Dried flowers in frame

Nature in frame

A handful of nature to hang in the house all year round.
This is not news but a hobby consolidated to dry the flowers of the season and use them to create compositions to be hung on the wall.


With this technique you can create compositions to be preserved over time.
Let's see how to use dried flowers for our natural pictures.

How to choose dried flowers

Among the flowers and the relative leaves that less are suitable to this type of operation are those mentioned in the first place essentially meaty, full of lymph, which therefore may become moldy just for the presence of too much water and hence of moisture.

We must avoid orchids, aquatic plants or cacti; it is convenient to certainly prefer late summer or autumn plants, with vivid hues.
Use plenty of hydrangeas, almond blossom, bougainvillea plants or green or yellow leaves plants.

Collection

The best time to pick flowers and plants to be dried is when the weather is dry and sunny, or when the dew has evaporated and there is the risk that the humidity of flowers or leaves could jeopardize the success of the pressing and color fastness.

Choose specimens in good condition, no deformation, not faded or distorted.

It is not advisable to collect too many specimens as they may exceed the real needs and would be a shame to let the flowers wilt and then not use them.

Of crucial importance for the success of the operation it is to remember to immediately put the specimens in the press as the petals after 2 hours of collection start to wilt.
Drying times can vary between 15 days and two months, and depend on the time when you decide to start work. Of course, in hot weather, the drying time decreases.

Pressing

Pressing, and then drying, it must be carried out with special presses or simply between the pages of books with uncoated paper. To this purpose could prove handy, for example, an old phone book.

It starts by separating the stems with scissors and the swollen ovary, preventing the flattening of the petals. Then you place the specimen among the pages of the book, alternating to the paper towels some tissue paper, in order to facilitate the absorption of moisture.
Once you have closed the flowers between the pages of the book, this should be put a weight on top to increase the press. For this purpose you can use a slab of stone or marble, or other books.

The conservation

Once dry, the flowers and leaves are prepared by separating them with tissue paper, in a dark box, or in a plastic bag. Of course, the leaves will be divided by the flowers, and cataloged for the year of harvest in order to choose the most suitable specimens for any restoration work.

Assembly and combinations

To build the framework, first of all you need to take a heavy card stock and place the leaves and flowers wide open, with no wrinkles nor frills; move them in order to find the combination and design more suitable to your personal taste.

Once you have found a pleasant graphics, rise every specimen to paste it in the original position.
When the operation is done, cover the creative design with a glass plate.

As follows, our flourished painting will be hung on a wall not exposed to direct sunlight and away from heat sources.

The success of the floral design is the imagination and individual ability to be able to select and match carefully the various natural elements. It is certainly important for the overall harmony of the work, the choice of the card that will be the background to our protagonist nature.

The ideal would be a dark cardboard for tidy decorations, of the same species or for the yellow leaves; a light one for the green leaves and different flowers.

Another nice idea is to create the composition by inserting the natural elements dried under the glass of a table so as to realize an original design that can be seen from the outside.
Just have a little taste and originality!

Pout pourry

If we got caught out and we collected and dried flowers more than necessary, we can always use the leftovers to create fragrant bags with pout pourry.
Decoration suitable for various rooms of the house, especially in the bathroom or in the living room but also the scent of the linen drawers.
Just a handful of flowers or dried fruit, a bag of nylon and it is done!