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How to Dry Flowers 5 Ways | Ultimate Guide to Drying Flowers | How to Dry Flowers at Home - YouTube
Channel: First Day of Home
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Hi friends! It's Crissy from First Day of Home. Today, we're going to be talking about how to聽聽
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dry flowers five different ways. This is a great聽
tutorial if you're looking to preserve your bridal聽聽
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bouquet or make diy jewelry with resin. And we're聽
going to talk about a lot of different ways that聽聽
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you can use dried flowers over the next few weeks.聽
So this is the first in a series of tutorials that聽聽
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I'll be doing, and I hope you'll follow along.聽
Speaking of that, if you're new to my channel聽聽
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I would love for you to subscribe, so hit that聽
button below for more easy crafts and DIY projects.聽聽
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So let's go ahead and talk about what you'll聽
need to get started. I picked a few different聽聽
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flowers from my garden, and I do have a few tips聽
for you. First, you'll want to pick your flowers聽聽
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in the morning. Try to avoid picking flowers with聽
brown or bruised petals, obviously, and then you'll聽聽
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want to make sure your flowers are a little bit聽
dry before you get started with these techniques.聽聽
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We're going to get started with the聽
good old-fashioned book press method.聽聽
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This is something your parents probably did,聽
or maybe you did this with a parent as a child.聽聽
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So you'll want to start with just a regular book,聽
and I'm going to place a piece of parchment paper聽聽
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inside and just start placing my flowers a聽
little bit spaced out. I like to separate the聽聽
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blooms instead of doing the whole stem, but if you聽
have a bigger book feel free to put the whole stem聽聽
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in there. I find that leaves don't work really well聽
for flower pressing this way. It's really just your聽聽
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personal preference, but as you can see I brought聽
a little bit of nature indoors when I did this.聽聽
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I had a little fly in one of these blossoms聽
in the crepe myrtle. But I'm just going to聽聽
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place a few more here and then get it all situated聽
before I fold my paper in half and set it in there聽聽
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to dry for a few weeks. And we'll take a聽
look in a minute at what that looks like.
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Feel free to rearrange some聽
of the blossoms because聽聽
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you want to think about what they're going聽
to look like when they're pressed flat.聽聽
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So I'm going to just make sure they're all聽
situated where I want them before I close my book.聽聽
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And then I'll take some heavy object-- you can use聽
a brick or some other kind of heavy paperweight--聽聽
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and set it on top. And we'll take a look in a聽
minute at what it looks like two weeks later.聽聽
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And we have beautifully pressed flowers. The color聽
looks really good on these, and they are paper-thin.聽聽
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I really love the way these came out. You can use聽
these for resin crafts, like i mentioned, or make聽聽
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your own bookmarks. And I'll show you how聽
to do some of those things in my next video.聽聽
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For the air-dry method, I decided to use this聽
bouquet I picked up from a nearby grocery store.聽聽
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And if you're going to use store store-bought聽
flowers, you do want to trim the stems at an聽聽
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angle and keep your flowers in water until you're聽
ready to dry them. Also, it's good to remove the聽聽
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leaves that are below the waterline to prevent聽
bacteria from forming. This bouquet is a cute聽聽
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mix of these little button pom mums, and we've got聽
some leaves here that don't tend to dry very well,聽聽
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so I wouldn't worry about drying those as much聽
as some of these flowers like this rose I have聽聽
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and also a few little daisies and other types of聽
mums. I'm going to show you how these compare with聽聽
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different drying methods. So I'm going to create聽
a few different bundles of stems, and then we'll聽聽
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want to make sure we have a mix of flowers in each.聽
And the first one will be for air-dry method. Here聽聽
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you'll want to take some string (or you can also聽
use a rubber band) just to wrap the bundles of stems聽聽
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together and be able to hang them in a cool, dry,聽
and dark place. I've got my little jute twine here聽聽
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I'm going to tie around, and then I like to put聽
my flowers in the laundry room to dry. It's a lot聽聽
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more fun than actually doing laundry in there. So聽
I'm going to hang these up in my laundry room. You聽聽
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can see I also have some mint drying here. And I'm聽
going to leave this bundle just to air dry. That's聽聽
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all you have to do, and when you're done drying,聽
you can always use hairspray or another type of聽聽
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fixative to help preserve your flowers. But that's聽
really it. It's so easy. Here it is a few days聽聽
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later, and I'll show you in a moment what it looks聽
like a few weeks later. Now what I love about air聽聽
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drying flowers is it's got that vintage look. It's聽
very romantic. It is a little more yellow toned.聽聽
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This is a great option for that French Country聽
or farmhouse look, especially for wreaths or swags.聽聽
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With our other bundle of store-bought聽
flowers, I'm going to use the oven-dry method.聽聽
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This is quite simply putting your flowers on聽
a rack, like a baker's rack like I have here,聽聽
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cutting off the stems, and baking them in the oven聽
until the flowers are completely dried out. Now聽聽
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you'll see in a moment how this compares to the聽
other drying methods. It does take a little bit聽聽
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of time, but compared to something like book聽
pressing, it's a lot shorter. You're talking a聽聽
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matter of hours not days, so this is a good option聽
to speed up the drying process. But as you'll find聽聽
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out, it does result in a little more wilting or聽
withering of the petals. So it's a different look聽聽
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but still a great option, and I'll show you聽
what I like to use it for in just a minute.聽聽
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You'll notice for this option, I have removed聽
all of the stems. I think it just comes out聽聽
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better. I'm going to bake it in my oven at聽
200 degrees Fahrenheit for about two hours.聽聽
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You can check it and monitor since some flowers, of聽
course, will dry more quickly. I think oven drying聽聽
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is perfect for making potpourri, and you can see聽
here I added a few little plumbago stems. These聽聽
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are from a bush that I have outside, and that blue聽
really preserves nicely in the oven. Some of the聽聽
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reds, as you can tell, get a little deeper, but I聽
think that's just a gorgeous look for potpourri.聽聽
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I decided to also use this silica聽
gel to test on this bouquet,聽聽
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and it's like a sand that you'll pour into a聽
container like this one that's plastic or metal.聽聽
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You don't want to reuse the plastic container聽
because some of the pesticides from flowers can聽聽
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leak into the silica gel. Just make sure you have聽
a tight-fitting lid for this particular method.聽聽
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Again, I'm going to trim my bouquet down so I'm聽
just leaving the flowers, and I'm trimming right聽聽
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by the calyx that's at the bottom there. And I'm聽
going to use a variety of flowers here to show you聽聽
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how different flowers behave with silica gel. It's聽
a great method for preserving color and texture,聽聽
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but you'll see some flowers are better than聽
others for using this method and really all聽聽
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of the other drying methods too. So I'm going to聽
start by pouring a layer of this silica gel into聽聽
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my plastic container. You will want to probably聽
wear gloves just to protect your hands and maybe聽聽
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even a mask because the gel is like a sand that's聽
very fine, and it can kind of get into the air. You聽聽
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just don't want to be breathing that in. It's like聽
when you pour flour or sugar into a container and聽聽
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some of that mist gets up in the air. You will聽
notice that the instructions are inside the bag.聽聽
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A lot of people buy this and then they complain聽
that there are no directions, so they're actually聽聽
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inside the bag. You'll want to keep those handy聽
because they do have some good tips on how to聽聽
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dry different types of flowers. So I have my layer聽
of silica gel about an inch and a half thick, and聽聽
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I'm going to place my flowers inside. Usually, you'd聽
want a little more room than what I'm showing here,聽聽
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but just for the purposes of this demonstration,聽
I'm going to put a few different flowers in here.聽聽
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And then I'm going to top the petals聽
off with a little bit more silica gel.聽聽
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You don't need to completely cover it. You just聽
want to make sure that there's enough gel to wick聽聽
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the moisture out of the flowers. Once you have your聽
flowers where you want them, all you have to do is聽聽
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put a lid on it and then set your flowers again in聽
a cool, dry place. I did another batch here in one聽聽
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of those take-home containers from a restaurant,聽
and again it's always best to use similar flowers聽聽
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together. I did stick a few other varieties in聽
here and plugged up any holes with some duct tape.
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I always feel like it's Christmas opening up聽
these containers to see how your flowers look.聽聽
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And I'm gonna take a peek at these. You can see聽
the color on the back looks really good. There was聽聽
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some darkening of some of the shades. I think this聽
mum needs a little bit more time, but look at the聽聽
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crystals...the silica gel. You can tell that the blue聽
crystals have turned pink, and that's how you know聽聽
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that the silica gel is absorbing the moisture, when聽
those blue crystals turn that pink shade. I'm going聽聽
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to put this mum back in for a little bit longer,聽
but let's check on our little cushion pom mums.聽聽
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And i think these look pretty much done. I聽
also stuck in a few of these little aster聽聽
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daisies. They are so dainty, and look at how the聽
color looks great even though they're shriveled.聽聽
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These button poms look really good. I love the聽
color on these, and the texture is really nice. It's聽聽
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not really brittle. You can use a little brush to聽
brush off any of the extra silica gel, by the way.聽聽
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Our last method will just be using silica gel聽
but in the microwave. So you'll use a microwave-safe聽聽
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dish without a lid, add a cup of water in the聽
microwave, and then heat it at one-minute intervals聽聽
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on medium power. Check it after each minute, and聽
see how your flower is doing. You can flip it over聽聽
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and turn it around so that it gets dried in the聽
microwave evenly. This is just a good option if聽聽
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you're short on time, and aren't we all these days?聽
So instead of waiting days for your flowers to dry聽聽
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with silica gel, you can get it in just minutes.聽
Here's what our rose looks like after drying on聽聽
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medium power for about three and a half minutes, and聽
I love the texture. It's not crunchy and聽聽
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brittle like a lot of other drying methods. You can聽
still leave it in a closed container to completely聽聽
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dry a little bit more if you feel like it's not聽
all the way there. But I just love the results.聽聽
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So here's our purple statice after drying it in聽
the microwave with silica gel, and let's go back聽聽
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and compare this to our oven-dry method. So here's聽
microwave. You can see great color. Here's the oven聽聽
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drying. It's not bad, but it's not as pretty as the聽
microwave silica gel. Same thing here with those聽聽
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cushion poms. And here's a look at three of the聽
drying methods compared to one another. So first聽聽
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we have oven drying. Then you can see that the聽
silica gel method in the microwave is much better,聽聽
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and even better than that is just regular silica聽
gel waiting a few days for your flowers to dry.聽聽
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So I'm dying to know which method was聽
your favorite. I definitely am partial to聽聽
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the silica gel method. I think it does the best聽
job of preserving the flower's color and texture,聽聽
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but I want to know what you think. So leave me a聽
comment below. Also, please share your creations聽聽
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with me over on Instagram! You can follow me @firstdayofhome and tag me in your post there.聽聽
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And if you like this video, I always appreciate聽
a thumb's up. I hope you'll stick around for the聽聽
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rest of the series. We've got lots of聽
fun in store, and I'll see you next time!
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