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¤ Regenerating Silica Gel in a Micro-Wave

If you have a Microwave regenerating your Silica gel couldn't be

easier, or quicker. As with regeneration in an electric oven, don't wait

until you have a huge quantity to do, about 500gms at a time is a

manageable amount. Place this in an open Micro-wave safe
container, and with your setting on high micro-wave it for 2 minutes,
then stir it mixing in any still green indicating crystals with the ones
that have changed back to orange, and micro-wave again for 1
minute, repeat this process until all the indicating crystals have
turned orange and voila your Silica Gel is ready to use again.

¤ Finishing Wax

This really is a must if you're thinking of doing free standing type
arrangements with your dried flowers, as it gives them strength and
body, the great news is, one block of Finishing Wax goes a long, long
way, as you only need to apply a thin coat to the underside of the
bottom petals of a flower.

¤ Peonies

These wonderful flowers are now making their appearance - I had

brilliant results drying them last year and without a doubt the

herbaceous varieties were the best. I dried two types - Pink Pom

Pom a beautiful deep pink which has kept its colour all year, and the

pale pink Meadowlark which did fade and antique a little, but which

was still very pretty. So if you are lucky enough to have access to

these lovely flowers, they really are well worth drying.

¤ Favourite Flowers

Hellebores certainly top my list, they dry brilliantly without any

apparent loss of size or colour and the great thing is they only take 2

to 3 days. Visitors to our Stand were amazed with the result and

would only believe that the Hellebores were dried once they had

touched them. Roses always dry well, and half way through the first

day of the Exhabition we had to put signs up saying that all Flowers

displayed on the stand were Dried Flowers as many people thought

they were fresh.

¤ Yes, it can be done!

Paula contacted me in July, she had her sisters Wedding Bouquet in

hand and wanted to dry it. So it was with loads of trepidation I sold

her some Silica Gel and was delighted to discover that yes, it is

possible for somebody who has never dried flowers using Silica Gel

to achieve wonderful results. I still feel however that drying a

Wedding Bouquet, is very complicated and is not an ideal first

project.

¤ Ranunculus

I was given a bunch of these lovely little flowers by a friend recently,

and as I had never dried them, I was looking forward to trying.

Unfortunatly I wasn't able to - Computer problems have been

ongoing, although I think I finally have them sorted out.

One of the other reasons why I didn't drop everything in my

determination to get the flowers into Silica Gel was the realisation

that I didn't think they would dry very well. The problem as I see it, is

that none of the flowers in the bunch I was given opened fully, the

outer petals were beginning to wilt while the inner petals were still

tightly furled, knowing from experience that all parts of the bloom

need to come into contact with the Silica Gel crystals in order for the

flower to dry properly, I felt that these probably wouldn't be a

success. So I enjoyed them to the full while they were fresh.

¤ Good Buy

I found a beautiful bunch of Orange Roses on sale in a local Super

Market earlier this month, there were 20 big perfect buds on 50cm

stems, every single one opened they all dried perfectly and only cost

6.20€. If your Super Market stocks flowers, keep an eye open for

bargains, on the other hand there are a lot of bunches of little roses

available at a good price, but I have never had much luck with these,

I find most don't open, although on the other hand it's always lovely

having fresh roses in the house.

¤ Still Searching

The hunt for that elusive product that protects Dried Flowers from

the effects of humidity and UV fading goes on, and on - As I have

said before a flower dried 100% will resist drooping and fading, but

as the line between over dried, properly dried and not completely

dried is very fine indeed, I am looking for something which will

protect flowers which haven't been dried 100% - I have been doing

trials with a German Product and to be honest I am testing it in very

difficult conditions, as my studio has humidity levels of about 75%,

but the product isn't outperforming my well dried flowers, so the

search goes on.

¤ Watch out for Moths

A couple of weeks ago every time I went up to my Attic where I store

my Dried Flowers I saw a couple of Moths looking rather guilty, but

didn't think much of it - I should have!! It turns out that they were

laying their eggs in a batch of my Light Pink Peonies - They didn't

seem to like the dark ones thank goodness, and left all my roses

alone, but the Light Pink ones were destroyed by the grubs which

hatched and munched away quite happily until they were discovered

- I now hang Moth Repellent along side my flowers which seems to

have done the trick - A lesson learnt!

¤ Floppy Flowers

Well, warm wet Summers create very trying conditions for Dried

Flowers - The humidity levels in my Studio this Summer have been

very high for weeks on end, this is partly my own fault as I have the

door and windows open even when it's raining, but this puts a great

strain on flowers even 100% dry and petals start to droop, if you

have an arrangement where this is happening here are a couple of

short term remedies, one of which is to move the arrangement into

the driest place in the house and if this is not possible remove the

effected flowers from the arrangement, hang up-side-down in a dark

place if possible until humidity levels drop. I have been

experimenting with numerous products, both those specifically for

Dried Flowers as well as others, and have yet to come up with one

that solves this problem, if and when I do, I will be sure to let you

know.

¤ Corn Flowers

A friend and client is not having much luck drying these lovely little

flowers, and as I am not able to lay my hands on any I can't help

her, if anyone knows how to dry these successfully please drop me

an e-mail and I will pass the information onto her.

¤ Open all Summer

Traditionally many businesses in France to close for the Summer

Holidays, but SilicaSec will be open all Summer, as this is our busy