We have seen some of the most beautiful dried bouquets and we wanted to try our hand at making our own! So this week we decided to make our very own flower drying station. We wanted to make something that was sturdy but didn’t take up a lot of room, and that we didnt have to hang up!
What you will need for this project:
- Flowers
- Twine
- A 2x4 of any length (depending on how many bouquets you want to dry
- Nails
- Hammer
- Scissors
- Matte clear spray paint
Once you have gotten everything together, carefully dry the stems of each flower. This is a little time consuming, but goes a long way. It helps keep the bouquets from being too heavy and speeds up the drying process. Carefully fluff each bouquet to avoid any flattened spots.
It is also really important to remove any leaves from the stems. This allows for the drying to happen a little faster and prevents discoloration from the leaves.
Now that the flowers are prepped, let’s get working on making the board! Since we had five different bouquets to dry, we put five nails in the board. Make sure to leave enough of the nail sticking out of the board so you have room to tie your bouquets. You can arrange your bouquets before drying if you want. The flowers become very brittle after drying, so if you plan on moving them a lot, it is best to arrange them before drying.
The next step is to tie your bundles. We used twine, but any sort of string will work. We tied about ¾ of the way down the stem, and made sure to wrap it tightly so there was no chance flowers could slip out. Leave extra length on the string so you can attach it to the board later!
After tying each bouquet nice and tight, wrap the string around the nails on the board. Make sure you place the board on a table or shelf that is high enough that the flowers aren’t touching the ground or leaning against anything. This is how you avoid flat spots and squished petals. Once you have the flowers hanging, be sure to keep a weight on the board so that it doesn’t fall.
The process can take up to three weeks depending on the flower. When the flowers are dry to the touch all the way through, they will feel like a delicate paper. If you want the flowers to be a little more sturdy or to last longer, you can spray them with a matte finish rustoleum sealant.
