A few years ago, I made a dried flower arrangement with grasses and seed heads picked from my yard and spray painted it gold. Did you know you can spray paint dried flowers with regular old spray paint to get a custom look? This is a great trick to use when making custom decor, wedding centerpieces and more! And Florists have been spray painting flowers with floral spray paint for arrangements for years, I am simply taking their cue! All of those odd and unnatural colored flowers have either been dyed or painted at your local florist. There are no such thing as blue carnations or bright orange hydrangeas.
I had gathered hydrangeas, grasses and daylily seed pods to create pretty dried floral arrangements from. Even though hydrangeas fade to a beautiful gold color, I wanted to add in a few other colors and try another project out as well. I had a beautiful clear day to play around. You can see a post where I talk about gathering the flowers and stems from my yard, plus a few other suggestions for things you can gather to add to dried flower arrangements. FYI, they are flammable so keep them away from heat sources or open flames.
I admit, I had to go to a few different stores to find all of the colors I wanted for the project. I ended up at Michaels, Hobby Lobby and Home Depot to find all of the fast-drying spray paint colors I needed. It ended up being an adventure. I realized out of all of them, Home Depot actually had the best and biggest selection of spray paint choices and vibrant colors for my blooms.
A few things needed to spray paint flowers besides the paint: safety goggles and a mask ( and gloves if you don’t want paint on your hands),a well-ventilated area, a box to use as a spray “tent” and a rack of some kind to let them dry on. I used an old crate and small metal table, but you’ll want something that the flower head can hang upright in for the drying process. They will be sticky for a while. Even a large box with holes poked through the bottom would work. Do several light coats of the paint and make sure to cover all of the petals for solid color.
The most important thing about spray painting the foliage is to make sure the day isn’t very windy, and that you turn your flower to make sure you cover all of the sides while spray painting dried flowers . It helped to hold it by the far end of the stem and turn them, spraying away. Let dry before adding a second coat.
Once they are painted, put them in your drying rack and let them dry for 24 hours. Some of the paints with less matte finishes took much longer to dry, and stayed stick for a while. And I liked the look of the matte paints over the shiny paints better. You want to let them dry completely so there isn’t any moisture left, otherwise they will feel sticky when you are arranging the blooms into bouquets.
Once they are dry , they are ready to use! You can use them for various crafts and home decor, mixing with fresh flowers in arrangements, or displaying them in a vase. I have a few things planned already for fall decor!
I've painted them for quite some time now, even way back during my time spent in the atelier. In rendering their special quality in paint, it is almost as if they're given a second life, with a feeling as it were timeless.
Fill a container halfway with silica gel. Place your flowers bloom side up in the container, and then gently pour more silica gel around the petals, ensuring the shape of the flower is maintained. Seal the container and wait for about a week until the flowers are completely dry.
Once completely dry, lay out each flower singly on a drop cloth and, using a portable spray unit, paint the flowers and foliage your chosen colours. A portable spray unit is not absolutely necessary, but it is a lot easier for 'busy' flowerheads such as hydrangeas.
Depending on the kind of flowers you choose to paint, your arrangements can last well beyond the honeymoon. Anthurium might only look good for another two days, but Italian Ruscus could last up to four weeks. Baby's breath can hold its shape for months (!) without water.
Dried hydrangeas are great to use for various crafts. A few years ago I discovered how easy it is to spray paint hydrangeas in various different colors.
Design Master spray paints are specifically formulated to be used on flowers, leaves, and a variety of botanical products. They will always give you clean and consistent coverage without over-spraying.
All you need to do is pour boiling water over petals, stir them to release the colour, then choose if you'd like to alter the pH with an acid or alkali.Then paint! It's that easy.
If you like the look of dried flowers, consider placing them in a picture frame or shadow box to display in your home. Framed pressed flowers make for excellent home decor, and it's an easy craft to complete. You can press flowers by placing them between the pages of a book, then placing more books on top of that one.
Dried flowers will naturally fade over time, particularly if they are kept in direct sunlight. This is part of their charm, to be enjoyed as much as any other time. But to slow the fade, keep them away from direct sunlight. They are fragile, and become more fragile as time goes on.
For example, dried lavender are gorgeous dried and still keep their beautiful scent, but it's petals shed so easily. You could use specially made lacquer spray to keep them in tact, but a light mist of old fashion hair spray will keep your dried grasses from shedding.
Introduction: My name is Kimberely Baumbach CPA, I am a gorgeous, bright, charming, encouraging, zealous, lively, good person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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