The bouquets for my wedding were beautiful, full of my favorite flowers in my favorite colors with all the texture and wonderfulness you expect from a professionally done bouquet.
I really wanted to have my bouquet freeze dried but for $150 just to dry it and then more to have it mounted it just wasn't in the budget to have done. Not to mention the anxiety I felt about having to mail someone my bouquet. So we researched an alternative option.
I read this tutorial, which was super helpful and it convinced me that this was doable. So we went to JoAnns bought our Silica gel, and went to work.
We didn't want to have to drive back to JoAnn's half way through the project so we bought 6 jars of product, you'll probably need more than that if you do your whole bouquet (more on that in a second).
Start by adding a layer of the silica gel in the bottom of an airtight container. I used some oversized tupperware from the cabinet. Then start cutting the blooms off their stems (this isn't the best method if you want to put your bouquet back together) if you want to put the bouquet back together you can leave the stems a little long and use wire to create stems at the end.
Then add another layer of silica on top of the blooms.
Then you wait! It only took my blooms a few days and they became overly dry and borderline brittle. So I would recommend you try and check your blooms in between to make sure you get them as perfect as possible.
I really wanted to have my bouquet freeze dried but for $150 just to dry it and then more to have it mounted it just wasn't in the budget to have done. Not to mention the anxiety I felt about having to mail someone my bouquet. So we researched an alternative option.
I read this tutorial, which was super helpful and it convinced me that this was doable. So we went to JoAnns bought our Silica gel, and went to work.
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| Here's the product we used-we bought 6 jars |
We didn't want to have to drive back to JoAnn's half way through the project so we bought 6 jars of product, you'll probably need more than that if you do your whole bouquet (more on that in a second).
First, you'll want to take your bouquet apart, I waited WAY to long, seriously I would recommend doing this the day after your wedding if not that night. I waited 3 days and I only had 1/4 of the blooms left that were worth drying. This is not something that can wait even if you have your bouquet in water this needs to be done IMMEDIATELY. I dried blooms from both my bouquet and another of the Bridesmaids bouquets. I left Josh's boutonniere dry naturally for comparison.
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| The process |
Start by adding a layer of the silica gel in the bottom of an airtight container. I used some oversized tupperware from the cabinet. Then start cutting the blooms off their stems (this isn't the best method if you want to put your bouquet back together) if you want to put the bouquet back together you can leave the stems a little long and use wire to create stems at the end.
Then add another layer of silica on top of the blooms.
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| Adding another layer of silica |
Then you wait! It only took my blooms a few days and they became overly dry and borderline brittle. So I would recommend you try and check your blooms in between to make sure you get them as perfect as possible.
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| The finished blooms |
Once they're done remove the silica and admire your beautifully dried blooms. Then use them to make something beautiful! Stay tuned to see what mine become!
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