Floristic compositions from dry plants are very popular. Needlewomen make stunning bouquets and wall compositions from dried flowers. But before the flower takes its place in the panel or bouquet, it must be properly dried. There are several ways to dry plants.
Instructions
Step 1
Natural drying
Natural drying is the main method of plant conservation. When naturally dried, most of the plants retain their color perfectly. Free the cut plants from unnecessary leaves, tie them into a bunch and hang them on the wire with their heads down. In this way it is better to dry goldenrod, tansy, limonium.
Some plants do not even need to be cut, since they dry out perfectly on their own right in the garden - at the root. These include marigolds, buttercup, nikandra, kermek, astilba, gelikhrizum, rose and others.
Step 2
Flat drying
If you want to use dry plants to compose collages, use a plate dryer to prepare them. Arrange plants, leaves and flowers between the pages of paper, shifting them with absorbent material (napkins, filter paper, etc.). Press down on the paper with a weight. Replace the absorbent material with new material as the plant dries.
Step 3
Bulk drying
For volumetric bouquets, use a different method of plant preservation. This is called bulk drying. For this drying use sand, sand in half with brown or cotton wool. For drying in the sand, the plants are fixed in a box with a pull-out bottom using a net, then covered with calcined clean sand. Drying times for plants in the sand vary within 5-10 days. At the end of drying, the sand from the box is carefully removed using the pull-out bottom, and the plants remain in the box.
Bulk drying can be done with cotton wool. Prepare a cardboard box, punch holes in it and place flowers in them so that the inflorescence is outside and the stem hangs inside the box. Gently transfer each flower with cotton wool. Do not forget to put cotton wool between the inflorescence and the box. Then leave the cardboard box in a dry, warm place for 2-3 weeks.
Step 4
Drying with an iron
The fastest drying method is with an iron. For acacia flowers, yellowed autumn leaves, this method of conservation is ideal. Lay on the board several layers of newsprint or napkins, then plants, then a couple more layers of newspaper. Iron this entire structure with a not very hot iron several times.
