<p>I want to make a piece that mixes a drawing on paper, with a flower collage (or flat bouquet?) on top and put it in a frame. I know dried flowers don't last forever, but what is their post-dried life expectancy? Is there a way to make them last longer for display? I would ideally like to use real flowers, but if they only last a couple years I will have to use fake flowers.</p>

<p>A few sources I found on the internet say to spray them with hairspray 
(cheap option), or get them professionally dried and preserved (expensive option) like you would do for your wedding bouquet. I don't want to spend a lot of money ( more than 30$ or 40$).</p>

<p>The piece will be behind glass like a shadow box. I don't want them to decay. They will not be open to be touched, but I don't want them to crumble, loose colour or generally disintegrate. I want the piece to remain aesthetically pleasing.</p>

<p><strong>Project Update</strong></p>

<p>I ended up using folded paper flowers for the project and it turned out quite lovely. Thank you everyone for your feedback, but the dried flowers were not working out as expected. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-20T13:34:55.647Z
Possible duplicate of [How can I dry my roses properly?](http://crafts.stackexchange.com/questions/594/how-can-i-dry-my-roses-properly)
Matt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-20T19:58:22.407Z
I suppose. The last part of my question was asking this, in case in was related enough, _Once they are dried properly is there anything else I can do to them to help them last longer?_. Preservation might be related enough to the drying process in that one is the precursor to the next. If nothing else it should be linked to here as extra information.
Matt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-27T13:58:08.107Z
I agree that your question is great for reference here. I read your question before of course, but felt that they were different enough to post separately (my comment on your post was just a long list of further questions). I want to know more about coatings and things like that, but mostly I want to know how long I can expect them to last for. That's what I think makes this so different. It's not so much about how I should dry flowers, as much as it is 'how much time can I get out of these dried flowers?'
EmRoBeau
<preservation><flowers>
How to maximize the post-dried life expectancy of flowers?
EmRoBeau
# How to maximize the post-dried life expectancy of flowers?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-10-19)

I want to make a piece that mixes a drawing on paper, with a flower collage (or flat bouquet?) on top and put it in a frame. I know dried flowers don't last forever, but what is their post-dried life expectancy? Is there a way to make them last longer for display? I would ideally like to use real flowers, but if they only last a couple years I will have to use fake flowers.

A few sources I found on the internet say to spray them with hairspray
(cheap option), or get them professionally dried and preserved (expensive option) like you would do for your wedding bouquet. I don't want to spend a lot of money ( more than 30$ or 40$).

The piece will be behind glass like a shadow box. I don't want them to decay. They will not be open to be touched, but I don't want them to crumble, loose colour or generally disintegrate. I want the piece to remain aesthetically pleasing.

**Project Update**

I ended up using folded paper flowers for the project and it turned out quite lovely. Thank you everyone for your feedback, but the dried flowers were not working out as expected.

**Tags:** preservation, flowers

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Possible duplicate of [How can I dry my roses properly?](http://crafts.stackexchange.com/questions/594/how-can-i-dry-my-roses-properly)  
> **username_1**: I suppose. The last part of my question was asking this, in case in was related enough, _Once they are dried properly is there anything else I can do to them to help them last longer?_. Preservation might be related enough to the drying process in that one is the precursor to the next. If nothing else it should be linked to here as extra information.  
> **username_0**: I agree that your question is great for reference here. I read your question before of course, but felt that they were different enough to post separately (my comment on your post was just a long list of further questions). I want to know more about coatings and things like that, but mostly I want to know how long I can expect them to last for. That's what I think makes this so different. It's not so much about how I should dry flowers, as much as it is 'how much time can I get out of these dried flowers?'  

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## 0 answers

