Flower Drying with Silica Gel - Drying Roses for Flower Preservation in Epoxy Resin Tutorial

[@jerridyke68]

Thank you! I had not heard about the gel turning a different color when the flowers are dried, very helpful.

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you for watching! I'm not sure if all brands does it, but the reason it changes color is because there's moisture in the gel (taking them out of the flowers). The instructions to your silica may mention it 🙂

[@thechainuser4540]

🥰 now I can save all the really cool flowers on my ranch. I want to make resin orbs of each of them.

[@EllafulDeco]

Yes! I have a video on preserving these roses in spheres actually here if you're interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qn66iqN3l7eDjsU 😊

[@Thefineartofdistraction]

Thank you so much for sharing I found this extremely helpful as I’m wanting to dry some roses very soon & cast them in resin, I have watched part 2 of this video to, your a great teacher thank you very much 🙏🙏🙏

[@EllafulDeco]

I’m so happy you found the videos helpful! Thank you so much for your feedback!😊

[@yashipandit9031]

Hi, my flowers colour got changed when crying in silica gel. they were pink roses.. and now turned almost pale yellow. Any tips to not do the same thing again, as I need the original colour retained?

[@EllafulDeco]

Hello! It could be that the silica gel needs to be recharged. If not, then that may just be how that flower dries. Not all flowers dry the same, for example tropical flowers tend to dry brown for me. I will have to color enhance it to get the original color back.

[@yashipandit9031]

@@EllafulDeco Thank you,I'll try changing silica gel. But how do you color back it to look a bit like original?

[@amygathercole4078]

Thanks so much, I am currently drying out some roses to preserve from my grandma's funeral.❤ For my family . I have some test smaller roses to use first as my first time using resin - I don't want them to become to brittle..they have nearly been in the silica gel for 2 weeks now, so 🤞 this goes ok!

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you for watching this video ❤️. In my experience, roses are pretty sturdy. Larger roses I leave them in silica for 4 weeks and they are still perfect. Definitely do the testing and practice first. I have some other videos with casting flowers if you're interested to see some examples 🙂

[@surbhisweet8539]

I preserved these pink roses in silica powder fr 10 days but still they didn’t get preserved?can u tell me why? I used this powder thrice fr these preservation, do i hv to reheat the silica gel?

[@EllafulDeco]

Roses take a lot longer to dry. I leave them for 4 weeks minimum now. If your silica gel has been used before, you may need to recharge it.

[@gabrieladesousa6648]

Hi, how much silica gel should I buy to preserve my wedding bouquet? Buying it from a website that sells by weight not volume (e.g. 2kg)

[@EllafulDeco]

Hello! All the silica gel I’ve gotten was also by weight. For a wedding bouquet, I typically use 2-3 12qt storage bins and they take about two 5lb bags fill up. Of course these numbers would depend on the size of your bouquet, but should be enough to help you calculate an estimate for yours.

[@nishacraft6875]

Can I use one time used silicone gel again after picking flowers or should I throw it away? Im from srilanka. Thank you

[@EllafulDeco]

Hello! The silica gel that I have can be recharged by baking it in the oven. I do 270F for about 8 hours and mixing it around every hour or so. So far, every brand that I've gotten is rechargeable. You should check with your supplier for more details regarding how to recharge your silica gel if that's possible.

[@Tworedchairs]

Awesome ❤ I need to preserve roses So any type of bin would serve?? Or is there any special one to be used I am trying this out for this first time really inspired

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you! Any bin will work. I use storage bins mostly, but I've seen others use the plastic food containers.

[@florahook8]

I always find my flowers discolour! Did yours stay brightly coloured ??

[@EllafulDeco]

Do you mean discolor when you take it out of the silica gel or after some time? Most flowers just dry a darker shade. Some tropical flowers seems to dry different colors and require color enhancing.

[@TheGrace55555]

How can you get rid of spots and bring the color back to flowers after they dry? I notice this happens with all my flowers once I take them out of silica gel. Any advice would be helpful! thank you, your videos are so awesome and you are great at explaining this process.

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you for watching my videos! You will want to research on color correcting. I’m not too familiar with it myself and I haven’t tried it, but from what I’ve seen, it’s like painting the dried flowers with acrylic paint.

[@Bespokecrafting]

Hi how many days can you dry the fillers for. Especially like the Naomi roses and ranunculus

[@sukamalroy1]

After removing the flowers from the silicone gel, they are getting discolored, so how can they be brought back to that color after the discoloring?

[@EllafulDeco]

You can recharge them by baking them in an oven for several hours at 270F. I do about 5-8 hrs and I stir the silica around every now and then. I’m not sure if the time/temperature varies with brand so just double check the instructions that comes with your silica just in case.

[@ourstruly]

Hi there! Are the gloves necessary or is it just extra precaution?

[@EllafulDeco]

Hello! I wear gloves so I’m not directly touching the flowers. I don’t think it makes much of a difference, but just in case.

[@dianne.c]

Hi, how much silica gel did you use for this project?

[@EllafulDeco]

Hello! I’m not 100% sure since I’ve just been reusing my silica and everything is stored in bins. I’d guess about 10lbs of silica fills this bin so around there.

[@p.s305]

Hi, I love your videos. Good information. How many times can we reuse this silica gel again and again. I am a beginner. So want to learn

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you so much! I don't think there's a limit to reusing silica gel as long as you recharge it. I do so by baking it 270F for 8 hours, stirring it around every hour or so. You can check with your supplier to see how you can recharge their silica gel.

[@p.s305]

@@EllafulDeco thank you soo much.

[@allthatfluffnstuffQLDaustralia]

Can you re use the silica gel and I’d so how many times can you re use it ?

[@EllafulDeco]

You can reuse silica gel by baking it in the oven. I do 270F for about 8 hours, mixing it around every hour or so. Check the instructions that come with your silica gel just in case. As for how many times, I don't know if there's a limit.

[@dididisun]

Could you dry them with stems attached too?

[@EllafulDeco]

You can dry flowers with the stems attached. I think it would take some more time because of the stem so just keep that in mind.

[@molly_in_mke]

Do you put the lid on top?

[@EllafulDeco]

Yes, or else the moisture from outside the bin will get to the silica gel as well.

[@Dinhtoan0202]

Loại silica đó mua ở đâu you!?

[@EllafulDeco]

The silica gel used here was from Amazon.

[@Dinhtoan0202]

@@EllafulDeco thank,s!

[@whateverspeakstome8192]

Can you do this with tulips?

[@EllafulDeco]

I've dried a peony tulip and that took about 2 weeks. I generally leave new flowers that I'm working with in there for 2 weeks and then check on them to see if they need more time or not.

[@58_selladiankafitri22]

Can we reuse the silica?

[@sakina4580]

Pls reply same question

[@EllafulDeco]

You definitely can! You can reactive them by baking them in the oven. I do 270F for several hours.

[@cristianesantos5881]

Como e a marca dessa silica

[@EllafulDeco]

It works great for me and my flowers all come out nicely dried.

[@DHARTZOfficial]

how long to wait

[@EllafulDeco]

Dry time varies with flowers. Small flowers can take a few days while large flowers can take up to 4 weeks.

[@paolagodoy3827]

Hi! I want to know hoy much time will it take to dry just one rose?

[@EllafulDeco]

Hello! It takes about 2-3 weeks. The time it takes to dry 1 rose is the same time it takes to dry this whole bin of roses. The time varies more with the flowers rather than the amount of flowers in the container. That said, don’t crowd the container. Make sure the roses/flowers are completely covered.

[@kashishlakhlani3600]

How many days or time we can store silica gel preserve flowers

[@EllafulDeco]

If stored properly, it should last years. I store my dried flowers in a bin with a little bit of silica gel in there to help keep the moisture away.