The Magic and Beauty of Artistic Flower Preservation

Many people have a special memory that they want to keep frozen in time. If flowers were received around this special time, these can be the perfect way to hold onto the moment forever. Naturally, keeping flowers can be hard if you haven’t done it before. If they’re not preserved correctly, the flowers might not last.

Flower preservation goes beyond hanging flowers to dry or pressing them between books. Although dried or pressed flowers can last longer — especially if you handle them infrequently — they will eventually break down and decay. When you preserve a flower, it means that you have basically slowed or stopped the breakdown. This way, they can stay beautiful forever. But that doesn’t mean you can count on the color of your finished piece.

All flowers are likely to fade over time, some faster than others, but it is also common for blooms to lose their color during preservation as they come into contact with chemicals. Our expert craftsmen know how to suspend your petals in time, without sacrificing the beauty of the flowers themselves.

Why You Can Preserve Some Flowers But Not Others

There are a lot of different methods of floral preservation. DIY guides are all over the place in online blogs. But what the blogs won’t tell you is that some flowers are better to preserve than others, and some colors will always fade or change no matter what you do. So what’s the difference?

Fleshy Blooms Are Best for Freeze Drying

Freeze drying your wedding bouquet or prom corsage might not make it last forever, but it can make it last for many years. The freeze drying process allows the floral arrangement to retain its shape, although the color will still fade over time.

Freeze drying is best for preserving flowers as a whole bouquet, especially of the fleshy blooms common in wedding bouquets such as:

• Peonies
• Roses
• Dahlias
• Hydrangeas

These blooms tend to hold too much moisture for their shape to be preserved with other methods, without developing mold or air bubbles.

Pressed Flowers Can Be Used to Create Works of Art

The blooms mentioned above are also great for pressing. When performed correctly, pressing can produce preserved petals with a papery feel. Although colors will be less vibrant over time, pressing flowers doesn’t diminish or change the color during the preservation process itself.

Pressed flowers, once ready, can be displayed in a frame or shadow box, or can be used to create a unique piece of art. At My Flowers Forever, we specialize in creating unique and artistic keepsakes utilizing your pressed flowers, as well as other art pieces.

Some Flowers Work Better Than Others

Most flowers can be preserved using just about any method. However, there are some flowers that don’t last very well, no matter how hard one tries. Thankfully, there are very few in this category.

The only flowers that can’t be pressed successfully are succulents and a few thick tropical flowers that are rarely used in bouquets in the US. Generally speaking, these types of plants aren’t really suitable for preservation by any method, because they are too fleshy to preserve without offering an opportunity for mold to develop. In fact, many of these are considered cacti, storing water just like their cousins in the desert.

Flower Colors and Vibrancy

While some flowers may fade a bit more than others, you don’t need to worry about that. At My Flowers Forever, we breathe new life into every petal and restore their beautiful colors with our time-tested process. Technically, all flower colors will keep well in our hands, because we hand paint each and every one. That said, bright colors like yellows and oranges are the most likely to retain their original color during the preservation process and beyond.

In particular, red shades will often turn a deep burgundy as they fade, regardless of the preservation method or the type of flower. If you have red flowers that you want to preserve, we recommend viewing our Bellabeads options. Our skilled artisans can perfectly preserve your flower petals, highlighting their original color to create a resin bead that can be mounted on one of our many memorial jewelry options.

One note: The faster your flowers are preserved, the more vibrant your colors will be, regardless of the shade. However, moisture is not an issue. In fact, we make sure to remove all moisture from the flowers, so that they don’t develop mildew over time.

How to Preserve Color While Preserving Flowers

There are some tricks to retaining color while preserving flowers, and most of them have to do with how the flowers are handled prior to preservation. Here are some key considerations for retaining color before your flowers are preserved.

How soon should I start the preservation process?

You should start the preservation process as soon as possible. Flower petal colors can begin to change almost immediately after the flower is cut, with the process varying in speed and length depending on the flower and other factors.

The sooner you get them preserved, the less likely it will be that the flowers will change color. It is best to put someone in charge of sending in your flowers for preservation the very next day after your special moment.

Can you preserve dying flowers?

All flowers technically start dying as soon as they have been cut. This is why most floral arrangements are made with fresh flowers cut within 24 hours of order delivery. The quicker the better.

How to Handle Flowers for Preservation

The more you handle the flowers you want to preserve, the faster the decay process will become. The good news is that there are things you can do to improve the preservation process, including how the flowers are handled and packaged for shipment:

• Use the smallest box possible for storage/shipment, without crushing the flowers.
• Carefully pack your flowers in a nest of undyed paper towels, or other appropriate natural and undyed materials.
• Keep flowers in a cool, dry place with recut stems in fresh water until you are able to get them preserved.

For more details of how to handle your flowers while shipping them to us for preservation, please visit these detailed instructions.

The Best Way to Preserve Your Flowers

If you look online, you’ll find all kinds of “methods” for preserving flowers. The problem is that many DIY home attempts at floral preservation are very difficult. They can often end up hurting the flower instead of preserving and restoring it.

It’s always easier and safer to have a trained artist take on this delicate task. We offer four ways to perfectly preserve your flowers, crafted by our experts into works of art to save your memory forever.

Freeze Drying

If you want to keep your floral bouquet or arrangement suspended in time, freeze drying might be your best option. When your bouquet is freeze dried, it will retain its shape for years to come.

While some fading will occur, experts can even preserve some of the flower’s coloring as well. Freeze dried arrangements can be made into permanent centerpieces or placed in a shadow box for display.

Pressed Flower Art and Arrangements

Whether you send us the whole bloom or just a few petals, we specialize in preserving and pressing flowers from all occasions. We also offer monograms, which can be a wonderful way to celebrate your name change after getting married, or to remember a loved one.

Resin Keepsakes

Suspending your floral memory in resin can be a beautiful way to bring together keepsakes and functionality. Here are some of the resin keepsakes that we offer:

• Ring holders
• Jewelry trays
• Keychains
• Guitar picks
• Coasters
• Holiday tree ornaments
• Cubes, stands, or initials
• Paperweights
• Suncatchers

Jewelry Pieces

One of the best ways to preserve difficult-to-save colors is with our Bellabead flower petal jewelry. Preservation within these beads allows us to carefully highlight the original vibrant colors of your petals, regardless of their hue or petal type.

Specifically, the floral matter is used to create a malleable material that can be swirled with appropriate color to form a jewelry bead. This bead can be of different shapes and sizes, including flat beads, and installed on any number of popular jewelry pieces.

Your Flowers Forever

We know that it takes trust to allow others to care for your precious floral memories. At My Flowers Forever, we work carefully to preserve every detail, and our trained artisans lovingly labor to craft your keepsakes into something you can treasure for a lifetime.

We also know that you may have some personal questions about the process. If you have any questions or concerns at all, we are here for you. Please give us a call or email today.