The joy and beauty of fresh flowers is often fleeting. That thrill of receiving a wrapped bouquet or box of pristine lilies or roses is quickly followed by a mad dash to get the stems in water. You can attempt numerous life-extending techniques that are just short of embalming, but soon enough you’re faced with the course of nature that results in wilted petals. However, good planning and great crafting can mean preserving those blooms long after their sell-by dates and creating projects that celebrate their beauty. Our list of dried flower crafts begins with tips for preserving petals and continues into ideas for embroidery, candles, and mason jars. Be sure to remember this list the next time a bouquet arrives or even when you treat yourself.
Pressed Flowers
You may think there’s only one way to press a flower, but there are actually several, including microwaving those petals and covering them in hairspray.
Roses Only details the traditional approach of pressing the petals in between the pages of a book. While that may seem simple enough there are good tips to help the process be a little more seamless and keep the pages of your favorite tomes pristine.
Framing Flowers
Not sure what to do with those pressed petals? One of the easiest projects to preserve and celebrate the intricate systems that create a flower’s beauty is place the flattened pieces under glass in a frame.
Urban Outfitters explains demonstrates how simple the process is. The toughest parts may be proper placement on the glass and cleaning up afterward.
Floral Lanterns
Simple and elegant, these floral lanterns don’t require expensive materials, yet will require a bit of careful cutting. To create these lanterns, flattened petals are ironed to sheets of wax paper that are then taped together to create the square enclosures.
A Perfect Wedding has a how-to explaining all the steps. Of course, these floral lanterns can work for more than just weddings.
Flower Candles
Incorporating dried flowers or herbs into candles utilizes them to delight your eyes as well as your nose.
Adventures in Making explains how to stick dried petals to the inside of a mason jar and create a candle that could easily on the shelves of Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters. Be mindful that you may want to make these cuties on the back porch or in the garage since melted beeswax can get a bit messy.
Floral Chandelier
Most dried flower crafts tend to be subtle accent pieces, but a Floral Chandelier makes an audacious statement. For this framing element, long-stemmed flowers can be attached to a lampshade, wooden pallet (as
Casa de Valentina shows in the post's lead image) or other hanging device. This is not a project that pays to be thrifty so go bold and buy a lot of flowers.
Embroidered Floral Wreath
If you're handy with an embroidery needle, you can sew dried flowers into a wreath laid out on a wood hoop, as does crafter Olga Pinku. The resulting works are used as necklaces, wall hangings and frames.
Brwn Paper Bag has several beautiful images of Pinku's creations, but unfortunately no instructions.
