Terri,

This is from my own personal experience so some might disagree.

I have found that the best way to dry floral arrangements are to hang the upside down in a dry dark place (i use my closet).  You can hang individual flowers from thread or anything that will support its weight.  Bouquets are best kept in their plastic holder or tied together the way that you would like them to stay (dried flowers are a pain to arrange).  Depending on the climate it can take a week to a month.  Most important thing is to not move them until they are totally dry.  To seal the colors, you can spray them with hairspray or some other type of sealer.

As far as storage goes, I store mine in a box with a lid standing up, padded with something (tissue or if you are handy with an ethafoam knife then you could cut out a support for them).  The should be stored with the lids on and in a cool dry place.  Humidity/moisture can make them rot (and that is not a nice smell...trust me).

I do know that some florists offer professional drying services, the ones that I know of are freeze-drying, but that can get expensive.

I hope that helps.

Rosie DiVernieri

london_tb <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi all,

I have recently been asked about the best method of
preserving (drying) a floral arrangement and wondered
if anyone might have any tried and true methods of
preserving and storing historically significant
bouquets.


Any help would be appreciated!


Terri Boesel
Archivist
SC Johnson & Son
Racine, WI




__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends.  Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).