Silk, Dried or Preserved?
Floral Arrangements
Silk Flowers
Artificial flowers are commonly r eferred to as "silk flowers" because their predecessors were often made from silk. Today, artificial flowers are made from a variety of high-quality synthetic fibers that are long lasting, malleable, and resist fading. Each artificial flower is a combination of individually crafted petals, leaves, and stems that are assembled by hand. Molds are created of each component and are based on live flowers. The synthetic fibers are then heat pressed into the molds and many details are hand painted by artisans working from photographs. Just like in nature, no two artificial flowers are exactly alike.
These designer artificial flowers are then arranged by hand and set in high-quality glass vases and other types of decorative containers. Silkflowers.com employs professional floral designers to create our wide selection of arrangements, in styles that range from classic to contemporary. Many arrangements are set in our crystal-clear "acrylic water". The acrylic is hardened within the vase and makes the artificial flower stems look just like fresh-cut. Our artificial flowers are so realistic looking, you'll have to touch them to believe they aren't live.
Flower Preservation
One of the most realistic preserved flowers is the freeze dried rose. Through a specific freeze-dry method, the roses maintain their realistic, colorful beauty for quite some time.
The Freeze Dryer operates at extremely low temperatures and vacuum pressures.
(The roses on this wreath are freeze-dried.)
Drying Flowers
Harvesting Flowers for Drying
It is best to cut your flowers in the morning hours after the dew has evaporated from the plants. Once cut, group stems into bunches using rubber bands (pure rubber rubber bands work best) and remove them from the sunlight as soon as possible.
There are definite developmental times which are best for cutting flowers for drying. This can be very specific for different plants or even different cultivators of the same plant. In general, it is best to pick immature flowers (ones that are not completely open) since flowers continue to open during the drying process. If you pick a flower at the time that it looks perfect, it will continue to open while drying, leaving you with a flower past that ‘perfect stage’. Most people pick flowers too late in development.
For example, have you ever seen a pretty dried rose? If you really look at it, the flower is still fairly closed. Avoid harvesting flowers too mature in development. Such flowers will generally shed upon drying and will not hold up well in arrangements.
Preserving Flowers
With only a few exceptions, you should air dry all flowers. Simply hang flower bunches upside down on wire. Barns offer ideal conditions: 1) darkness; 2) very good airflow; 3) cool updrafts; 4) perfect (usually) humidity levels. Once you have cut your flowers, it is important to remove them from the sunlight as soon as possible. This, along with drying in the dark, is the most important factor in maintaining good color.
Technical Note: Fading of a color pigment is an oxidation chemical reaction, which requires water and light. When you cut the flower it contains water (that is what we are trying to remove). Thus, we remove the light during drying and inhibit the reaction. Once the water is removed we can reintroduce the now dried flower into the light. Any fading which subsequently occurs as a result of the dried flower reabsorbing moisture and reacting with the now present light.
Hang your bunches in a well ventilated attic, large closet, or even a dark shed or garage. Hanging lines can be made out of rope or wire (we use 14-gauge fence wire). The reason you hang flowers upside down is simple to maintain straight stems. If you dried flowers right side up, they would bend over (like a wilting flower) and you would end up with dried flowers with distorted stems. With this in mind, there are a few flowers that have woody stems (e.g. hydrangea) or very light flowers (e.g. Baby's Breath) which do not require hanging.Duration of drying time depends on many factors including humidity, temperature, airflow, and the type of flower you are drying. In certain conditions, some flowers can dry in 24 hours. A dried flower should feel stiff and ‘dry’, not limp or damp.
If you are picking only flower heads, you can set them on newspaper or a sheet spread out on a counter or floor to dry (in a dark room). You can expedite the drying process by placing them on a screen.
Enjoying Dried Flowers
In general, dried flowers should remain out of direct sunlight while you enjoy them in their final state. This will minimize fading over time. We also suggest not to place dried flowers in the path of forced air heat registers. This extremely dry air is very hard on dried flower structure (causes shattering).
Suggestion for use of dried flowers would include wreaths, swags (vertical and horizontal), sheaths, bouquets, and sprays. Simply hanging dried flowers in a room can be very appealing. Also, placing clusters of bunches in a basket, as though you just came in from a garden, is most attractive.
Care of Dried Flowers
Routine dusting can be accomplished using a real feather duster or hair blow dryer on it’s lowest setting.
Storing Dried Flowers
It is recommended to wrap the flowers in newspaper and placing them in a cardboard box. Do not store the box containing the dried flowers where it is unusually damp (some basements) or very dry (some attics). Also, a lot of people think you should never store dried flowers outside (it would be way to cold). This is simply not true. Temperatures are not important. In fact, a garage can be an ideal place for storing dried flowers. Actually, if your home is heated by forced air, the preferred place to store dried flowers would be in a outside building away from the dry heat.
Word of caution: if you do store your dried flowers outside, make sure you protect them from small rodents and insects (a few mothballs will work).
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- DIY Flower Designs
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- The Foundation of the Thing
- Tricks of the Trade
- Quality vs. Quantity
- Say No to Plastic:
- Silk, Dried, or Preserved?
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