Silica Gel
© Carol-Ann van Blerk.
HOW SILICA GEL WORKS
SilicaSec.co.uk
The gentle art of drying flowers
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ATTENTION
Silica Gel is not a toy - please keep out of reach of children.
Do not eat Silica Gel. Once you have used Silica Gel in a container, wash
the container thoroughly if you intend using it for the preparation or
storage of food stuff.
Silica Gel is a granular material ideal for drying flowers because it draws
moisture from the flower, drying it quickly therefore reducing the loss of
colour and size. The end result is dried flowers which look almost as if
they have been freshly picked.

The Silica Gel we supply is auto-indicating - it changes from orange, it's
active state, to dark green when it is no longer active. I have had queries
as to whether the orange to green crystals will stain petals and having
dried flowers of all types and colours, I have never had a problem with the
colour leaching out and staining petals.

Once the Silica Gel is no longer active, it is easy to re-activate by heating
the granules in an open container in your oven, at a temperature of
between 105 and 110°c. When the indicating granules return to their
original colour orange, let the Silica Gel cool and then store it in a sealed
container until you are ready to use it again.

This reactivation process can be done a number of times and although
after a while the orange granules loose their ability to change colour, your
Silica Gel will still retain it's capacity to dry flowers.