Preserving a dried flower

When my daughter was born, my dad brought me a big bouquet of daffodils from my momma's garden(my mom had passed away 2 years prior) with a very sweet note attached about how proud my mom would be of me.

I saved one of the flowers and dried it by pressing it in a phonebook. For almost 3 years it has been sitting in a page protector because I don't know how to preserve it properly on a scrapbook page.

It is very fragile so I am afraid to run it through a Xyron and I don't think it would hold up well in a shaker box.

Does anybody have any ideas?

When I went to Italy, a man gave me fresh mint and I wanted to keep it in my scrapbook, so I put it in a plastic container - I think it was from some embellies I bought - and put it in the page so it's protected and still visable.

You could make a "shaker box" just big enough to hold the flower and glue dot it or something to the back...So that you see the flower, but that it doesn't move, kwim? Dont put anything else in the shaker, just the flower. Basically AnnieSS's idea, but just taken kinda to a new level I guess?

I have quite a few dried flowers I didn't know what to do with. Thanks for asking this

I'm glad you asked this too.... but what is shaker box?

and how do you make it?

• tinkermama05 Said:

I still have a feeling it will crumble over time if I do something like that. That is why I did not want to do a shaker box. Is there any way of safely laminating a flower?

Great ideas so far!

Note that flowers contain lignin, so they are not acid free, if you're concerned about staying acid free. Putting them in a memorabilia pocket or shaker box is a great way to protect your materials and protect the flower.

Here's a wedding page I did w/ DH's boutonniere & part of my bouquet in a memorabilia pocket:

Married! Left

HTH!

I did some experimenting with this when I was making cards and such. I had pressed a variety of flowers and then sort of decoupaged them onto cardstock with Diamond Glaze (very carefully poured the glaze on the flower, making sure it was well sealed. You also have to decide the 'shape' of your glaze. I think I would cut or punch the dried object into a neat square or circle, I just let the edges of the glaze flow naturally.) Some flowers worked well enough, but the white ones got discolored (and Im sorry, I can't recall if I had them completely dried, or if I just pressed them?? but they were a few weeks old so fairly dry - and I was surprised that they turned color - a beigy brown, not very pretty color ) Its too bad that you can't experiment with a petal or something, but perhaps call a good local florist and see if they might suggest something.

• JoyfulAnna Said:

That was very sweet, and I know sentimental for you! I remember growing up, we always had dried flowers throughout our family bible, and they were sort of laminated. I think you can buy a type of laminating sheet that's 2 part, so you could put the flower on one sheet, then lay the other sheet over top and push down around it to seal them together, then cut away the waste. I've never done it myself, but I'm pretty sure that's how my mom did it. And it didn't stick to the flower itself, it just made a seal around it. Maybe if you have a local flower shop or craft store they could help??

Didn't that make a mess? Or use a TON of glaze?

I would use a small "page protector" or plastic slot. Then I would put that into a page protector and glue dot it down. This would keep it all together and flat. Plus, it will look nice.

It didnt take that much, and it didnt make a mess but I only 'glazed' around the flower, maybe an inch around it - not over the whole page. It looks quite pretty actually, if only I could find a way to preserve the original color, I would do this much more often.