How to Dry Flowers& 10 Beautiful Ways to Use Them

Follow this easy guide to learn how to dry fresh flowers and discover 10 fun dried flower crafts you can try at home.

3 Easy Ways to Preserve Flowers

Air Drying

Silica Gel

Quick Drying with a Microwave

Drying Tips to Consider Before you Start

Blooms with high water content like lilies are not suitable for drying.
Flowers in full bloom are more likely to lose their petals when drying. Start the process sooner rather than later for optimal drying.
Some flower colours dry with more vibrancy than others do. Orange & yellow flowers dry with the most vibrancy, while purple and blue flowers can dry dark.
It is possible to dry whole flowers including their stems. In our guide, we are using the Ornate Charm from our bouquet collection.

1.How to Air Dry Flowers

Drying Time 2-3 Weeks
The technique of air-drying has been used for centuries. By far it is the easiest of the three methods but has the longest drying time. This is the method we suggest for drying a full bouquet of flowers because flowers will dry perfectly straight and they look great while they’re drying too!

Flowers Suitable for Air Drying

Agapanthus	Eryngium
Chrysanthemum	False-dragonhead
Clematis	Freesia
Carnation	Foliages
Coneflower	Gladiolus
Coralbells	Gypsophila

Gerbera	Peony
Hydrangea	Sunflower
Iris	Solidago
Lavender	Statice
Marigold	Waterlily
Pansy	Veronica

Bouquets Suitable for Air Drying

Ornate Charm

Vintage Rose

Marvellous Meadow

What You Need

Flowers

Elastic Band

Location to Hook/hang

Optional

Coat Hanger

Florist Wire

Hair Spray

Grab the flowers you wish to dry. Flowers that have just bloomed or are about to bloom are ideal.

Remove any heavy foliage from below the head of the flowers. Flowers weaken when dried so it’s important to keep them trim.

Split your flowers into bunches of the same flower type of no more than 6-7 flowers per bunch.

Tie each bunch towards the end of the stems with an elastic band. Avoid string as the stems will shrink when drying.

Tip:Hang large headed flowers such as hydrangea, roses on their own.

Hang your tied flowers upside down from a nail, hook or coat hanger in a dry, dark, relatively warm room away from direct sunlight (this can fade colour).

3 Ideal Ways to Hang Flowers:

Coat Hanger

Hammer&Nails

Line&Pegs

Leave to dry for 2-3 weeks and check regularly after the first week. You will know when the time is right as petals will gently rustle and become rigid.

Preserve flowers with hairspray (optional)
To strengthen & protect your dried flowers lightly spray each stem individually with a burst of hair spray. This will also set their shape and give them shine.

Tip:If you notice little progress after the first couple of weeks, try hanging in another area of the house that has better circulation during the day.

How to Give Dried Flowers Shape

You can curve flower stems before drying to create a fun effect. All you need is some florist wire, which you simply twist around the stem and make the shape you like. Hang the flowers in the same way with the wire attached and allow to dry.

10 Dried Flower Crafts

2. How to Dry Flowers with Silica Gel

Drying Time 3-5 Days
This method is straightforward and will speed up the traditional hang drying process. You will need to get your hands on a desiccant (drying agent) such as silica gel.

Tip:Source your drying agent with a grain size no bigger than 1mm for optimum drying.

What is Silica Gel?

You will commonly find silica gel in a sachet when you buy a new pair of shoes. Inside the sachet are small beads of very porous gel. The gel is a type of desiccant (drying agent) that absorbs a lot of moisture.

Flowers Suitable for Desiccant Drying

Agapanthus	Eryngium
Aster	False-dragonhead
Clematis	Freesia
Carnation	Gladiolus
Chrysanthemum	Gypsophila
Coralbells	Gerbera

Hydrangea	Peony
Iris	Sunflower
Lavender	Solidago
Marigold	Statice
Poppy	Tulip
Pansy	Veronica

Bouquets Suitable for Desiccant Drying

Vibrant Celebration

Majestic Medley

Eternal Sunshine

What You Need

Flowers

Silica Gel

Airtight Container

Optional

Small Cleaning Brush

Toothpick

Cup

Find a long and shallow plastic storage container that will fit your flower stems lying flat.

Fill the base of the container with an inch of your silica gel or other drying agent to create a bed for your flowers.

Add stems to the container and separate them as much as possible. Flat-faced flowers such as gerbera or daisies can be placed face down but otherwise, make sure the bloom is facing upwards.

In this demonstration, we add a whole bouquet. When doing this, be mindful that some stems dry faster than others and over-drying can cause your flowers to crumble.

Gently cover your flowers with half an inch of your drying agent using a small cup. Make sure the flower head is fully buried but not squashed.

Be sure to try and pour into the head of the flowers with many petals such as roses so the drying substance reaches all the nooks and crannies.

Tip: If you notice that petals have bent or misshapen after covering, use a toothpick to rearrange them, as they will dry in whatever shape they now lie in.

Seal the container with a lid (airtight if possible). Move the container to a shelf out the way of direct sunlight and be careful not to disturb the contents.

Leave the contents to dry for 3-6 days in the container. Depending on the size of your flowers or if you are drying multiple flower types, check the contents with your tooth pick after the first 2 days to check if some flowers have dried.

Tip: Over drying can cause flowers to become brittle and break very easily.

Carefully remove your flowers once you are satisfied they are dry.

With each stem, gently shake out the drying agent or with a paintbrush, gently brush the flower clean.

10 Dried Flower Crafts

How to Dry Flowers Quickly with a Microwave

Drying Time 10 Minutes!
This technique of drying flowers is by far the fastest method however, your flowers will need to be cut to length depending on the size of your microwave. This method is best suited to drying flower heads or posies rather than a full bouquet. Microwaving will also preserve more colour and freshness than other drying methods.

Tip:As a rule, microwave drying does not work well on stems with thick petals. So flowers with multiple thin petals are ideal.

Flowers Suitable for Microwave Drying

Agapanthus	Dahlia
Anemone	Eryngium
Clematis	Freesia
Carnation	Forsythia
Chrysanthemum	Gladiolus
Daffodil	Gypsophila

Gerbera	Peony
Hydrangea	Sunflower
Iris	Solidago
Lavender	Statice
Marigold	Tulip
Pansy	Veronica

Bouquets Suitable for Microwave Drying

Vibrant Celebration

Majestic Medley

Eternal Sunshine

What You Need

Flowers

Silica Gel

Microwavable container

Microwave

Optional

Small Cleaning Brush

Toothpick

Cup

Grab a microwavable container suitable for placing single stems or flower heads inside. Plastic or glass is ideal.

Fill the base of the container with approximately 1-2 inches of silica gel or cat litter as this also works well for microwaving.

Add stems to the container but make sure they do not overlap. Flat-faced flowers such as gerbera or daisies can be placed face down but otherwise make sure the bloom is facing upwards. If you are adding multiple stems, make sure they are the same type, i.e. don’t included roses with gerbera as they will dry at different rates and you may burn them.

Start with one or two stems of the same variety to gauge how quickly they will dry.

Tip: When choosing your silica gel or other drying agent, get your hands on a small grain size of no larger than 1mm in diameter.

Gently cover the stems with approximately ½ an inch of your drying substance. Make sure the flower head is fully buried but not squashed by the drying substance.

Do not put a lid or cover over the container.

Tip: If you notice the petals have bent or misshapen after covering, use a toothpick to rearrange the petals as they will dry in whatever shape they lie in.

Add a cup of water into the microwave along with the uncovered container. This reduces the chances of burning your flowers as the water will absorb the majority of the microwaves energy.

Make sure the water is in a microwavable cup and be careful not to spill anything inside the microwave.

Microwave the contents for 1-2 minute intervals depending on the size of your stems.
This step is experimental as there is a lot of different microwaves and flower types.

Continuously check with a toothpick to see if the flowers feel dry, if not, carry on with heating intervals.

Carefully remove container and allow to cool.
Drying agents like silica gel can get very hot and take a long time to cool down. Place a lid or some cling film over half of the container and leave it for 24 hours.
Be sure to keep it out of reach of animals & children and keep out of direct sunlight.

Remove your flowers from the container being careful not to bend or damage any of the contents. Tap or brush away the excess gel to clean the flowers.