How to Dry Flowers
Drying flowers is a wonderful way to preserve memories of hikes in the woods and working in your flower garden. You can also buy new flowers to press so you can create art to frame and give as gifts, or to use on greeting cards, stationery or party invitations. Once you learn how to dry flowers you can enjoy the colors, shapes and textures of spring blooms all year long.
Materials
- Flowers
- Newspaper
- Heavy book
Directions
Gather colorful bouquets of flowers to dry. Daisy-like flowers with thin petals dry especially well. Once you have cut the flowers, or removed them from water, start the drying process quickly, before the flowers begin to wilt.
Cut several pieces of newspaper into 6 inch squares. You will need 6 squares of paper per flower bloom. Use larger squares if you want to include a larger section of the flower's stem, or several flowers on one sheet; 6 inches is about right to capture most blooms. Place 3 squares of paper on one side of the pages of a heavy book. Don’t choose a book that you need to keep pristine; sometimes, drying flowers can leave a trace of moisture on pages.
Lay a flower bloom in the center of the paper in a pleasing way. Make sure that the petals are spread, and include any leaves if you desire. You can also press a flower bud; try both a budding and a blooming version of the same flower to use in an arrangement later. When you are satisfied with how your flower arrangement looks, place the other 3 pieces of paper on top.
Place a bookmark in the book so you can find the page later, and close it. Make sure that the book is heavily weighted so that the flowers receive enough pressure to flatten. Wait 3 or 4 weeks before checking to see whether the flowers are completely flat and dry. The flowers are ready when they are crisp to touch.
