in the press or the book, you need to completely forget about them for a few days and then come back to see how the drying process went.
I am sure that if you love plants and flowers like me, you will feel the same joy while drying flowers.
You will need :
- A thick book with many pages
- Rice paper sheets or greaseproof paper
- A pair of scissors
- Wildflowers
- Optional : an iron
Instructions :
- Open the book and flip to a random page.
- We take 1 rice paper sheet and place it on the book.
- PLace the flowers you want to dry on the rice paper and press them very gently with your fingers.
- Put another rice paper on top and press gently with your palms.
- Close the book carefully, while pressing.
- Place the book under other books for extra weight.
- Forget about the book for2 weeks.
- 2 weeks later, we’re back! Open the book! The flowers have dried up!
Tips for quicker results :
If you want to do a craft and you are in a hurry to dry the flowers, then you can speed up the process a bit by using an iron.
- After following steps 1-6, leave the book under weight for at least 72 hours.
- Turn on the iron at a very low temperature.
- Carefully remove the rice paper from the book.
- Iron very gently, over the rice paper. This way, the liquids of the flowers evaporate and dry faster.
General tips :
- If you don’t have rice paper, you can use parchment paper.
- Be careful to cut and treat the flowers with care and respect. I personally look for the ripest flowers. Flowers that are ready to wither and have completed their cycle. Or even flowers that have been cut by mistake, have fallen from a tree, etc.
- Before putting the flowers or leaves on the rice paper, make sure that they have no moisture at all. If it has rained or they have been watered the day before and the flowers are fresh, you can let them dry first or wipe them very gently with a towel.
Once again, I’d like to thank Felice for making this process even more interesting.
See you soon,
