Drying your flowers is easy when you follow our instructions

 It’s important to make sure your flowers look their best before you get them in silica gel, so we’ll first talk about caring for them the day of your wedding. First I’ve found it’s helpful to name one person the “Bouquet Keeper” This person would be responsible for getting your bouquet back in water once you’re done using it, and also just making sure it’s safe all night so you don’t have to worry about it. As soon as you are finished with your flowers, make sure to get them in water and in a cool place like a refrigerator or a cool basement or garage. If keeping in the refrigerator make sure you keep it towards the front of the fridge so they don’t freeze. During certain parts of the year like mid to late spring and early fall, keeping them in a garage is fine! If keeping in the garage make sure it doesn’t dip below freezing, or get very hot in the summer. It is important that they stay as hydrated as possible until you drop them off. If possible, give stems a fresh cut with a pair of gardening sheers or a knife on an angle before putting in water. (A kitchen scissors will pinch the ends of your stems and they won’t actually be able to drink much water) If you’re trying to save a boutonniere or flowers that don’t have a stem to put in water the best way to keep them as fresh as possible will be to mist them with water and keep them in a Ziploc bag in the font of the refrigerator. If you don’t have a squirt bottle, I’ve just flicked a little bit of water on them with my fingers before placing in a Ziploc bag and its worked fine. 

If you have a cascading bouquet (flowers in a holder with green floral foam) make sure you rehydrate the foam before putting in the refrigerator. If you’re not sure if your flowers are in a holder, please check!! Sometimes florists hide the holder part with greens and stems to make it look like your bouquet is hand tied. This can be done by gently pushing your flowers aside so you can see the foam and placing them under the faucet on a slow stream. Do this until the foam has been rehydrated.

I use Activa silica gel. Don’t let the name mislead you, it’s actually more like sand. It’s all natural so you don’t have to worry about chemicals or fumes. You can get this at Michaels in the floral department. They also sell a less expensive Michael's brand silica gel that works just fine too.  If you don’t have a Michaels nearby, or if it’s sold out Amazon carries it as well. Another great brand is WiseDry which you can also find on Amazon. You’ll probably want 2 bags if you want to preserve more than just a couple of flowers.  I prefer it to the beads you get at Hobby Lobby as the beads can cause dimples in your flowers petals. I leave my flowers in for 2 weeks. The directions on the bag will tell you much shorter times for various flowers but it’s not long enough…2 weeks is key! Your flowers should feel like paper when they come out. I start with about 1 inch of silica gel, then layer my flowers facing up close to each other to maximize space but not touching each other. I then pour the silica around the flowers so the outer petals don’t get smashed. Once you have a decent wall about halfway up, you can start filling inside the flowers. Try to get it around and in between most of the petals as best you can for best results.  If you plan on drying your greens too, I always throw a few stems on the top and close the lid for eucalyptus. It doesn’t have to be covered in silica. If you still have some silica gel left once you’ve thrown your greens on top you can always pour it in too! If there’s a green leaf you want to dry flat, then I suggest covering it with silica gel too. Below are a couple of videos that explain how the process works.   

https://youtu.be/mmf6Kteh_-U

https://youtu.be/vzI38r_wSnE

 I also get the bins at Michaels to dry everything. They are back by the floral section. They have ones with trays above that work well to store your flowers after you’re done drying everything. I use the 14.5 quart ones for most orders, but if you’re ordering something small like a ring holder or a couple of coasters or ornaments, or even just a 4x4 the 6.2 quart size will be enough 

Once everything is dried there’s no immediate rush to get it in resin. I store my flowers in the tray that sit in the top of the bin if I have room, and keep the silica below. This ensures that no moisture will find its way back inside.  If you have a lot of flowers and greens you can always empty the majority of the silica into gallon sized freezer bags, leave a little layer of silica in the bottom of the bin, and store your flowers in the bottom. I put the greens in the bottom of whatever I am storing them in and place the flowers on top of them so they don’t get crushed. Keep it out of direct sunlight, and in a dry place. Let me know how everything turns out if you decide to dry your own!! We can schedule a time for you to drop off your flowers once I get caught up in the “slow” season in the late fall into winter. I promise it's not that hard....the hard part is the resin!