Drying Flowers with Silica Gel Beads
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As much as we love flowers, it can sometimes be heartbreaking when you can only enjoy them for a few days before they die. Especially something like a bridal bouquet which holds so many emotions and memories!
I know I attempted to hang my bouquet flowers upside down from the cottage we rented for our mini-moon to try and dry them. With limited success! Some worked ok but others shrivelled up or turned brown. Not quite the look I was going for!
After hearing about silica gel beads as a way of preserving flowers, we were intrigued, but wary of using silica when we’re trying to be more sustainable. However, after some research, it turns out the gel beads can be re-used over and over again. So we gave it a go!
The main thing you need with this method (other than the silica gel beads themselves) is patience. I left the flowers drying for a week before uncovering them from their blanket of beads although small flowers may dry quicker than that.
You will need:
- Flowers (the larger the flower, the longer it will take to dry)
- Silica Gel Beads – We used this 2kg bucket*Affiliate link – we receive a small share of any sales made through this link.
The silica gel can be re-used however each set of flowers will take approximately a week to fully dry. - A container – this could be anything as long as you can completely surround your flowers with the silica gel and cover it over. (We used a 4l Really Useful Box)
- A soft paintbrush to remove any silica beads from in between the dried petals.
- Gloves and a mask are advised when using the silica gel beads as they can be an irritant
I would say that this isn’t the cheapest DIY. I ordered a 2kg bucket and that worked perfectly to cover the four flowers dried in this video. But you would need a lot more to do a large bouquet all at the same time.
Overall, I was really impressed with the results of this preservation method. Although I lost a few petals, the flowers kept their colour which is unusual! And don’t look dried at all.
An easy way to keep hold of those cherished blooms!
Once dried, I added my flowers to a deep shadow box frame to display them along side some other treasured memories from my wedding.
We used this frame* – Affiliate link – we receive a small share of any sales made through this link
