Preserving Bouquets: What to Do with Dried Flower Bouquets

Sure, I've gotten the couple of roses from time-to-time. The small, pretty bouquets with carnations in them. But until a couple months ago, I'd never received a true bouquet. A dozen roses, baby's breath, the whole deal. It was beautiful, and so very touching. When the bouquet was delivered, I actually stared at the woman a moment before asking, "Are you sure you got the right place?" She was.

Needless to say, as the bouqet started to dry out I started thinking of ways I could keep it. The problem was that it was enormous - a bouquet of that size will never look quite "right" left as-is. It would look just what it is: a dead bunch of flowers. What I kept remembering, though, was this gorgeous vase that my younger sister had. It was filled with dozens and dozens of red roses - fake, but made so well that they looked like aged, beautifully dried roses. I'd never seen a centerpiece that lovely before, and have long envied her for it.

So, before the flowers could dry on their own and become too brittle to rearrange, I started searching. What I came up with is a process to dry whole flowers (not pressed flowers - whole buds perfectly preserved), and a pretty centerpiece that, while it's not the shining glory of my little sister's, is proudly sitting on my tabletop. And, I didn't have to throw out my first bouquet after all.

Drying Whole Flowers

The first step in creating a dry flower bouquet is getting - what else? - dried flowers. You can make them yourself for much, much less than what you'd ever purchase them for. I did some research, and it's actually cheaper than purchasing silk flowers, too.

To begin, you need some basic supplies - many of which you'll probably already have at home:

*Shoe box
*Waxed paper
*Corn meal
*Borax
*Salt
*Plastic mixing spoon
*Measuring cup
*Measuring spoons
*Mixing bowl
*Fresh flowers

Now that you have the supplies, it's time to get going. Here's the process:

1. Fully line the shoebox with waxed paper. Don't worry too much about making it "fit" the sides - it can be a cup shape and it will work just as well. The drying mix will weight the sides down, too, so make sure that the waxed paper overlaps the top a bit.