Drying Flowers

I love summer and lately I have taken the time to walk the trail through the woods and the field almost every day. Today I made it out for quite the hike and collected wildflowers from the overgrown field. We have them hanging all around our house, across the mantle, and on a string above the dining room and kitchen. It definitely gives our house a different feel.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with all of them. I'd like to try to make some wreaths depending on how they look when dried. I am also pressing some of the flowers beneath several stacks of books across the mantle.

As far as how to dry flowers, there isn't much to it.

:: Hang with rubber bands instead of string, so they stay hung once the stems start dring and shrinking.

:: Don't hang more than 6 or so stems together, so there is plenty of room for air to circulate.

:: Space the hanging bunches so that none are touching (again, for air circulation).

:: Wait.

For pressing,

:: Leave at least an inch around each flower.

:: Press with newspaper or paper towels on both sides of the flowers (at least 4 layers of newspaper)

:: Stack books on top.

:: Wait.

I'm not sure how long it will take. Everything I read said something different and I'm sure it has to do with the humidity. I'd guess in a few weeks I'll have some pretty dry flowers around.

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In family news, my wonderful great-grandmother passed away. She was an amazing woman and I wrote about her here. I am so glad we were able to take Ben to see grandma for her 90th birthday party. She was an amazing woman.