I love trying out new crafty things. For many years I have wanted to try preserving flowers in resin. Specifically to preserve flowers.
This will be a rather short post, as there was no real need to take photos along the way, but more just to explain what I did, and what mistakes I made.
Here is my first semi-successful batch of cast resin flowers:
I have made a ton of mistakes making these, and I will talk about them along the way.
***This page contains affiliate links.***
Let’s start by talking about the supplies.
Resin: I bought Art N’ Glow Clear Casting Resin. It worked out fantastic. The smell was really minimal. I did this in my garage, and it was totally doable.
Molds: I got two different kind. The big circle ones and the small jewelry one.
What else you will need: Some plastic clear cups (I rescued some used ones after a party and gave them a good wash), Popsicle sticks (you don’t need to eat all the Popsicles for this, instead buy them). , fine grain sandpaper (I had 150, 200, 400, 1000 and 3000 at home).
Dried flowers: Get an old notebook, and spend some time gathering flowers and drying them inside your notebook. The flowers need to be completely dry for this.
Preserving Flowers In Resin: The Basic Rules
The Ultimate Rule: Read the instructions that come with the resin!!!
Rule 1: Measure your resin according to instructions. The Art N’ Glow measurements are exactly 1:1. This is where clear plastic cups come in very handy.
Rule 2: Mix your resin super duper well. Seriously!!! (My Mistake #1). The first time I did it, I didn’t mix enough and got a lot of soft spots. Ruined the flowers and had to throw the whole thing out. It was horrible. I recommend measuring it out in 2 cups, pouring it into a new cup, then stir slowly about 200 revolutions. If you stir too fast there will be bubbles (My Mistake # 2). Once you are done stirring pour the mixture into a new fresh cup, stir some more.
Rule 3: Make sure your molds are completely clean and dry. I don’t have to explain what happens if there is debris in the mold.
Rule 4: Make sure your flowers are moisture free as well. If there is moisture, the resin might not cure properly, and the flowers will rot overtime inside the resin. You have to make sure your flowers are completely dry before using them in resin. If there is any moisture retained in the flowers, they will turn brown inside the resin. I dry mine in between notebook pages for about a month prior to using.
Rule 5: Make sure your working surface is level! Also, relatively clean. Don’t forget to put plastic down to protect it.
List of My Mistakes:
- Not stirring enough will result in having liquid and uncured resin. It will never cure if you don’t stir enough.
- Stirring too fast will result in bubbles through out your resin.
- The round resin sun catchers were initially meant to be coasters. My surface wasn’t level and they became a bit uneven.
Last, but not least!!! The flowers are lighter than the resin. Pour half the resin into the mold, then arrange your flowers on top of it, and then pour the other half. I didn’t know that, so I poured all my resin that I was going to pour into each mold. Put the flowers on top of it, only to realize that submerging them will be problematic. I wound up having to add resin on top, thus making the coasters/sun catchers twice as wide as I intended.
Also, I messed up a bit more and had to sand down the sides and some of the back. It came out frosted, and I kind of like that look. It would be easier if I didn’t need to do that though.
The loops on the back of each sun catcher is just a bit of curled and hammered wire, resin-ed on.
I am going to leave the comment section open on this one, so if you have any questions, or if I forgot to mention something, please ask away!
I will do another go at these, and update this page when I do.
Another cool art project you might like:
How to Draw Sunflowers
This is a very detailed step by step art lesson. It is not just an acrylic painting lesson. I started with just a sketch, and then I had the crazy idea to do 10 different renderings of the same sketch using all the different materials. There are two detailed instructions: one for acrylic and one for colored pencils. Plus, the results of all the other renderings of the same sketch.
71 replies on “Preserving Flowers In Resin”
Did you spray the flowers with anything to preserve them before submerging them? I did a flower bracelet and my flowers turned brown.
Hi Cherie,
The key is to make sure your flowers are completely dry! If there is even a little bit of moisture, they will turn brown. I dry mine for about a month in a notebook. It has been over a year since I made the ones in this tutorial, and they still retain the color they originally had. Good luck!
I have a willow tree that just was destroyed in hurricane laura..this tree is special to me.
It will be cut down tomorrow and i am taking cuttings off of it today in hopes of replanting them..
My question is..can i take a toothpick thick, still green, twig with a few leaves and dry that to resin..
I plan to keep a section of trunk to preserve too and thought the trunk and the twig would tell the story of my tree….
My mom.gave me a twig 24 years ago..a tiny twig with 3 leaves and said plant it..i laughed..its a twig with no roots…she said plant it..i said shes full of crap but planted it..it started to grow ..its had a hard time..been almost mowed and weedeated..weathered hurricanes and tropical storms..been bent by being hit by a tire in a hurricane when it was small..but it grew to a beautiful yard covering 40 foot tall tree…today its a 15 foot broke tree that i cant imagine my yard without..
I need to find a way to preserve what i can so my tree is always part of our home!!
Lisa, you can preserve anything dry in resin. It has to be dried very well first! My recommendation is take a bunch of clippings, dry them in different manner and experiment. For example, you could put one inside a newspaper, in the book, and not press too hard. You can dry one in silica beads, try putting one in rice. Get a good silicone mold, they help a ton. Good luck! I am sorry about your tree, it sounds like you put a lot of love into it. <3
How beautiful and sad at the same time!
What did you make?
Looks wonderful, thank you for instructions!
hello! these are beautiful!!
question, when you put the flowers in a notebook, do you put any weights on it to flatten them or just close the notebook and leave it for a month? also any tricks for the petals that are so light they stick and rip from the paper? I have tried pansies and they always seem to stick and rip when dried.
thank you
Hi Tammie,
I just stuck it under some books on the shelf. I know some of them do stick. I noticed that if I allow the flowers to air dry a bit before putting them in the notebook, they don’t stick as much, but really, just dry some extra. Good luck!
I put my flowers between a folded sheet of wax paper inside my books; I’ve never done pansies, but I’ve never had petals stick to wax paper.
That is a fantastic idea!
Gm. Do you put them on a paper towel or anything to dry them out? Also can you dry them in the microwave?
I am not sure about a microwave, as I never had one. 😀 I do dab them with a paper towel to get the water off prior to putting them in the book.
I bought some silica and dried my flowers for 1-2 mins. The look good, but the center buds are not flat.
As long as they are dry, and the mold is big enough to house them, they should be fine.
Diann, I just noticed you mentioned it was only 1 to 2 minutes. That is not enough time. Leave them in there for a few days. All the moisture needs to be gone from inside the flower.
Hi!! I need someone to respond ASAP if that’s okay. I recently lost a loved one and I would like to create some sort of necklace with the flowers we used for the burial using resin and then cutting a hole in the middle to attach it to a chain. My question is: Won’t the flowers rot in the book since they need to be completely dry? I would like them to look fairly bright, but I’m worried about that part. I only just received the flowers today and I really need some help with this because I’m afraid they’ll rot quickly before I even start!!
Hi Izabella. A couple of things spring to mind when I read your comment. First, you can expect the flowers to change color a bit. They won’t be as bright when they are dry. Second, someone recommended in the comment thread here to put the flowers between sheets of parchment paper, and then in the book, to prevent them from sticking to the paper. The flowers go into the book their natural, supple selves, and come out flat and dry. THEY HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY DRY TO GO INTO THE RESIN, OR THEY WILL ROT INSIDE THE RESIN. If you feel like your flowers are too big to be flattened and dried inside book pages, I would like to suggest immersing them into silica beads. You can get them in most craft supply stores. Also, I would like to recommend that you attempt to save quite a few flowers, for mistakes and experimentation.
Just seeing your post. I dry petals between paper towels in microwave at 50% power for 40 seconds at a time, letting them rest a couple minutes in between until Brittle and dry. Then I use in my resin. I have do e this for years. Also They sell resin bead molds on Amazon.
I dried my flowers in a microwave. There was a whole tutorial that I found on pinterest to do it. It was super easy. You just have to be careful not to burn them.
I’m new at this and I have noticed that my flowers are also turning brown/ mouldy. I left my flowers to air dry in my window for a week and they were crisp and felt like they were fully dried do you think that they needed more time to dry . And how would I know that the flowers are dry even after 4 weeks ?
Thank you love the tips
Hmmm… I would think after 4 weeks they would be dry as well. Any chance there was moisture somewhere inside them, or from being in open and possibly humid air? I think that is why putting it in between the book pages works, no air exposure. Perhaps try some silica beads?
Hey, thank you for the awesome tips!! I was wondering if there was a good way of putting flowers in a bottle and adding resin to that bottle, I’m very new at this but it’s something I really would like to get into!
I have never tried pouring resin into a bottle. I imagine that it would work really well. What kind of bottle is it?
It’s a little glass bottle. I will try to do some experiments!
Share when you are done! I would love to see how it turns out!
I had imagined this but not seen it done beautiful! Im just a out to pour my first resin onto my wildflowers.fingers crossed. I have a picture frame prepped. But now I want to make these! How can I make them tear drop shaped. Without a store ought mold?? Humm. Maybe cardboard?
The best solution for making them tear shaped is to get a silicone mold. I would advice against using cardboard as the resin would just leak and absorb into it, and the surface around it. Let me know how it works out.
I bought hooks to go into my artwork but I’m having a hard time knowing when to put them in. Since your frame is still holding the wet resin unless you can go through the frame you can’t apply it while it’s wet. When do you apply the hooks to your hanging artwork?
I didn’t get the little screw ones. The only way I imagine using those is if your mold is upright, and then only when it is beginning to cure, but soft enough to insert the hook into it. Instead I made my own flat wire ones. Either an ‘S’ shape or an upside down ‘U’ shape wire. I attached them after the resin was cured, using more resin to glue them on.
You can use a small hand drill to put a hole on top of the piece. Then use an eye pin and either some UV resin or jewelry glue to glue it in place.
How do you keep your flowers from rising in the resin? Mine even have pedals sticking out a little bit. I keep pushing them down but in order for the resin to set I have to leave it alone. And they keep Rising! By the way they are flat.
It was one of the mistakes I made in the beginning. The solution was to pour a small amount of resin down into the mold, just enough to cover the bottom. Lay the flowers, and pour the rest of the resin on.
You definitely have to do it in 2 stages..but the best thing to do is wait a few hours after putting your flowers down, then pour your second or final layer of resin. If you don’t wait they could float right back up again. Just wanted to let anyone know..
That is great advice, recently I made something and didn’t wait, and then had to push my flowers down. 🙂
Hi there!! I’m trying to preserve a roses from my grandmas funeral.
I’m currently waiting for it to wilt a little before I hang it upside down to dry… after that can I go straight to putting it in resin or do I need to use some sort of spray or silica gel?
My question to you is,
Hi Avery, If the roses are thoroughly dry, only then can you put them in resin. Just make sure your mold is large enough to house the roses. If there is any moisture left in the roses, they will rot inside the resin.
Thankyou HappyAdmin, My flowers did well. I found that Morning glories and Passion flowers are too delicate to dry,for me. They crumble when taking out of silicabeads.I would have liked to put them in a round mold to hang. But pouring resin over or around them would probably break them too. Wish you were here for guidance. Education and self trial is expensive. Thankyou for your responces.
Diann, I am glad to hear you did well with it. I think I will do some more of them this autumn (I have been saving flowers, and found several butterfly wings). Yes, you are right experimenting can be pricy. I have had several truly failed attempts before this one.
Hi this is my first time doing this. I am putting a silica dried rose from my mother’s funeral spray into a paper weight. A video I watched said to do the first layer then dry 24hrs until completely dry, then poor some for next layer and put rose upright into it, then finish pooring that layer and dry again for 24hrs and continue doing each layer drying in between up to the top until finished. Is this necessary?
It will help with positioning the rose properly.
Dear author,
Hello, do you think this would work with hibiscus flowers?
In particular, the only way I think it would be possible to resin such a large flower, would be to very carefully apply the resin (possibly by hand or brush)? is this feasible? I have no experience doing this, but I want to save my blooms (Hibiscus flowers normally only last 1-3 days sadly) so in the winter I have something warm and summery to look at. plus it sounds fun.
Thanks for your time!
Sincerely,
~ Benjamin
Hi Benjamin, I have thought about applying resin by hand or brush before, but have never tried it. Here are my thoughts on this. First, definitely save up as many of the hibiscus flowers as you can, so you have room for mistakes. Second, dry them in several different methods. I like the idea of using parchment paper to dry, or maybe wax paper, and then one between the book pages, perhaps? Hibiscus strikes me as a fragile flower, so I am not sure which drying method will work best. Theoretically, brushing it on should work. I would put it on a silicone surface when doing that. Another idea is to create a puddle of resin on the silicone surface, then put the flower on it, and then add more resin on top. Finally, you can always get a 6 inch silicone cake mold, and use that (It’s what I used for flower sun catchers). My next tries will take me to bugs and what not, and I can give brushing it on to a flower a try as well.
I have a question. I know before preserving any flower in resin it must have no moisture. I want to preserve a rose an I know there a flower that rots really quickly. Since I don’t want it to rot in the resin, can I add a base coat of something on a fresh flower (rose) to protect it from the resin rotting it? I want to make it into sphere shape (ball).
Hi Bella, I have not heard of anyone being able to preserve a fresh flower without drying it first. What you could do is submerse your fresh rose in silica sand, and dry it that way first.
Just seeing your post. I dry petals between paper towels in microwave at 50% power for 40 seconds at a time, letting them rest a couple minutes in between until Brittle and dry. Then I use in my resin. I have done this for years. Also They sell resin bead molds on Amazon.
Thank you! That is a helpful suggestion!
Has anyone tried putting the fresh flowers in a dehydrator and extract the moisture then put it in the resin, a lot quicker than drying in a book,
No, but that is a fantastic idea!
Hi Mariya, thank you for this tutorial! Have you tried doing the same with fresh flowers? I know that some flowers change their color if they’re not dried, but it’s probably fine for others.
There’s a lot of people that put fruits in resin, and they rarely change color, so the same probably holds for some flowers. It would be fun to experiment with that.
If the flowers have any moisture in them, they will rot inside the resin. It won’t last at all.
I did not realise flowers will rot in resin if too moist. I recently made coasters using real orange slices. Will the same thing happen to those too?
Hi Cindy, that is what I understand, any moisture will result in them rotting. I would love to see the photo of your coasters, and update us on what happens to them overtime!
I have read that using glycerin removes the water from flowers while keeping them fresh looking, has anyone tried treating roses with glycerin to keep them fresh looking but preventing rot from moisture?
Is there a way to apply the same towards fruits? I wish to preserve texture of the papaya fruit.
They would have to be completely dried out. I am not sure if that is an option. Perhaps if they are air dried?
Hi,
If there are bubbles that form on the edge, exposing some of a petal, could anything happen like rotting even if the flowers were completley dried before going into the resin?
To be honest, I am not sure. I do have some pendants that have had that happen several years ago (about 4), and there has not been any rotting.
Hello..when we dry the flowers what texture do we need to expect when its completelydried??crumbly or velvety texture??should the petals stay firm or will it be soft once dried fully??
It depends on the flower. Many feel dry, like tissue paper, some do have a softer texture. None of them should feel like there is any freshness left in them.
My flowers are all dried and I already arranged them in my silicone mold…can I pour the resin directly on top or should I do the resin layer, arrange the flowers, then another resin layer?
The flowers do float up. I put a thin layer of resin on the bottom, then flowers, then a thicker layer on top.
I air dried my roses and they are completely dried however there are some area that turned brown ( maybe bruised) ? To make it vibrant, can I brush on resin mixed with acrylic paint on the bruised parts before embedding/casting the whole flower in resin?
I do think that dried acrylic paint should be ok in resin. It is essentially plastic.
Hai…I’m newbie….i recently dried my flowers in a book…but my flowers turn to brown a few days later… could you please give me any tips on doing pressed flower…tq
For me, it always mattered what kind of flowers they were. Pick smaller flowers, with petals that don’t contain as much moisture to begin with.
Hi, I have been trying to make pressed flower resin coaster. I pressed the flowers for about 5 days in a press. Once the resin had set, there was a thin, slightly rough patch/markings roughly in the middle where the flowers were. Is this because they weren’t dried long enough or is it because of something else?
Thanks
I am going to go ahead and guess that it is why. 5 days might not be enough time. I usually dry mine for a month or two.
Hi there, I’m embarking on a new project to create resin ornaments from the flower petals at my mom’s funeral (peonies). Your instructions are great but I’m wondering exactly how you attached the wire to the ornament and what kind of wire you used. If you have a link to Amazon, even better.
Hi, Sorry for the long time to respond. I used regular wire you can find in any craft store (we have Michaels around here), or even from Dollar Tree. After my project was cured, I brushed on a bit of resin on the wire, and attached it to the back, then brushed on a bit more resin on the other side of the wire.
Hi
I have my small wedding bouquet of roses I dried these out and now 10 years old. I would like to now put in resin heart mould. They are now quite dull and thinking could I spray them first with varnish before putting into resin. Would this be the best thing to do really nervous as precious to me. I was going to put small amounts of resin let dry and keep layering but does this then show lines? Any hints really appreciated
Hi Sarah, my first, and most important bit of advice is get some dry flowers that are not precious to you and give it a practice go! There are many makers on youtube that show how to easily dry flowers. I have never sprayed flowers with varnish, but once again, I would definitely experiment before you put them into epoxy. One thing I have noticed is that certain varnishes affect the epoxy’s ability to harden. I had one project where I used a varnish, followed by a thin layer of epoxy, and it remains sticky to this day, it has been like that for over a year now. So I would be careful with varnishes. Best of luck!