A Guide to Drying Flowers using Silica Gel

 The process of drying fresh flowers can be a bit challenging, especially if you are not familiar with it. Traditionally, people have been drying flowers by bundling a batch and hanging them upside down in a ventilated area for a few days until they’re completely dry. 

But, what if you don’t have space or time to wait for your flowers to air dry? Well, if that’s the case, then you can also use silica gel to dry them out a lot more quickly, and often with better results.

What is flower dry Silica Gel?

Flower dry silica gel is made up of a mixture of a very small amount of blue indicating gel with white silica gel beads that work to absorb the moisture from the petals. The blue indicating silica gel beads will indicate when they’re saturated and need to be replaced or recharged by changing their color from blue to pink.

Things you’ll need 

You’ll need to following ingredients to dry flowers using silica gel:

• Flowers

• Airtight containers

• Silica gel

• Cup

• Trimmers

Guide to drying flowers using Silica Gel

Follow the steps given below to easily and quickly dry and preserve your flowers using Silica Gel:

1. Decide on the flowers you would like to dry. Make sure that there is no water or condensation on your flowers before beginning the silica gel process.

2. Put a layer of flower dry silica gel at the bottom of an air-tight container. Ensure that the layer is at least 0.5 to 1 inches deep. It should at least be deep enough to hold the stems.

3. Trim the flower stems and insert them upright into the layer of silica gel. Place all the long flowers on their side in the silica gel. You can place all the flat flowers with their face down. Accommodate as many flowers as you can in a single layer inside the air-tight container. 

4. Gently pour the silica gel onto the petals using a cup. Ensure that silica gel beads are placed between each petal as well. While doing so, take care to keep the shape of the flower intact. Keep pouring the silica gel gently onto each flower until all are covered.

5. Seal the container and move it to a shelf for drying. Make sure that you don’t tip or shift the contents. In fact, it is best to not move the container until you are ready to remove the flowers.

6. Check on your flowers after 2 to 6 days to see if the drying is complete. Drying times will be different for different types of flowers.

7. Once flowers are dried, remove the top of the container and gently pour out enough of the silica gel to expose a portion of the petals. Remove each flower from the container and gently shake out the silica gel beads.

8. Take a new air-tight container. Cover its bottom with a thin layer of silica gel and then place the dried flowers inside the container for storage.

9. Now, you can seal the container and store it for future use. The remaining silica gel that was used to dry the flowers can be saved to dry more flowers later on.

We hope that this guide helped you understand how you can quickly dry flowers at your home. With silica gel, the process is accelerated and you can end up with beautiful dried flowers for decoration within a week. Silica gel packets lying around your house can be immensely useful if you’re creative enough!