DIY: Make flowers last forever

DIY: Make flowers last forever

Have you ever wanted to keep a flower you found in a garden or have a vase of flowers that you wish you could keep a few of the flowers from? Using clear spray paint you can preserve the flower...petals, stem & leaves, shape, and color of...everything except smell.

              

What you need:
1. Clear Spray Paint - Krylon UV-Resistant Cleaver w/ Acrylic Coating is a good choice because it's made to preserve artwork, etc.
2. Old plastic bottle or glass bottle. A glass bottle like Perrier is best because it is heavier so it won't knock over, but any bottle will do.
3. Flowers!! Dried or Fresh. It's best if it has a stem, otherwise it gets a lot trickier.

Plastic or glass bottle

Clear Spray Paint - this one is ideal

What to do:

1. Put the flower stem into the bottle and if necessary use newspaper or something similar to prop the flower up so it's sticking out. Whatever is above the top of the bottle will be part of the final product but any stem inside the bottle will be trimmed off at the end so position the flower accordingly. The stem doesn't have to reach to the bottom of the bottle, you only need it to go in a couple inches so you can get it propped up and out. Make sure it's pretty sturdily in there and won't fall out from the pressure of the spraying.

2. Follow the directions on the spray paint to prep it (usually shake for 2-3 minutes) and spray it all around the flower from all angles - think of trying to get into every crack and crevice, you really want to coat the whole thing. That said, don't get up in the flower...spray at least 5 inches away from the flower. If your flower is sturdily propped in the bottle you also may be able to pick up the bottle and rotate it around to make it easier to cover.

3. Let 1st coat dry. I like to give at least 45 minutes between layers. Before spraying another layer, touch it and make sure it's dry. Repeat this process many many times, at least 5 times. So, as you may have gathered, this can take a while so it can dry between layers... So I would recommend doing it as a kind of side project over a day or two, coming back to it to spray it every so often. When you can touch it and it seems pliable or semi-hard it is DONE!

Once it's done you can put it in a vase or prop it in a window ledge. You can hang them by putting a safety pin through the stems and use fishing line or thread to hang:

For flowers with longer petals, sometimes it works better to hang the flower upside-down during the spray paint process because it keeps the petals from drooping over. ex: