Ordinary wax flowers have beautiful colors but, simply by looking at them, you can tell that they’re wax. Silk flowers look a lot like real flowers, and you often have to feel them to see if they’re real, but they’re just so expensive. Real flowers are the only type which look real and, when found in nature, cost nothing. But those kinds of flowers aren’t going to last. You can put them in a vase of water but, a few days later, they’re dead. Preserve the beauty of hand picked flowers to keep them looking real – because they are. Wax those flowers and you’ll capture their natural beauty without spending much money.
It’s amazing how something so simple as wax can change a flower or plant from needing water and sunlight to never needing either one again. And wax is so cheap that this way of preserving flowers is a great choice for many people who do floral crafts.
Purchase ordinary paraffin without color to preserve your chosen flowers. Use a double-boiler to melt the wax. Get a pot of water boiling and set an old coffee can or old pan in the water. Melt the wax in the can or pan.
Lay plastic on a table and cover it with newspaper. Hold one flower by the stem, dip it in the wax, allow the excess wax to drip off, then lay the flower on the newspaper. Do many flowers like this and allow the wax to set completely – that will happen in about five minutes. Dip the flowers a second time. Hold a flower by the head this time, and dip the stem. Allow these to set while drying on the newspaper and the flower is finished.
There is one way where you won’t have to dip the flower twice and that is to dip the flower and stem, dry on newspaper, then cut the very end – where you were holding it – off. Just trim away the end that did not get coated in wax. If you’re waxing a small flower it can be helpful to pierce the stem with a wooden skewer or toothpick to dip it.
Some flowers are better for dipping in wax than others. Flowers with delicate petals shrivel in hot wax so choose hardy flowers which will turn out beautifully. Also, use a thermometer to keep the wax between 130 and 150 degrees for best results.
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself waxing quite a few flowers, on many different occasions, because the process can become somewhat addictive. After all, in what craft store are you going to find gorgeous flowers which look exactly like the real thing and for the cost of a bit of wax?