How to Dry Roses with Silica Gel
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Have you ever wanted to preserve a special flower or bouquet of roses from your wedding, Valentine's Day, prom corsage, or other special occasion? Sure, you can hang them upside down to dry naturally, but the color and shape will be really distorted. You'll get far better results if you dry your flowers in silica gel powder. It's super easy, too!
The best silica gel to use for drying flowers
The best type of silica gel to use for drying flowers is fine-grained silica powder. You want the stuff that's teeny tiny, so that it nestles down in between your petals to make as much contact as possible, so that the flower dries evenly.
Drying single flowers
There's enough in this affordable tub silica gel powder to do large bowls/trays of flowers at once, but sometimes you only need to preserve a single flower.
Our favorite way to dry a single flower is to pour the silica gel into small jars.
Step 1: Trim the flower
Start by trimming your rose to remove most of the stem. You'll want to leave a little bit on for a handle, but make sure it's short enough that the rose will fit into the jar with the lid closed.
Step 2: Add a base of gel to the jar
Pour about a half inch layer of the silica gel into the jar to create a base for your flower.
Step 3: Add the flower
Carefully stick your flower down into the jar, nestling the stem into that base layer of gel.
Take a minute to arrange the petals exactly how you like them, and do your best to keep them away from the sides of the jar if possible.
Step 4: Add the silica gel
Slowly pour silica gel carefully around and over the flower, covering it completely.
Step 5: Wait patiently
Close the lid of the jar tightly and gather up your patience, because now it's time to wait. Depending on your flower size and moisture content, it may take from a few days to a week or two for it to dry thoroughly. For roses, a week is a good starting point.
Step 6: Test for dryness
After a week or so, open the jar and carefully pour a little bit of the gel out of the jar and into a bag. Don't pour it all out, just enough to expose the petals a little bit.
Carefully inspect your rose to see if it is dried out. It should be very lightweight and fragile, like thin paper. If it's dry, you're okay to remove it, but if not, pour the silica gel back into the jar, close it up, and wait a few more days then check again.
Step 7: Remove the dried flower
When your rose is fully dry, carefully pour it (and the gel) out onto a sheet of paper on the table, letting it slide out without handling it too much. (When you're done, you can fold up that paper to easily funnel the gel back into the jar or bag.)
Pick the flower up by the stem and gently shake it, upside down, to remove the silica gel powder. If any is stuck between petals, you can use a toothpick or soft-bristled brush to coax it out.
Finished rose dried with silica gel
And just like that, you've got a gorgeous dried rose. It looks almost the same as the original, doesn't it? It's so delicate and lightweight and will stay just like this for a long time.
Reusing silica gel for drying flowers
When you're done with your flower, just put all the silica gel powder in an airtight jar or bag and save it until you need it again. Yes, this flower drying kit is totally reusable!
You can keep using the silica gel until it stops absorbing moisture (you'll notice it's heavier from the encapsulated moisture inside), then you can dry it out to recharge it.
Check the package instructions on your flower drying silica gel for the best method for recharging your silica gel. Typically you just spread it in a thin layer on a baking sheet and pop it in a 200-250F oven for 30-120 minutes, depending on how much moisture it has in it. Then just use it as normal.
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19 comments so far:
Thanks so much for this entry! I told my bf to not buy me flowers because, to me, its a waste of money since they just get ugly and die. Now that I have a solution, maybe ill start accepting floral gifts :)!
Cool idea. I usually just hang mine upside down on a cork board.
Using Silica Gel is the best way to preserve flowers for sure!
how cool! i would have never known those little gel packets could be useful. i just wonder, after the flower is dried and done, could the gel beads be re used? great project, thank you!
I have used silica gel to dry flowers many times, this is great advice!
How cool!!!! Never seen it before, can't wait to try it.
monica, you can definitely use the silica gel over and over. It will last for many batches, but if you ever feel that it's not absorbing any more moisture, you can always re-dry it. I found some tips on how to do that here.
wow. this is the info I have been looking for. Thanks for this. In my thirteen gardens I am sure a lot of them will make there way into the house to be preserved.
Hi! Using the silica gel worked like a charm. I have lots of flowers dried from my daughter's wedding. Any suggestions for things to make with them now? Thank you!
Karen, we're so glad to hear that this technique worked well for you. As for ideas on how to use the flowers... how about to decorate a wreath or frame, or maybe fill a shadowbox with buds? Perhaps try searching Pinterest for dried flower decoration ideas. Enjoy!
Can you dry roses with stems still on?
Melchie, I haven't tried it, but I don't see why not. You'll just need a larger container and a lot more silica gel to be able to cover the whole rose and stem. Let us know how it goes!
I've been using silica gel beads/sand for 20 years. I have made close to 50 shadow boxes. Ok my niece thought she was doing the right thing and hung the flowers upside down for 2 weeks. She called me I told her to get them in the gel. So she did. Never happened before. She said they were already drying out. What do you think? Will it still work?
Kathi, I'm not sure what results you'll get, but give it a shot. What do you have to lose?
Kathi, you can air dry flowers by hanging them! They tend to get a little more misshapen and off color than using silica, but I saved some lovely hydrangeas by air drying and they're still very beautiful!
I purchased some silica gel to cover roses that I had from my grandads funeral, but turns out I did not buy quite enough. My roses aren’t fully covered and I was wondering if they would still dry like this please? Seems to be hard getting silica gel. :)
Emma, I haven't tried this before with only halfway covering the flowers, so I don't know if it will work or not. Let us know what results you get!
Tried this and my roses turned black. The color wasn't preserved at all.
Kathy, I did some Googling and discovered that some varieties of red roses will turn black when dried. Sounds like you might have used one of those varieties, unfortunately.