Many companies offer numerous kinds of flower preservation; i think the most common keepsakes are freeze dried and pressed bouquets in a pretty frame or shadowbox, floral candles or my personal favorite and inspiration: a canvas, like these darling creations by Curly Art and Flowers Into Paintings.
This painting is not intended to copy a professional's amazing work ( obviously), but hopefully a helpful suggestion for brides on a budget who want to create their own keepsakes.
It is meant to inspire you, encourage your creativity and to show you what you can make with parts of your bouquet instead of throwing it away.
I threw mine away because we had a destination wedding, hence enough wedding items that filled up our luggage space. It included nothing but white roses and honestly, i can easily buy those flowers here anytime and would not even notice the difference.
But i wanted to keep the pretty bouquet that my husband gave me on our 6 months anniversary as i felt more emotionally attached to it than to my wedding flowers.
So for this tutorial let's just pretend this is my bridal boquet:
A few more words beforehand:
- Your flowers will not look like they used to while being fresh.
- This method does not actually preserve the flowers and keep them from wilting. It is not comparable to a professional preservation but a simple homemade drying method
- It probably does not work for large and solid flowers like succulents
- Roses, Dahlias, Callas and Carnations can better be dried "normally". They might shrink but do not lose too much of their actual shape
- Start drying the flowers before they start to wilt
- You might want to pratice with some less meaningful flowers before the big day to get a feeling for the technique and find out if this DIY option is the right choice for you.
Materials:
Part 1:
- Flower Bouquet
- 1 large heavy book, and a few more heavy books and photo albums
- Scissors
- 1 sheet of Transparency Film with a removable paper-back, like the one that teachers use on overhead projectors. Use 2 or more sheets for a larger canvas
Part 2:
- your dried flowers
- A canvas, about the same size as the transparency foil
- Mod Podge
I make my own Mod Podge ( see the instructions on Do It Yourself Divas)
However, i recently read that the DIY equivalent can start to yellow after a few years hence it might make sense to buy the real Mod Podge for this project.
Part 3:
- Paint & Paintbrushes
- Clear Sealant
Instructions:
Part 1:
Open a page in the last third of your large heavy book, place the sheet of transparency film on it and lift up the foil.
Cut off the stem as close to the blossom as possible and arrange all blooms on the sheet of paper. Some flowers will fall apart but you can still use the single petals.
Then flap down the foil and push it down with one hand while you close the book. ( I asked my husband to help me to make sure the flowers would not get out of place)
Put your book into a safe place, add extra weight with additional books and photo albums, and leave it alone for at least one week. Two weeks are even better to make sure the flowers are well dried.
Part 2:
- Cover the canvas with a mighty thick layer of Mod Podge
- Place your flower sheet onto the canvas, carefully and accurately. You have only one try as the paper will stick immediately.
- Press down the foil with one hand while your other hand holds the bottom side of the canvas to create a back-pressure. It is important that the paper soaks up as much glue as possible, therefore press until the entire paper is pretty damp to make sure it keeps sticking. The stickiness is the base of this creation. Use your finger to smoothen the wet paper if you mind the bumps and wrinkles ( i didn't)
- Lift up the foil slowly but do not tear it off yet, just put it aside. Gently pull off any sticky petals and place them into their final postion. Intact flowers can carefully be pushed with a finger, as well as any small crumbs.
- Now you can start covering the flowers with Mod Podge. They are quite liquid-repellent, so do not hesitate to "drown" them in glue.
I used two different techniques: at first i held the single petals with one finger, dipped the paintbrush into the glue and applied it as if i would paint the petals.
The Gerbera Daisies were still intact and i could easily lift them up and apply some glue on their bottom, put them back onto the canvas and drip a fairly large blob on the bloom. Then i dabbed the daisies carefully until they were fully covered with glue.
In the end i dabbed the entire canvas with more glue:
