Dry flowers
The art to dry flowers has been existing for centuries, although doing designs with dry flowers is something new. Formerly the flowers were cut and dried to use them in the medicine or the gastronomy and did not matter as they saw or as they were.
Recently it has had to appear again thanks to the technology that allows that with special products the plants and flowers with a great quality and retention of color can be preserved.
You do not need to be a specialist in plants to know how to take care of them and later to dry them. Simply you must understand them and appreciate its colors, forms and textures.
Dry flowers in Old Times
There is evidence, of which it does thousands of years, the flowers were used in ritual burials. Some flowers that adorned the tombs of the Egyptian kings would have chosen by their aromatic and medicinal qualities, others without a doubt were selected to symbolize immortality, like certain varieties of Helichrysum and Delphinium.
One says that the petals of the flowers still retained their color when the tombs opened thousands of years later.
The symbolism of certain varieties of plants was taken in Greek and Roman suits in the beginning of the Christian beliefs. Lila represented the purity of the Virgin Maria and amarantus the resurrection and the immortality of Christ were associated with.
The luxury of the use of flowers in rituals and festivales was not recommended by the church in its beginnings.
Many plants were collected of the forest, but the Monasteries of medieval Europe created some of the first gardens that combined the production of food with the culture of the medicinal plants. It is known that the monks had all the necessary one to harvest, to distill and to dry for the care of their harvests.
In those times of self-sufficiency, no plant was rejected if it were possible to be used with an intention, like food, in spice, or to dry, to construct, to make utensils (prudent, material for the tile roof).
Nowadays, the art to dry flowers mainly is used for decoration.
To dry Flowers in House
To dry flowers in house is an pleasant pastime for whatever it likes its garden.
The flowers, once dry, can be maintained within house the year throughout.
The pleasure to dry flowers comes from the understanding and the care of the flowers. To create dry flowers of quality means to preserve them in its better state.
It has to select the best varieties, to cut them in the opportune time, to dry them to retain its better characteristics later to expose them like decoration or to sell them.
The flowers can be dried to the air or using silicone and glycerin. With first he is more appropriate for the flowers that have delicate petals or different forms that would not stay with the drying to the air.
The glycerin is used to retain the flexibility of some flowers of perennial leaf, like the ivy, laurel, magnolia, eucalyptus and others.
To dry flowers in house can ocuparte much space and the masking time can last months. It is necessary to have a dark place where hot air circulates to dry the flowers.
Small amounts of flowers can be hung in radiators or heaters. Some people hang them of the ceiling in hangers. The flowers that are thus dried do not retain so good color as those that are dried in the dark.
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