How to Dry Your Flowers

How to Dry Your Flowers in Silica

Supplies

  • Silica sand/gel. I like to use Wisedry. If you need additional tools, I can recommend shopping our own DIY Bloom Kit here.
  • Containers with lids large enough to hold flowers and gel. 

Flower Care

  • Make sure your flowers get back in water after the ceremony.
  • It is best to dry within a couple days of the event, if possible.
  • If you need to wait longer, keep your flowers (in a vase) in the refrigerator to keep them looking fresh. The sooner you dry them, the better they will turn out.

Drying


Check out this video for general technique, it’s very helpful!

  • Fill the bottom of the container with ~1/2 inch of silica.
  • Cut the flower head, leaving on a bit of stem (this will be helpful later on).
  • Place the flower face up in the silica, repeat for the other flowers you want to dry. Leave a little bit of space in between each flower.
  • Slowly pour silica around each flower so that it’s supported from the outside (important for roses), and pour inside the flower, getting between the petals. As they are becoming fully covered, give the container a little shake to make sure it settles down in between the petals. Make sure the flowers are FULLY covered by silica. 
  • Close up your container and let sit for about two weeks.
  • After two weeks, carefully pour the silica into a secondary container to uncover the flowers. As they uncover, carefully scoop them out and use the stem that’s still attached to gently shake out silica. Inspect your flowers for any moisture still remaining, especially at the center of roses. You can recover with silica if they are not fully dry.
  • Keep the flowers in a closed container with a layer of silica at the bottom so that they don’t re-absorb any moisture from the air.

Helpful Tips

  • Mums are very difficult to dry. They will often totally fall apart when you take them out so be very gentle. You could dry those in a separate container and check on them after a week.
    • I usually air-dry greenery except for dusty miller and Israeli Ruscus. If the greenery seems to hold a lot of moisture, then use silica.
    • Globe amaranth, straw flower, blue thistle, hanging amaranthus, astilbe, pampas grass (most grasses actually), bunny tail, scabiosa pods can all be air dried.
  • Sunflowers will often fall apart but can pretty easily be glued back together.
  • Lisianthus buds will take a long time to dry. You can re-bury those after taking out everything else.