Dry flowers are as beautiful as they are hard to make. Here are the four possible ways of getting flowers dried as soon as possible.

Air-dried flowers

This method is the simplest. It involves hanging of the flowers upside down in a warm and dry place. Drying takes about two weeks, depending on the specificity of the flowers. Wild and garden flowers can easily be dried. Dry flowers are also made out of everlasting plants. For best effects, you had better bind the flowers together in bunches.

Dry flowers can be produced by mechanical pressure used upon them. This is the second way to dry a plant. It is easy although its main feedback is that it leaves the dry flowers flat and without shape. Take a heavy object and place it on the wrapped flowers. For the wrapping you can use unglazed paper, such as newsprint or a telephone book. The drying takes from two up to four weeks to complete.

A wise way to prevent flattening of the flowers when drying is by burying them in drying materials, such as mixtures from sand, or borax, or corn meal. These three materials can be useful only in drying of specific kinds of flowers. A universal solution is silica gel. This gel is more expensive than the above-mentioned materials, but one of its basic priorities over others is that it can be used over and over again without having to replace it. It can virtually dry any kind of flower. Getting dry flowers with the usage of silica gel is very easy. The gel has special indication when it is wet, so that you can conclude whether the flowers are dried. Usually the gel is white or blue when it is dry, and is composed of tiny crystals. If infiltrated by water, its colour gets more and more pinkish. When the flowers are dried, the colour of the gel will automatically change. Unused silica gel must be kept in air-tight containers. To dry the gel itself after using it with the flowers, you need to spread it on a tray and bake it in the oven until the crystals are blue again.

Talking about ovens, another great way to get your dry flowers is by putting the bunch in the microwave. It can take no more than several minutes but the effects are really magnificent. To prevent extreme drying, you may put a cup of water in the microwave before getting the flowers inside. The bunch itself must by surrounded by spread crystals of silica gel. Put the flowers in a microwave container or on a flat tray and keep the switch on up until three minutes. The dry flowers will be ready depending on their density and the size and number of petals. The heating time for denser plants with many petals will be about 3 minutes. Smaller flowers will take a minute or less to dry. After procuring the dried flowers, you should let them in the silica crystals for 12 to 24 hours, so that moisture can be thoroughly absorbed. Keep the dry flowers in air-tight containers, as microwave drying is strongly influenced by moist conditions. To prevent the dried flowers from ruining, you had better spray the petals with lacquer.

Dry flowers can be produced also by combining the four ways, depending on your own needs.