Dried flower crafts mainly include the following processes:
Collect materials. There are many kinds of flowers and plants that can be collected in nature. Flowers such as iris, delphinium, geranium, winter jasmine, chrysanthemum morifolium, malachite, Chimonanthus praecox, Chinese rose, carnation, string red, cornflower, straw chrysanthemum, Limonium sinense and Xiacao are good dried flower materials. Asparagus, fern leaves and maple leaves are good leaf matching materials. Flowers and plants can also be cultivated artificially as materials, and their main varieties are pansy, white bamboo, golden bamboo, cherry blossom, hexaploid, honeysuckle, yellow Persian, sorrel, centella asiatica, Zizania latifolia, cornflower, sweet pea flower, rose, delphinium, etc. Flowers should be collected without losing time in case they are pasted and combined in winter. Generally, it is better to collect flowers at 9~ 1 1 in the morning, because there is no dew at this time, and the flowers and plants themselves contain moderate water, which is easy to keep fresh and dry and dehydrate after collection. In the afternoon, flowers and plants are mostly in a wilting state and should not be collected. When picking, you can choose flowers with first buds or completely open buds. Picked leaves generally require fresh green, but sometimes mature dark green leaves are needed. Flowers and plants collected should be treated immediately or placed in the shade to keep them fresh.
Material handling method. The collected flowers and plants are treated in two ways according to the future use of handicrafts. 1 For dried flowers used for greeting cards and glasses, absorbent paper (wrinkle-free toilet paper), corrugated paper (packed cardboard box), iron clips and tweezers should be prepared. Spread 2~3 layers of absorbent paper on the corrugated paper first, and then put a layer of flowers. After putting three layers of flowers and plants in this way, cover the corrugated paper, clamp it with iron clips around it (or press it with heavy objects), and put it on the heater next to the stove to dry it (not in the sun in summer). Drying can be achieved after 12 hour. Conditional drying box or microwave oven can be used to dry, and the effect is better. 2. Flowers and plants used to make flower branches, such as amaranth, straw chrysanthemum, Limonium sinense, Xiacao, Sanguisorba officinalis, reed and Setaria viridis, need to be removed and hung upside down in a cool and ventilated place to make them naturally dry. Or bury the picked flower branches with desiccant powder, take them out after 10~20 days, and sweep the desiccant powder off the petals with a brush. It can also be dried in a microwave oven.
Dried flowers and crafts. When drying flower crafts, you need to prepare scissors, tweezers, glue, pencils, writing brushes, card paper, fine wire and ribbons. Dried flower crafts are divided into two types: plane crafts and flower branch crafts. Plane crafts: according to your own materials, according to the pictures in picture books or newspapers, you can draw a sketch on the card paper with a pencil gently, and then use a brush to dip the glue carefully. Don't dip the glue too much, otherwise it will affect the appearance of the picture. After applique, it can be dried naturally. If there is a plastic plane film sealing machine, you can assemble the picture on the card paper and then seal the plastic film, which will increase the storage time and make it more beautiful. You can also design your own new patterns, such as landscapes, plants, animals, people, etc., to paste, which will add more fun. Flowering: arrange the dried flowers that have been dried in the shade, tie them into bouquets with ribbons and insert them in vases. Sticking flowers such as wheat straw chrysanthemum to the treated wheat straw again, or threading fine iron wire into the flower holder, or adding dried green bristlegrass, reeds, bamboo, etc., and tying them into a bouquet with ribbons, it becomes a very beautiful handicraft. The flowers of the straw chrysanthemum should be in first bloom, while the blood-filled grass and the thousand-day red flower must be collected in full bloom.
It is understood that the fragrance source of dried flower products is really not the petals themselves. It is made by combining plants such as dried flowers and melon shells, removing the original taste, and then fumigating with pure natural plant aromatic oil.
Many of the flowers we put on weekdays can be made into dried flowers, especially the bouquets that have special significance to us, and can be preserved for a longer time after being made into dried flowers. We can also take flower petals, dry them and make them into sachets, which are very cheap. The simplest and most natural way is to tie flowers into bundles and put them in a warm and dry place to dry them. This is what we usually call air drying. However, some flowers will be deformed or even deteriorated by air drying in this way. If you want the flowers to dry longer, you might as well use the microwave oven to help.
air-dry
Air drying is the simplest and most commonly used method to dry flowers. Choose a warm, dry room with good ventilation, and the indoor temperature should not be lower than 10℃. Well-ventilated cabinets, rooms with heating facilities, or places like the top floor and attic are all good. Flowers have decorative value in the drying process, so you might as well consider using bedrooms and restaurants as air-drying places.
Perennial wildflowers, hydrangeas, delphinium, mimosa, Ai Ju and other flowers need to be tied into small handfuls with fine twine and hung upside down on clothes hooks or strings, but they must be far away from the wall. Papyrus, lavender, and Puwei flowers are inserted in a container with a large opening to dry, so that they can be fanned out. Some flowers just need to be laid flat on the shelf.
The air-drying time varies with the variety of flowers, air humidity and temperature. In a warm and dry room, delphinium takes only two or three days to dry, but in a shed or miscellaneous room with a lower temperature, it takes eight to ten days. You must remember to have a look and smell every two or three days. If your flowers feel so crisp, you're done.
Microwave oven drying
Microwave oven drying is a new method, which is characterized by short time and no need of other media. This drying method is suitable for those flowers that can be air-dried, such as herbs, daisies, roses, calendula, etc., and some grasses such as Puwei, Cirsium japonicum and papyrus.
The drying time in microwave oven depends on the type of oven and the number of flowers. Some berries are easy to break in microwave oven, so first put them in a cool, dry and ventilated place to air dry for at least one week.
Dried flower sachet
At present, the most commonly dried flowers include: jasmine, rose, white orchid, gardenia, osmanthus, lavender, osmanthus and herbs such as lemon grass and perilla.
Naturally air-dry petals such as roses and lavender to a certain extent, and put them into bottles. Just lift the bottle cap slightly, and the whole room will be filled with roses or lavender fragrance. You can enjoy the fragrance at any time by collecting your favorite fragrance package. The method is to put the flowers in the oven and bake them at 50~80 degrees until they are completely dry. After the steam is exhausted, put it into a prepared glass bottle. You can also tie up the petals with a handkerchief.
Sew a lovely small bag with a small flowered cloth, or make four small bags with a handkerchief, and put them in the wardrobe after filling them with dried petals, which will make all the clothes stained with a floral fragrance. You can also put it in your carry-on handbag.
Some ladies also like to use pillows with dried rose petals, which make them even sweet to sleep. If you have more dried lavender, fill one or two big cushions with it and put them next to the computer in the workshop, which will also refresh your mind.
Dry flowers should choose flowers with less water content. For example, annual flowers include chrysanthemum morifolium, dry ear valley, chrysanthemum morifolium, Austrian flowers, scaly flowers, and annual grasses.
There are many ways to dry flowers, but the natural drying method is simple and easy. Generally, after the flowers are harvested in the mature season, they are cut and hung in indoor dry hot air to make the water evaporate. In order to prevent the tissue from shrinking and better preserve its natural color, we should try to dry them quickly with hot air, and put the cut flowers head down when hanging, so that the top of the stem remains rigid during the drying process. We can hang the cut flowers on iron wires or shelves to dry them, instead of using plastic bags.
When the flowers are dried, they should be cut in dry weather for easy drying. The flower stems should be kept longer, and the leaves should be removed, because the leaves prolong the dehydration process and often shrink and lose the ornamental value. Large cut flowers (such as delphinium) should be hung and dried in a single flower, and if they are tied in bundles, the flowers will be easily crushed after drying. Generally, cut flowers can be bundled into small bundles, and the flower heads are separated from each other, so that they are not damaged by extrusion. After a few days, the cut flowers will slowly dry, feel brittle when touched by hands, and the petals become fibrous. At this time, they have been made into dried flowers and can be used for decoration.