See beautiful dried flowers from theflowergirls at our eBay store, Punkineddy's!!!

Caring For Dried Flowers

The thing about dried flowers is that they are real flowers. They are real flowers that have been given an extended life - not immortality!

How long your dried flowers last depends mostly on how you care for them. They aren't fresh flowers, true. But they still need care! Think of it this way. Would you take a beautiful boquet of fresh flowers home from your favorite florist and put them in a vase with no water and no flower food? Of course not. But if you did forget to water and feed them, you would understand that they aren't going to last very long, wouldn't you?

Well, dried flowers are not as finicky as fresh flowers, but they have their little quirks, and knowing what they are can add a good deal of life to your dried flower designs and give them every chance to live up to your expectations!

Whether I have created them, or you have created them with products purchased from us, you understandably want to display your dried flowers where they can be seen. And that means light. You need light to show off their true colors. But too much direct light either from the sun, or from artificial lighting can cause dried flowers to fade. Of course, it's not just dried flowers. Carpets, upholstery, and silk flowers will also fade in direct light. There is a trade off and a proper balance that you must always find between enough light to show off your decor, but not too much to cause fading too fast. That's a personal choice as it has always been with anything you display in your home or office. Just know this: the more direct light-the shorter the life.

The humidity levels play an even more important role in the longevity of your dried flowers. Too much humidity and the dried flowers will begin to suck up moisture from the air causing them to become wimpy and the color to fade out. Too little humidity and of course the dried flowers will dry out and can become brittle. Of the two extremes, too much humidity is the biggest enemy. That's why many people who.love dried flowers opt not to display them in an area of their home that is often damp - like a bathroom with a busy shower. That being said, I don't mean to make it sound like they are all that picky. What is ideal in humidity for your health and comfort is ideal for your dried flowers. 40% is generally accepted as ideal. Now don't get too worried over that. A plus or minus of 5 or 10 percent isn't going to destroy your flowers over night. Again, just be aware - especially with the plus side, as you go up, you're loosing a little life. There is one other very important point that needs to be made regarding humidity levels. If you have any preserved items, you need to be particularly aware of this. When the humidity gets too high, preserved items will sweat much the same as a glass of water will sweat in high humidity situations. But when the preserved item sweats, it can weep the glycerine and dye that preserves the botanical. This can be a very unpleasant outcome especially if the preserved item is allowed to rest and sweat onto your great-grandmother's heirloom table, for instance. It can eat at the finish! Again, this won't be a problem, as long as you are not experiencing high levels of humidity where you are displaying your dried flowers. If you are perspiring, your preserved botanicals will too.

As far as cleaning dried flowers - about the only concern is dust. A blow dryer set on low will take care of that.

I adore dried flowers because they are real. They are what they are, and are not pretending to be something they are not. To me, dried flowers shouldn't be expected to look like fresh spring flowers, but more echo the remembrance of a past summer afternoon. They are unpretentious, and comfortable, and simplistically beautiful all at the same time. Properly cared for, they will be pretty for you for a very long time.

I hope this helps you relax a little bit with your dried flowers - whether you purchased one of my completed designs, or bundles of dried flowers to make your own designs, please. . .

ENJOY!!!