Composition of dried flowers on a log. Floral arrangements of flowers and dried flowers

Dried flowers are dried plants that retain their beautiful appearance and are used to make floral arrangements. Of the advantages of such original decorative elements, one can single out not only their aesthetics, but also the fragrant smell that envelops the room in which they are located.

Dried flower compositions were especially popular in the 20th century. They decorated the interiors of houses, used as decorative elements for ladies' hats and hairstyles. It is very easy to make a composition of dried flowers in a vase or flowerpot yourself, but you need to follow some rules. Which plants to choose and how to dry them properly, how to make a bouquet of them and other secrets, we will tell further.

Selection of flowers for dried flowers

To make floral compositions from dried flowers, professionals use not only a variety of plants, but also their parts. Very often, flowers, fruits, individual leaves, stems, roots, tree bark, moss and even mushrooms are used. From these elements, you can make an original beautiful composition, and if you add some more fragrant plants, for example, lavender, cinnamon or cloves, then it will also smell fragrant. Thus, the floral composition in the flowerpot will become not only a bright accent of the decor, but also a natural flavor.

It is better to collect flowers for decorative crafts in dry weather and choose only beautiful, fresh and undamaged ones. After drying, blue, pink, purple and orange plants retain their color best. Red flowers tend to darken, while light flowers take on a yellowish tint.

It should be remembered that some plants become very fragile after drying, and it is often quite difficult to assemble them into a composition without damaging them. Therefore, the most reliable option would be to first make a bouquet, and then dry the finished product. Arrangements of dried flowers in a vase look best. Such decorative elements bring comfort and tranquility to the interior of the house.

How to make an arrangement of dried flowers

If all the necessary plants and flowers are collected, you can begin to form a bouquet:

1. prepare garden shears, a knife and a cord with which you will fix the composition;
2. form a bouquet and cut off the excess length of the stems with scissors;
3. wrap the stems with a cord and fasten it well;
4. do not forget to leave free ends that will be needed to hang the bouquet;
5. hang the composition upside down in a dark, well-ventilated area to dry for 2-3 weeks;
6. then look for a suitable place for her in the house - it should be away from sunlight and active actions to avoid damage;
7. the finished composition of dried flowers should be well sprinkled with hairspray, and if desired, you can paint it with spray paint.

Do not forget to gently clean the bouquet from dust once a month, for example, with a weak jet of a vacuum cleaner, and then spray again with varnish. Then your composition of dried flowers made by your own hands will be preserved and will please you for a longer time!

However, storing dried flowers for years is also not recommended. After all, even with regular cleaning, it is still not protected from dust and can cause allergies in households. Plus, it's not very hygienic.

For many, a dried flower is any beautifully flowering dried plant. But this is far from true. Professional florists know that after pruning and drying, not every flower can maintain a holistic and aesthetic appearance. A beautiful dried flower will not come from a bright and luxuriantly flowering plant, since these specimens become very fragile and unattractive after drying.

To make compositions from dried flowers with your own hands, you can use various parts of plants: stems, flowers, fruits, seed pods. Dried flowers may belong to different species, but they have one thing in common - they are able to retain color and shape for a long time.

Dried plants have been popular and in demand for a long time. Dried flowers in the interior were used for decorating rooms, decorating hairstyles and hats, as boutonnieres. And the created compositions can be a good gift to friends and relatives.

In order for the composition to retain its attractiveness for a long time, the plants must be treated with special means. Most bouquet makers don't do this and replace with new plants.

Growing dried flowers is quite simple, because they are unpretentious in care, resistant to adverse weather conditions. They do not require a lot of sunlight and abundant watering.

Compared to other ornamental plants, dried flowers are able to retain their original appearance without special treatment for one year. Masters need to take care of the timely cutting of plants and the proper preparation of material for creating bouquets.

Description of species

To create compositions with their own hands, professional florists use several types of plants. Traditionally, annuals or immortelle plants are used.

The most popular dried flowers for floristry are:

Very often, in the manufacture of homemade compositions from dried flowers, physalis, echinacea, shaking, haretail, Aflatun onion, nigella, and tansy are used. Some cereal plants also have decorative properties: millet, barley, polypogon. Spicy herbs are perfect for arrangements: lemon balm, hyssop, lavender.

Growing features

Growing these plants is not difficult. Sowing seeds is carried out in late spring - early summer on the sunny side of the garden plot. In autumn, you can sow cereals, some types of annuals and thorns.

Many species do not have special requirements for watering, as they are drought-resistant and do not tolerate strong waterlogging of the soil.

Preparation of dried flowers

Harvesting of dried flowers is carried out at different stages of development. Flowering plants are harvested during the formation of inflorescences, flowering or fruiting. When cutting, leave a long stem and clear it of leaves.

Then the plants are divided into small bunches and hung upside down in a dark, well-ventilated room.

After the flowers are completely dry, they are dyed or lightened as necessary. For this purpose, you can use a spray gun with a fine spray nozzle. For clarification of cereal plants, spraying is carried out several times a day. If the plants are placed to dry outdoors, they can be dried to a white color. When drying spikelets under a canopy, care should be taken to protect them from rain and dew, otherwise the plants will not dry out completely and rot. Prepared material should be stored in the dark until use.

For future paintings and wall panels, drying is carried out in a slightly different way, since blanks of various shapes will be needed that can be fixed on a flat surface. For this, an unpainted board is used, on which plants are fixed with the help of threads. After drying, dried flowers can be painted in the desired color and fixed with a special varnish or fixative. This measure will preserve the desired shade and prevent shedding for a long time. Means for the treatment of dried flowers can be purchased at specialized stores. After the plants are fully prepared, they are placed in cardboard boxes, shifting with tissue paper or newspaper.

Bouquet is the simplest use of dry plants for decorating a room. Before you create a composition of dry flowers, you should prepare a vase. If yellow or orange prevails in the bouquet, it is recommended to use a decorative vase made of clay or wood. Multi-color compositions look good in ceramic containers. For volumetric compositions, a wicker basket is suitable.

A bouquet of dried flowers is created in several stages:

• prepare individual bunches of plants and tie them with thread or floral tape;
• combine ready-made bundles into a single bouquet;
• if a basket is used for the composition, then it should first be filled with a floristic sponge, moss or grass should be laid on top and the plants should be fixed. Over time, replacing plants with fresher ones will not be difficult.

Use for interior decoration

Dried plants are very often used for home decoration. In addition to winter bouquets, florists make three-dimensional paintings, applications, panels, crafts and wreaths of dried flowers.

For paintings, plants dried by pressing are used. So you can prepare not only leaves and flowers, but also seeds and intricately curved shoots. The blanks should be placed on a dense base of paper or cardboard and fixed with glue. After drying, the panels are placed in a photo frame.

Volumetric paintings are more complex in execution. For their manufacture, plants are used in which the shape is preserved. As a basis, you can use rods, metal and wooden rings and frames of various shapes. When composing a composition, you should first fix larger plants, then supplement the arrangement with cereals and herbs.

Very often, dried flowers are used to make a variety of crafts. Topiary trees are especially popular.

Wreaths of dried flowers look original in the interior. Such compositions take up very little space. As a rule, they are placed on walls or doors. To make a wreath, you can use flexible willow branches or metal wire. The artificial base should be masked with threads, strips of fabric or grass, after which you can proceed to decorate the composition with plant materials.

Dried flowers are a fairly affordable and inexpensive material for making interesting and beautiful bouquets with your own hands. Another advantage is durability, such flowers will last for several years and decorate the house or any event.

What are dried flowers

Dried flowers (immortelle or "immortelle") are plants whose flowers will not lose their aesthetic appeal as a result of drying. They perfectly retain the brightness of colors and shape.

The longevity of plants is ensured by membranous wrappers of inflorescences or scaly formations of the receptacle.

Procurement of immortelle

There is nothing complicated in the technique of making dried flowers, the use of additional devices is not required for this.

Basic Rules:

• harvest them in the summer, on a sunny day, without precipitation;
• flowers must be cut around noon, they do not need to be watered before, you need to dry the plants as much as possible;
• you need to choose flowers without dew drops.

The degree of blooming of flowers when choosing a plant is not important, the main thing is that the stem is long. After cutting the dried flowers, they must be hung upside down for about 20 days. At the same time, the room should not have a lot of light and stuffiness; it is better to choose a pantry or closet for these purposes.

Important! It is necessary to ensure that direct sunlight does not fall on the composition after the bouquet is made, as the flowers may burn out, lose color.

High humidity will also have a bad effect on the inflorescences, the leaves may become an ugly brown color.

What dried flowers are better to use for composition

Field or garden flowers are suitable for making a beautiful bouquet of immortelle. It is also recommended to use sprigs of reeds, shrubs, ornamental onions, spikelets, ferns, sedges, and reeds. At the same time, branches of sea buckthorn, hawthorn, barberry, viburnum and other berries look good. Many dry shrub branches along with berries, this will be a wonderful decoration for the composition.

Sometimes you can add twigs and trees, for example, linden, birch, spruce, pine, etc. Gypsophila, gelechrysum, physalis, etc. - will be a great addition to the bouquet.

Such flowers do not require any care and frequent replacement, so they will be a real find for decorating a home interior or any other room.

Important! The bouquet can become even more interesting if the dried flowers are painted in any color.

Master classes

Below are a few training examples on how to make bouquets of dried flowers with your own hands with a photo.

Classic variant

Material:

• any immortels you like;
• scissors;
• ribbon or twine;
• varnish (preferably aerosol).

Subsequence:

1. First you need to decide on the place where the bouquet will stand. The main thing - as far as possible from direct sunlight and any heating devices.
2. Pick up a vase or pot for the found surface.
3. Arrange dried flowers and the required tools in front of you. Collect immortals in a bouquet.
4. Cut off the excess parts of the stems with scissors, and tie them tightly with twine. In this case, you should be careful so that the stems do not break.
5. Coat the entire composition with varnish so that it retains its appearance for a long time and in order to have less contact with flowers. However, if you want to preserve the real aroma of immortelle, then it is better not to use varnish.

Composition in a pot

What will be required?

• a low vessel of small size;
• dried flowers;
• scissors;
• decorative stones, moss or sisal to close voids;
• gypsum;
• elements for decoration of the pot;

Master Class:

1. Dilute gypsum, pour it into a pot. It is necessary to pour enough gypsum so that about 2 cm remains to the edge of the vessel. There is no need to wait for the gypsum to dry.
2. It is necessary to cut the stems of immortels to the required length, the main thing is not to leave it very large.
3. The composition will look perfect if you close all the voids for which pebbles, moss or sisal are used. It is important to do this until the gypsum has dried up, you can use tweezers.
4. You can do the decor of the pot, for example, sticking rhinestones, lace or something else.
5. Coat the entire composition with varnish.

Composition with sponge base

Floral sponge (penoflor) is the most popular base option, which is used with any flowers.

What materials will be needed for this master class on making a bouquet of dried flowers with your own hands?

• capacity for the composition - a mug, a basket, an original vase or something else;
• scissors;
• penoflor;
• immortals (immortelle, rounded convex rudbeckia testes, pale pink heather twigs, spike-shaped inflorescences of western rudbeckia, fluffy haretail inflorescences).

Subsequence:

• We are preparing the base. The sponge must be cut to the shape of the container for the bouquet. In this case, vases. This material is very easy to cut, so there will be no difficulties.

• We compose the composition according to the rules. The largest flowers are inserted into the sponge first, in this case the immortelle. We distribute them evenly throughout the container. Dilute everything with a contrasting element - dark rudbeckia.

• Add vertical accents in the form of western rudbeckia and decorate the remaining free places with pink heather sprigs.

• We decorate everything with a fluffy haretail. They should be taller than the rest of the plants in the composition. It is very important to carefully insert them into the sponge, since the stems of the haretail are thin and not rigid enough.
• It remains only to carefully look at whether there are empty places in the vase and, if something is left, hide them with small flowers.

Mini bouquet of dried flowers

Such compositions-compliments are ideal for a gift, they are often glued to a postcard.

What is needed for the first option?

• rivelia branches;
• white limonium;
• branches from grapes;
• decoration - a painted twig with beads;
• raffia.

How to make such a mini-bouquet of dried flowers?

1. We collect all the components in a spiral. It is better to put grape branches in the center and alternate the rest of the composition in a circle in a circle. Such bouquets look better if you collect the bouquet asymmetrically.
2. Tie the stems with raffia, a natural material.
3. Complete the composition with a beautiful wrapper. For example, in crab paper, background paper, in the form of an ice cream cone, etc.

Dried flowers are an excellent material for composing a composition with your own hands. Its main advantage is durability. Such a bouquet is ideal for a gift for any occasion or just to decorate the interior of the house.

Now many amateurs and professionals are engaged in dried flowers. There are special schools for drying plants and composing compositions from them. Dry bouquets can stand for a year or two, and a picture made from the leaves of dried flowers can last five or six years.

We also bring to your attention a master class on making a passe-partout from dried flowers. Even now it is customary to include medicinal herbs in the compositions, for example, such as yarrow, sorrel, mint - these herbs will help against the flu, they will purify the air in the room and prevent the spread of bacteria. It is these properties that are used in the manufacture of aromatic sachets from dried flowers and medicinal herbs.

All dried flowers are popularly called "immortals" for their ability to retain their color for a long time after drying.

But there is also a separate flower with the same name. There are many types of "cultivated" dried flowers, including the well-known helichrysums.

Harvest field or ornamental flowers in summer and autumn. When harvesting, you should not tear wild flowers with your hands, as many of them are perennial. "Cultural" dried flowers are also best cut with scissors. Then tie in small bunches and hang upside down in a dry place. If you are in the countryside or in the country, then hang flowers in the attic. In the city you can also in the kitchen.

Some dried flowers:

Everlasting or Helechrysum It comes in a variety of colors: yellow, orange, red, white. You need to cut in buds or half-blown.

Gypsophila or Kemerek are highly valued by decorators for their delicacy and airiness. Cut them off when all the small flowers are fully bloomed.

Lunaria (moon)- for the composition they use its transparent partitions of the seed box with a mother-of-pearl tint, similar to silver coins.

decorative bow- small and large purple balls. To give them a more decorative look, the stem is cut off, and a wire is inserted into its remaining tip.

Moraovnik ball-headed has dark blue flowers. Cut them off when two or three inflorescences bloom.

cattail cut off when it starts to turn brown. After a few days, it turns brown.

eryngium flat-leaved attracts attention with its prickly stipules.

Yarrow terry (pearl oyster) white, which is cut at the end of flowering.

Physalis cut off after acquiring a bright orange color. When drying, you can hang upside down and upside down.

Barley mane and is very decorative, its spikelets resemble feather grass. Cut off at the very beginning of flowering and immediately wrapped in a roll in paper, stored in this form.

You can cut them at any time of the year, each plucked leaf in the forest is placed between sheets of newsprint, which are rolled up and stored in this form. With such material you will make any composition.

A composition, unlike a simple bouquet, can include branches, roots, fruits, cones, and any natural materials. Fantasies of dried flowers are autumn, winter and spring. Material is prepared in the summer.

For example, for winter compositions, dried plants with bright large fruits are used - eryngium, muzzle, pile cone. The shoots of hogweed look very impressive, some umbrellas of which reach impressive sizes. It grows along the roads. During the flowering period, touching it can cause skin burns. So use gloves.

To make the hogweed shoots look prettier, you can tint them a little. An interesting composition can be made from ears of rye, wheat, barley. If all the cereals are dried and tied in small sheaves, strengthened on one canvas, you get a decorative wall panel. Recently, artificial flowers have also been included in the compositions, a beautiful combination is obtained.

But the most interesting thing is that in some countries dried flowers are so highly valued that even artificial dried flowers are made. If earlier not many flowers were used for composition, now phytodesigners have at their disposal about two hundred species of plants. Their number is increasing every year. Drying flowers is a whole science with its own rules. We will introduce you to some of them.

Flowers can be dried not only in the air, but pads can be made from moisture-absorbing substances. Previously, flowers were dried with semolina - they poured it into the base of the flower. However, semolina is heavy, and besides, it is not always dry enough. A drying pad can also be made from cotton wool - lay each leaf with small cakes.

Some plants can be dried in the microwave. Not necessarily at low temperatures. The stove quickly gains heat, moisture from the flowers comes out with lightning speed. Plants taken out of the oven are very fragile and must be handled with care. As long as they do not pick up a little moisture from the air, it is better not to touch them.

And one more way of drying flowers: flat flowers like chamomile are dried in sand, clean, fine, dry. It is poured in a layer of two centimeters. The stem of the flower must be cut and inserted into the base of the wire. With its help, you can create an unusual flower shape. Then you need to lower it head down in the sand and carefully pour it with a spoon.

Leave in the sand for four days. Hang dry on a hot dry day. Volumetric flowers are dried a little differently - roses, peonies. They have a wire inserted into the stem, but they are dried with their heads up, and the flowers are carefully covered with sand.

Leave in this form for twelve days. Branches of shrubs and trees can be coated with glycerin, then they stand for a long time and look very beautiful. Two thirds of water is taken for one third of the glycerin solution, a flower or branch is placed in this solution for seven to eight days.

The main principle of any composition: it should have a bright center. From dry, as well as from living, flowers, you can make any composition: triangular, oval, sickle-shaped.

The main thing is patience, desire and imagination. Not without reason in beautiful interiors in winter they try not to put artificial flowers, but use exquisite, bright dried flowers. If you decide to compose a composition, then first of all determine its purpose. It can be desktop, wall and floor. Exquisitely look wall panel of dried flowers.

The latter is usually placed in large halls. Falling bouquets of medium or large size, depending on the height of the room, are suitable for a cabinet or shelf, and a mini-bouquet for a shelf inside a sideboard. A dry wreath is appropriate for decorating the icon. The front and kitchen, as a rule, are decorated with table compositions that are created on wickerwork, on "braids" of herbs and bast, on snags or on foam.

When you have determined the location and size of the composition, proceed to the selection of a vase and material. Be sure to pay attention to the color of the walls so that the composition harmoniously fits into your interior. Styrofoam is used for the basis of compositions from dried flowers. Attach it to a flat vase with adhesive tape, and tie it to a basket or snag with a string. Styrofoam will look better if it is tinted with green or brown gouache; if the stems of the plants are thin, pierce the foam with an awl or needle.

For dry compositions, wall-mounted baskets can be used. Now there is a novelty - at special exhibitions you can buy a special sponge, "oasis" or pheoflora. It is used as a foundation and "soil" for the arrangement composition.

It is intended for both compositions of dried flowers and fresh flowers. Compositions look most impressive when the tallest plant is 1-1.5 times the size of a tall vase, counting from its throat, or 1-1.5 times the diameter of a flat vase. From a small amount of dry flowers and leaves, you can make linear, silhouette compositions that look like thin graphics against a light background. Volumetric compositions require a large amount of material.

The upper part of the bouquet is made from plants of lighter colors and smaller in size. Dark and large flowers are located at the bottom of the bouquet. As we have already noted, it is especially important to highlight a color spot in a bouquet or a flower or a bunch of flowers that is original in shape.

All other plants should reinforce the compositional center. If the bouquet has a vertical form, then the compositional center should be slightly above or slightly below the middle of the bouquet, and in a horizontal form - slightly to the left or slightly to the right of the middle. Red color is in harmony with white, yellow. Orange and yellow colors are combined with blue, blue, purple. White enhances all other colors.

Good luck to you, lovers of the delicate, exquisite beauty of dried flowers!