Drying Flowers From a Funeral or Wedding Using Silica Gel Crystal Sand

My mother had a wonderful talent. She dried flowers from wedding bouquets and funerals. 
 
Many years ago, fake flowers weren't very good and looked "fake" so fresh flowers were always used and if you wanted to be able to have the bouquet as a keepsake, you would have to dry it. 
 
The same goes with funeral flowers. If you want a keepsake from a funeral, there isn't much other than florals at funerals.    

For years, I would watch my mother dehydrate flowers and put them in glass domes for friends, clients and family for either weddings or funerals. 

She would spend hours layering the flowers or petals in layers of silica gel sand and let them dry in the garage or put the trays of gel in the oven on the lowest setting for a few days and they would dry more quickly if she had a deadline. 

My mother was so creative that it was "normal" for me to have trays of sand in the oven or many in the garage. I never questioned growing up that every home didn't have crafts throughout the house.  

Princess Five was in the Jr. Prom royalty and wanted to dehydrate one of the carnations she got in her bouquet so I showed her how to dry it and made a few videos in the process as dried flowers aren't something that is popular anymore with all the wonderful fake flowers available and different trends in home decor. 

I haven't used the drying sand since one of my best friends mothers died. I dried some flowers from her funeral arrangements and put them in a deep picture frame for her to have as a reminder. 
 
To dry the flowers, you take the stem off as they take longer to dry. You pour sand by the handful into the petals of the flower. 

Make sure you get drying sand down as deep as you can because if it doesn't get down into the base of the flower, it can mold or turn black as it dries. 

For the best results, use fresh flowers. You can dry them in the same tray but you can't have them touching any side or other flower or they don't dry well or dry bent. When it is dried for a week or so, you just start to pour off the sand back into the bucket or another container and once the flowers are uncovered, you can use a paint brush to brush off pieces of sand that are still stuck on it. 

You can use floral tape and floral wire to make stems. You can dry leaves and baby's breath to use as background or leaves and you can put them in frames or glass globes and make arrangements. The videos are descriptive. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.