Floral Craft

Make your favourite blooms last a lifetime with these simple DIY solutions.

DIY ideas for the home with dried flowers

Flowers are sometimes so beautiful that it’s a shame to throw them away as they start to wilt. These easy DIYs give them a second life. Drying flowers can be done in different ways, for example in a flower press. The simplest way is to hang them upside down in a dark, warm place. The darker the spot, the better the flowers will retain their colour. And the faster the flower dries, the better the result. As well as flowers, try drying greenery and other foliage of unique shapes and different sizes.

To give

A gift wrapped in linen is already very rich, add a small collection of dried flowers to the parcel and it really is a shame to unwrap.

Collect a few dried flowers and other foliage to make a nice bunch and tie together with natural string.

Wrap your gift with a piece of linen. Double-sided tape works well or try the Japanese art of furoshiki (fabric wrapping), there are some great tutorials online.

Take a piece of recycled ribbon or natural twine and tie it around the gift securing the flowers in place. If you’ve used the furoshiki technique, you could simply tuck the flowers into the tied fabric.

To hang

This idea is beautiful because of its simplicity, it’s so easy to make yourself. Take a round iron ring of about 20cm diameter, or whatever size you’d like. Wrap thin wire all the way around it - you’re trying to create small pockets between the wire that you can thread stems or small twigs through. Start threading your dried florals around the ring, wrapping them around to form a rustic ring shape. You can add extra bits of wire to secure the stems as you go.

Cut six more pieces of the thin wire, each of varying length. Attach each to the main ring by twisting around to secure. To the end of each length, attach a dried flower, dried twig or piece of foliage so they hang down below the ring.

Attach three more lengths of the thin wire at equal intervals around the top of the main ring. Twist the ends of the top of the wires together to form a point and a small loop, this is what you will use to hang your mobile from a ceiling hook, or outdoors on a branch.

To display

For this DIY you need a collection of nice little bottles or jars. This is a great way to use the empty glass bottles that some of your skincare products might come in.

Fill the jars almost all the way to the top with water, leaving enough space in the neck for the bottom of a candle to sit. Place your dried flowers in the jars so they’re submerged in the water. You can experiment using one flower in each or multiples depending on your jar and flowers. Play around to achieve the effect you’re after.

Put a candle in the neck of the jars. You can use a craft knife to carefully shave around the edges of the bottom of the candle until it fits snugly into the neck of the jars.