Effective ways to steam flowers at home
Here are the most popular and effective methods:
- You need to boil water in a saucepan and lower the product for a couple of seconds. Then hang and dry completely. Since the products are saturated with moisture, drying will take some time; to speed up, you can lay them out on a warm radiator or use a hairdryer on medium setting;
- use of a household steam generator. This method is not suitable for everyone, because a lot of steam is released during the process, which increases the level of humidity and dampness in the room. Due to its significant power consumption, it is suitable for large scale;
- Some varieties of flowers cannot be steamed due to the specific material. Then you can use a regular iron; to level it, you need to iron each element. This is a labor-intensive task, but the result exceeds expectations.
Benefits of flowers in glycerin and storage rules
Now it’s clear how to make flowers in glycerin, but are they better than untreated ones? Everyone decides for themselves, but stabilized ones have a number of undeniable advantages:
- The lifespan is from one to five years, and bonsai retain an attractive appearance for up to 10 years.
- Glycerin is harmless, so it does not release toxic substances into the air.
- Prepared plants do not require watering, replanting, or fertilizing.
- During the preservation process, all the pollen is washed off from the flowers, so they become hypoallergenic.
A nice detail - a slice of lemon - refreshes the composition.
In order for these compositions to serve for more than one year, you must follow simple rules:
- It is enough to wipe the jars from dust, and blow open bouquets with a cold hairdryer at low speed.
- Do not place flowers in glycerin in direct sunlight - this will discolor them.
- The air in the room should not be too dry or too humid, optimally from 40% to 65% with a temperature not lower than 5°C and not higher than 35°C.
- If water gets on the flowers, they should be wiped with a dry cloth.
You should pay attention to one more important nuance. It is better to cover flowers completely immersed in glycerin, since dust or other debris can get into open vases, and the solution evaporates over time, and the bouquet will look sloppy.
Such vases look impressive, but do not last long
But plants dried after impregnation with glycerin do not have such disadvantages. Their peculiarity is that they have a dust-repellent effect, so even wall panels will not become dust collectors.
Stove and kettle
We take a regular kettle, you won’t be able to do this with an electric one, it will turn off at the beginning of boiling, and you can’t count on a constant flow of steam. Therefore, we take the most ordinary kettle and put it on the stove. As soon as the water boils, a stream of steam begins to flow from the spout. Under this flow we substitute the flowers and leaves of our bouquet in turn. They steam quite quickly. In about 10 minutes you can steam a medium-sized bouquet. To facilitate and speed up the process, you can take two teapots, turn their spouts towards each other and steam the flower in two waves of steam. If we take into account the quality of steaming and the availability of the method, we can say that it is one of the best.
How to straighten fabric flowers
Fabric bouquets and compositions can be steamed using the following methods:
- hold over a boiling kettle. When steaming over a saucepan, there is a risk of getting burned, and the technique will not give results. Do not put the flower in the teapot, as the glue and plastic elements may melt. If you need to straighten the bud or leaves, use a wire so as not to burn your hands. After the procedure, the products need to be dried - inserted into a vase or hung down with buds;
- go over with a steam iron. You should not lean the iron close, then you also need to dry it;
- for individual buds, you can take a colander, put the products in one layer, put them in a steam bath, then turn them over several times. It is necessary to ensure that the flowers do not get too hot. Then they need to be removed and laid out on a towel to dry;
- Place it near a humidifier. They will straighten out after a while;
- place on a damp towel on the heater. If necessary, wet the towel several times until the flowers are completely expanded. The method is not quick and will not bring results if the products are excessively wrinkled.
Method No. 1. Steam generator
Yes, I know that not everyone has a steam generator, however, I have such a miracle of engineering at home, so why not use it. I had this wonderful arrangement of yellow roses. As we can see from the photo, the rose heads were very flattened, although the leaves were in good condition, they practically did not need to be steamed.
We turn on the steam generator, wait until it heats up and, one by one, bring all the rose buds to the steam generator nozzle. After the buds are steamed, you also need to hold the crumpled leaves over the steam and the bouquet of roses is ready.
This method is quite convenient; the entire steaming process took me about 15 minutes. Agree, not bad for the first time. On the downside, my steam generator model does not allow you to fix the nozzle, so I constantly had to hold it with one hand and hold the bouquet with the other hand. If you have the same or a similar model, it will be more convenient to steam the bouquets together. One person holds the pipe, the second takes care of the flowers.
Where to buy ready-made flowers
At the moment, you can even purchase artificial flower arrangements in retail establishments. But it will be much more useful to learn how to make such jewelry with your own hands. Professionals prefer to initially make templates and then use them to form artificial flowers.
Making templates is not difficult, even simple, if you decide what the flower will look like. It is very good to take a living plant as a basis, and it should be disassembled into its components. Each flower petal should be carefully smoothed and placed under a press to dry. The dried material should be applied to the paper and traced along the contour. The drawn figure should be cut out and pasted onto a cardboard surface, indicating which part of the plant it is.
Steaming with a steam generator
The most convenient to use and least time-consuming solution. The only catch is that not every housewife keeps this device in her closet. But if you have a device, be sure to use it! Steam only those elements of the bouquet that need it. It is very easy to see problem areas. Then turn on the steam generator, wait until it heats up, and bring the flowers to the nozzle itself to directly expose the material to steam. The whole process will take no more than 15 minutes.
How to quickly straighten a flower made of synthetic fabric if it has become wrinkled
Hello, dear lovers of beauty!
What to do if the flower is very crushed and there is no steamer? How to straighten a synthetic fabric rose?
With relatively short squeezing, the flower straightens itself, each tissue with different speed and efficiency. It is better, of course, not to store the flower for a long time under weight or in a cramped box. But if the flower has been lying there for a long time, is very confused and does not want to straighten itself out, there is a simple and extremely quick way to “revive” it again.
Attention: all these recommendations apply only to those fabric colors that are made from synthetic materials!
You need to turn on the kitchen burner, take the flower by the holder so as not to drop it. With the other hand, determine the level of good heat above the burner, but not hot. Carefully hold the flower above the heat source, face down, but not statically, but slightly, as if waving, while carefully moving the tips of the petals with your other hand. A few seconds are enough, and voila - the flower is like new.
If you overheat a flower or squeeze the center tightly, assembled with hot glue, its shape may change somewhat, and the glue will begin to melt. Just the level of heat should not give hot discomfort to the hand. No need to put it on the battery.
The static heat of a radiator is contraindicated in the shape of a flower.
All this is done simply and easily, subject to very simple precautions.
Wave, wave. sort through the petals. It is important.
