Making a beautiful herbarium with your own hands: step-by-step instructions

Imagine that you are reading a magical book with photos that will make your soul freeze. Page after page takes you to unknown lands, tells a story about something wonderful and how beautifully this world works. Who is the author of this work? Nature. And the name of the masterpiece is “Herbarium of leaves with flowers.” Let's read this book together to understand who it is intended for? And for those who have a desire to try their hand at it and help the Author continue this grandiose work, we invite you to learn how to make a herbarium with your own hands.

Let's find out together: what a herbarium is and what its goals are; little secrets of the herbalist: suitable plants, what conditions for drying a particular plant, how to distribute the herbs; how to collect a herbarium and what are the rules for its design.

What it is?

Translated from Latin, herbarium means “grass.” It is a collection of plants dried according to the rules. Depending on their type, it can be either a single flower or branch, or a whole plant. Initially, herbariums appeared in Italy at the beginning of the 15th century. The founder of this art form was the famous botanist of the Pisa Botanical Garden, Luce Ghini.

To date, not a single copy created by his hands has survived, but some collections of his students still remain.

Almost all exclusive herbaria are registered in international databases. In addition, each plant is assigned a special letter code, which consists of six letters of the English alphabet. However, today plants are dried not only for the sake of science. Most people turn collecting plants, flowers and creating compositions from them into a hobby.

How to properly dry collected samples?

To dry plants correctly, a special device called a herbarium press is used. It consists of two planks, along the edges of which there are holes for strands. Prepared samples are placed in large quantities between planks, which are tied together with ropes. One herbarium press holds about 50 specimen inserts. The result is something like a thick, bound book. The insert sheet (also called a shirt), in which the plant is embedded, along with the label, is placed in a press, lined with sheets of paper on both sides.

Plants that are too juicy are dried after scalding them with boiling water. During the day, the herbarium press is taken out to dry in the sun. At night they are returned to the room. It is recommended to replace the sheets that line the plant inserts with dry ones at least once a day. How can you tell if a plant is already dry? Leaves and flowers should be fragile in appearance and not sag in an upright position.

To obtain a herbarium of mosses or lichens, the sample is dried in the open air in a cardboard box.

Decor from dry leaves for Halloween

Paintings from the herbarium in the interior

Interesting facts about the herbarium

This term was first used by the French botanist Joseph Tournefort back in 1700. The word is derived from the Latin herba, which means “grass”. However, it was not he who invented the herbarium, but the Italian doctor Luca Ghini (founder of the botanical garden in Pisa), who was the first to come up with the idea of ​​drying and attaching parts of plants to paper sheets with their description. This happened in the 16th century. Carl Linnaeus developed rules regarding the design of a herbarium. They are still relevant today. In Russia, the first herbarium sheet was made by Peter I. Our great sovereign wrote on it “torn in 1717.”

Those who believe that collections of dried plants are now of no use to anyone are mistaken. Even in the 21st century, a herbarium is necessary for specialists involved in the study of flora. Their collections are constantly updated. The largest herbarium is located in Paris (at the National Museum of Natural History). It has 8 million sheets!

But not only scientists need herbariums. They help children learn about the world around them and introduce them to the nature of their native land.

Herbarium title page design

The cover of the album in which the herbarium will be stored must be made bright and eye-catching. To do this, you can decorate it with colored paper, dried leaves, or simply decorate it beautifully with felt-tip pens or paints.

But, besides this, you need to indicate some information on the title page:

• The name of the album or herbarium collection. For example, if a child made a herbarium for the first time in his life, you can call it “My first herbarium.”
• Next is the name and surname of the performer.
• The exact date when the album was released.

Examples of title pages that can be obtained are attached below for you:

What is necessary?

You can store the herbarium in a special album with files, which will contain not only dried plants, but also inscriptions about their origin. Albums can be purchased in special stores or made with your own hands. To do this, you need to take either very thick sheets of paper or cardboard and place them in files. There is no need to fasten them together. It's better to buy a regular binder. In addition, you can use dried plants as bookmarks in a book or create paintings or panels from them.

Some craftsmen also use herbariums to decorate boxes or plates, or make postcards from flowers.

DIY crafts

The herbarium can also be used to make beautiful decorative elements (usually dry leaves are taken). Children enjoy making appliqués. There are a lot of ideas for creativity.

To make a cute tree you will need:

• dry leaves;
• gouache (you can also use watercolors);
• glue;
• pencil.

Work order:

1. On a landscape sheet, draw the outlines of the tree.
2. Paint the trunk with brown gouache. Draw a face on it.
3. Make the crown from dry leaves (just glue them in the right place). They can be arranged randomly.
4. To create an autumn landscape, stick on several leaves as if they were plucked from the branches and carried through the air by the wind.

You can make the craft a little more complicated. To do this, draw a hedgehog under the tree. Instead of needles, glue brown leaves. You can make a hedgehog, as well as other animals from colored paper. Place a red squirrel on a branch and glue some mushrooms under the tree.

When creating applications, you can do without paints. In this case, all parts of the body of animals, birds, and fish are made only from dry leaves. They should be placed on paper so that the intended image is obtained. You can use not only leaves, but also plant seeds. If the shape of a leaf is not quite suitable for the craft, you can correct it a little with scissors. You need to work carefully, as dried natural material is very fragile. Any careless movement causes it to break and crumble.

Classification

A classification of herbariums can be made into several subgroups.

1. Special. Such a herbarium is intended for a specific purpose. For example, a teacher at school can ask for the creation of a thematic selection of plants based on the material covered.
2. Periodic. Most often, this distribution is done by season. For example, in the spring you can dry bird cherry shoots or cherry blossoms, in the summer - flowering medicinal or ordinary plants, in the fall - multi-colored leaves or bunches of rowan, and in winter - unusual branches from trees.
3. Systematic. Most often, such herbariums are compiled on the basis of already collected plants. But they are placed in alphabetical order or by type. That is, everything is gradually being systematized.
4. Thematic. Such a herbarium consists of certain specimens of species. Medicinal plants are included separately, such as chamomile, mint, sage or wormwood. Weeds or cereals can also be selected for the collection.
5. Floral. Such a herbarium is collected in a specific place of residence.
6. Morphological. In this case, an individual plant is collected in parts. In addition, you can collect the same plant at different periods of its growth.

Tools and materials

For the master class we took clematis (gardeners know it as clematis). For the base, I always take watercolor sheets, they are dense, they have a good texture, because it is important for us that the herbarium looks good, for example, in the exhibition hall. Now you need to choose the color of the thread. If you sew the stem, for example, with red threads, it will not look good. You can choose a color that will suit the entire herbarium, or you can match the colors of the threads to different parts of the plant: green for the stem, brown for the roots, and so on. There are no special requirements for threads, the main thing is that they are strong and do not slip, so polyester or silk will not work. The best option is cotton. I also do not recommend using very thick threads; if you need to sew on a thick stem, you can simply use double thread. The needles are also very ordinary. You can take special needles for the visually impaired - they have a detachable eye, which makes threading easier. The thinner the needle, the better - if we take an awl or a darning needle, there will be a hole in the paper that will ruin the appearance of the herbarium. The plant can be placed either horizontally or vertically - there is no difference. If the plant is very long, we cut off the flowering part and parts of the stem with leaves (because many plants have different leaves in different parts of the stem), as well as the root system - all these are signs by which you can identify the plant. We place all the parts on the sheet side by side.

To secure the plant to the leaf, it is better to use a thin cotton thread

Rules for collecting plants for herbarium

Before going for herbs, decide what kind of herbarium you will make: for school, thematic, decorative. This will determine what herbs, flowers and leaves will be needed.

To collect plants you will need a spatula, a knife, a herbarium folder, paper sheets for laying out and recording data, and a pen.

Collect herbs on warm, dry days. You should not do this in the morning and evening - dew will interfere with quality drying. They cut or dig up two or three specimens of the same species, so that later they can choose the best option. Healthy specimens not damaged by insects are suitable. It’s good if they have both flowers and fruits. You cannot collect plants from the Red Book.

For decorative purposes, young plants should be taken; they will not lose color during processing. But sometimes faded flowers are also used to make the composition picturesque.

It is easier to create a herbarium from leaves than from flowers. It is enough to clean them with a damp flannel rag from dirt and straighten them. The leaves of plants with a silvery underside look great: coltsfoot, elecampane, poplar, and branches of ferns. Before drying, autumn leaves for herbarium are soaked in denatured alcohol or silicate gel to maintain brightness. Ideal flowers include violets, lavender, pansies, calendula, cornflowers, delphinium and yarrow.

Plants are either dug up by the roots or cut at an angle. The voluminous inflorescences are separated, and the thick rhizomes are cut lengthwise. When placed between paper sheets, the petals are straightened and the long stems are bent. Some of the leaves are turned inside out. Each specimen is marked, noting where and when it was picked. This rough label is used for the final description of the herbarium.

If you do not have time to process the raw materials, place the plants in water until the next day or wrap them in plastic and place them in the bottom compartment of the refrigerator.

It is more difficult to make a herbarium from flowers than from herbs and leaves. But if you know the nuances, the flower album will remind you of the sweet days of summer for a long time:

• To preserve the shade, blue flowers are placed in denatured alcohol for 30 seconds before drying.
• For luxurious dahlias, roses, asters, peonies and chrysanthemums, some of the petals are dried separately, otherwise they will fall off. They are placed under a load weighing 7 kg. And the rest are laid with cotton pads so as not to stick together.
• Tulips are dried either individual petals or whole. But they need to be laid under pressure slightly wilted. The same goes for rose buds.
• The juicy stems of crocuses, daffodils and tulips are cut lengthwise and the core is removed.
• The inflorescences of chamomile, marigolds, and gerberas are covered with cotton wool on all sides and placed in a “shirt” made of several layers of soft paper, and then under a 15 kg press.
• Small flowers (jasmine, marigolds, forget-me-nots, yarrow) are dried together with a twig, first lined with paper, then with cardboard. The required load is at least 15 kg.

Enthusiasts manage to dry the heads of ripe dandelions and other fluffy flowers for decorative purposes. To do this, thread a wire through the stems and lower the flower head into boiling water for ten seconds.

Conditions for drying a particular plant

The collected roots, so that they dry faster, are cut lengthwise with a sharp knife.

Flat drying is the most common. The material dried in this way can be used for decorative appliqués and albums.

How to make a herbarium yourself using the flat drying method.

Step by Step Actions

1. What you need to consider before drying flowers: - Plants are collected only in dry weather; — It is advisable to find a place away from the roadway; — The time to choose is when the air has warmed up; - Only a fresh plant is suitable, without any signs of wilting.
2. We choose a suitable book, such that our leaves can be placed freely on the page. Don't forget, if you don't want to ruin the book, and the plants dry out faster if you put them with clean paper on both sides.
3. You need a press that will press the book. These may be other weighty printed publications.

Do you want your plants to dry quickly and reliably? Then it’s worth changing the paper every day for a week to clean and dry.

When the leaves dry, they release moisture, which is absorbed by the paper. If you do not change it, this will affect the quality and appearance of the material.

In the future, you can remove the plants from the book and store them in a dark place. Of course, losses are inevitable. But they can be reduced.

How long does it take to dry plants? A small amount of material will be ready in 2-3 weeks. For dense and voluminous ones, a month is needed.

In addition to the usual book, you can use a hot iron. How to dry them correctly? Lay the plant flat on a sheet of paper and cover it with another sheet. Press with an iron and then iron.

Interesting!

Blue/light blue flowers will not lose their brightness if placed in denatured alcohol for half a minute.

The density of the plant is achieved by letting it lie in a solution of PVA and water (4:1).

A solution of glycerin and water (60 degrees), 3:1, will preserve the shape of flowers. But at the same time, the solution makes the plants darker.

To dry the dandelion and prevent it from falling apart, it is picked when the box with umbrellas has opened slightly. Thread a wire through the stem and lower the dandelion head for 10 seconds. into boiling water.

The whole process takes just a couple of minutes if you use the microwave at the lowest power.

How to dry bulk material, for example, what to do with a flower bud? To do this, parts of trees or flowers are placed in boxes and covered with sand or silica gel. In this case, the buds should look down.

How to properly dry flowers for an outdoor herbarium? You need to do this in the shade. The flowers have their buds facing down. And the plants should not touch each other.

Suitable plants

• Herbarium leaves must be healthy and undamaged by insects.
• Carefully dig them out along with the roots; free the rhizome from the ground.
• You can make a high-quality and durable herbarium from leaves only if you collect them during the day in warm sunny weather.
• The sample must have blooming flowers, preferably fruits too.
• Don't limit yourself to just one sample. It is advisable to collect in reserve so that you can choose the best option for making an herbalist.

Necessary tools and materials for collecting material to make a herbarium of flowers: a spatula, a knife, an excursion folder (they can be made from two sheets of plywood/cardboard), newspaper “shirts” for drying, a label and a pen.

What to note on the label: name of the plant, name of the area and its designation (forest, field), date, who collected it (if there was a group trip, and if you collected it yourself or with your children, you don’t have to make such a note).

Herbarium of leaves

A leaf herbarium is obtained by drying shoots with leaves in the open air. When the deciduous herbarium has dried well, it can be covered with glass and framed. The paper on which the foliage herbarium is pasted should be of medium density.

Dry leaves under glass Herbarium in the dining room

How to distribute herbs in an album

Making a herbarium begins with mastering the main rule: all plants are attached to the sheets of an album, and they are covered with tracing paper (there are special albums for herbariums that can be bought at a bookstore, in the stationery department).

To mount the material, you can use threads: white or green, paper straws and glue. But under no circumstances should you use plaster or tape.

How many plants should there be to make up a collection? What size the collection will be is up to you to decide. You can even compile many volumes.

If you don’t have a special album, you can make it yourself using regular album sheets and transparent files.

But in order to arrange everything beautifully, it is advisable that there be one type of plant on one sheet. If it is larger than the page, the material can be trimmed in several places.

Important! Each page must be signed.

How to make a herbarium with a child so that the baby will also find it interesting? You can decorate everything creatively by adding drawings.

See a few more ideas for creativity, perhaps this unusual design will inspire you to do something interesting and creative:

Herbarium of flowers

A herbarium of flowers is dried in the open air. A neatly formed bundle is tied with thread or wire, hung or placed in a dry low vase. Wheat spikelets and poppy heads are formed in a vertical position.

Herbarium in Provence interior

Creation of a herbarium

Floral arrangers know how to make a flower herbarium using a set of simple tools. Before starting to compose a flower arrangement, a novice florist-arranger will need:

• a light porous base on which the composition will be formed (floral sponge, wet sand, placed in a plastic bag and tucked into a vessel);
• metal pins for attaching dried flowers to the base;
• bamboo or straw twigs of various lengths for stability of the composition;
• brown or green colored paper;
• transparent adhesive tape;
• glue, scissors.

When composing a composition, you should remember about color combinations: dried flowers in one bouquet should not contrast too much. It is better to choose colors that are muted rather than bright. Accessories such as ribbons, bows and lacing should not distract attention. Arrangements of dried flowers should be fastened and decorated with cotton or linen ribbons.

Dried flowers in the interior

Wreath of dry leaves

Sometimes dry compositions are placed in openwork bouquets. The shape and size of the vase or bouquet holder are selected based on the dimensions of the composition. Decorative vases made of clay and wood are suitable for dry bouquets.

Herbarium on the mirror

How to make a herbarium and decorate it beautifully yourself at home

The first herbariums appeared long before books with color photographs began to be published. At first, these were romantic attempts by girls to preserve the flowers given to their lovers.

Healers put dried plants in books and described their healing properties in order to pass on their knowledge to the next generation.

Along with the description of the properties there were legends and fictions about the magical powers of herbs. Such literature had drawings of plants instead of photographs.

Today, herbaria are used to obtain knowledge and develop skills. Both children and adults do this.

If the first children's herbariums are an attempt to make a craft, then adults can sell their works as exquisite handmade products.

Herbarium - timeless beauty

Herbaria have been at the peak of popularity for two centuries now. In our country, collections of dried plants are just becoming part of fashion and interior design, but in the West it is impossible to imagine almost any home without them. From a simple botanical reference book about plants, herbariums have long turned into a luxurious hobby and form of handicraft. Today, dried plants are more often found not in special herbarium sheets, but in paintings, postcards, panels and albums. Memories frozen in time tell of favorite garden plants, treasured moments and colorful bouquets. Creating dry panels is an art. But art is not complicated at all.

Preparation stages

Before you go on a plant hunting trip, you should be well prepared.

Step-by-step preparation for collecting:

Find out the weather forecast for the day you gathered to buy herbs for the herbarium. The weather should be dry and warm.

If it rained the day before, it is best to postpone the hike until the vegetation has completely dried out.

• Dress appropriately for the weather so you can fully work on the task.
• Have the necessary equipment with you.

It is not practical to go shopping for samples with just one bag. You should have digging tools with you and separate newspaper bags for each group of samples.

Stickers or sheets of notepad are needed to record the date, place of collection and type of plant.

When hiking, a small spatula will be useful to carefully remove the roots. A special knife or pruning shears will allow you to easily cut the desired samples.

A large, roomy backpack bag will allow you to keep all your equipment on your shoulders.

Let's sign

We use small labels to label plants. Have the child write down all the information he knows about the plant on a separate piece of paper and place the label in the lower right corner of the herbarium sheet.

What is usually written on the herbarium label? The name of the plant and the family to which it belongs, information about the place and time of collection of the plant.

If you have identified the species and family, feel free to indicate them on the label. Captions can be varied: if you know the medicinal properties of a given plant or some interesting facts about it, feel free to add them to the signature. Official botany does not welcome this, but entertaining - yes!

• Buy your child a beautiful illustrated encyclopedia in which he can independently search for the names of plants and shrubs whose leaves and flowers he collected.

• Set aside some of the collected natural materials “in reserve”: dried leaves, cones, acorns, twigs and tree bark will be needed during labor lessons or on winter evenings for making crafts.
• Compiling a herbarium is not only “desk” work, but also walks through the autumn forest and an opportunity to communicate with nature. In the matter of collecting and compiling a herbarium, the main thing is not the result, but the process, so go hunting for leaves with an empty bag and a good mood!

How to collect leaves for drying

You can collect both fallen leaves and those that have not yet finished growing. A sharp knife or scissors will be useful for this. Collection is carried out on a dry sunny day, after the dew has disappeared.

Collected wet leaves may become covered with brown spots after drying. This rule does not apply to the collection of mosses and lichens. They should just be collected after rain.

When collecting fallen leaves, be sure to pay attention to the following points:

• the leaves must be fresh, recently fallen from the tree;
• the leaf should be flat, not curled from old age;
• the plant must be clean in appearance, without damage or signs of rot;
• Leaf petioles should be fresh and not curled.

After collection, you must immediately begin drying.

If the collected foliage will be used to make garlands and other crafts that imply a three-dimensional appearance of the plant, then it can be dried on a sheet of paper. To do this, the leaves are laid out in one layer on parchment and left in a dry, dark place. After a few days, the leaves will begin to dry out and curl, taking on graceful shapes. With this drying method, the color of the foliage will change. It will become dull and faded, but this situation can be easily corrected with a can of glitter paint.

Drying plants in a book is the easiest and most familiar method. To do this, the leaves are placed between the pages of the book, without overlapping. The book is closed and a weight is placed on top of it. To protect the surface of the pages from moisture released by the leaves, additional sheets of perforated paper or paper napkins are placed between them.

This method is considered professional, as it involves the use of a special device - a press for drying plants. The use of such equipment allows you to preserve the structure of the plant, its shape and texture as much as possible.

A plant press is quite expensive, so you can look for alternative options for drying leaves at home. For example, a press made from books and sheets of paper will do. The plants are laid out in one layer on a sheet of parchment and covered with another sheet on top. For these purposes, you can use regular old newspapers. Now you need to put a load on the workpiece, for example, books.

The plants will dry under this pressure for 2–3 weeks.

This is, one might say, an express method. It allows you to dry the leaves in record time, while preserving their natural color.

The collected leaves are laid out on paper, trying to arrange them so that they do not touch each other. Cover the top with another layer of paper and begin ironing the plants at medium iron power. The drying procedure lasts only a few minutes. It is very important to turn off the steam function before ironing!

The disadvantage of this method is that leaves dried with an iron become thin and brittle, which does not allow them to be stored for a long time.

To preserve the herbarium as long as possible, the foliage can be “sealed” in wax. For this method, in addition to the iron, you will also need wax paper. To avoid staining the ironing board with wax, first place a sheet of plain paper. Then a waxed sheet is laid out on it, and the plants that need to be dried are placed on it. On top, the sequence of layers is maintained: wax paper is laid on the foliage, and ordinary paper is laid on it. Instead of sheets of paper, you can use soft fabric, which also conducts heat well.

You need to iron this “sandwich” at maximum power for 3 – 5 minutes. In order for the wax to stick to the plant evenly, the structure must be turned over and ironed on both sides. After the wax paper has tightly stuck together, you can turn off the iron. Cooled sheets of paper are carefully cut out along the contour of the plant, leaving a few millimeters from the edge. The paper is then removed and the dried sheet is laminated in a thin layer of wax.

How to dry prepared material

There are several methods that allow you to obtain plant samples while preserving their original appearance as much as possible. This:

1. Between sheets of paper under pressure.
2. Using an iron.
3. In bulk materials.
4. Naturally.

Methods 1 and 2 produce flat samples. When dried in sand or naturally, the plants become voluminous. For a herbarium (but more for beautiful crafts), leaves or flowers can be soaked in a solution prepared from glycerin (0.5 l), water (2 l) and 3-5 drops of detergent. Natural material should remain in this preparation for 4-5 days. After this treatment, the leaves become voluminous and plastic. Their natural color becomes more saturated. Let's look at methods for drying samples in more detail.

Drying flowers with bulk materials or volumetric

There are many substances that absorb moisture well. They are ideal for creating herbariums and flowers. Bulk materials help preserve the beauty of the petals. The most popular substances are silica gel, perlite, and borax. An alternative could be absorbent cotton wool. When dried in granular substances, the petals do not wrinkle and acquire a rich color.

Flowers are cut on a sunny day. If there is too much precipitation, drying will take longer. Therefore, it is recommended to plan the preparation of a herbarium exclusively during the dry period, before the rains begin. The best time is noon or a little later, when the dew has already evaporated.

Flowering plants are cut off along with the stem. Most of the latter is cut off, leaving very little. Carefully thread a thin wire inside. The end of the wire is wrapped in a ring. This method allows you to calmly connect the flower with the stem, which is dried separately.

The selected material is poured into a deep cup. You can take any cardboard box. Perlite, silica gel or borax are poured in a layer of one or two centimeters. The flower is placed on top so that the lower small piece of the stem is at the bottom. The petals are carefully sprinkled. It is necessary to ensure that they are separated from each other, and the substance penetrates deep inside.

On a note! Bulk material can be used repeatedly. The main thing is to leave it in an open container, for example, on a windowsill to dry.

When the flower is completely covered, the container is tightly closed. It should stand in a dry place for three to five days. The larger the inflorescences, the longer they take to dry. The dried flower is removed from the box using tweezers. The remaining powder on the petals is shaken off or blown off using a rubber bulb. The flower is connected to the stem.

Storage and care

• In what places should the herbarium be left for a long period of time?
• In a sunny place
• In the attic,
• In the garage,
• In the trunk of a car,
• In a dark room
• In the closet,
• In the safe
• In the chest of drawers
• Under the bed.

Samples that are not fleshy dry within 5-7 days. The absorbent paper may need to be replaced every few days for denser plants. And save fleshy specimens after cutting in the longitudinal or transverse direction. In some cases, the inner fabric will have to be cut out, and only the outer part will be left for the beauty of the picture.

river sand

It perfectly absorbs excess moisture and dries, but has one drawback. It lies in the fact that drying takes from two to three weeks. In addition, sand cannot be used immediately. It is first sifted and calcined over fire. The advantage is the availability of the material and the absence of the need to pay for the substance.

For containers, it is best to take a container with an opening bottom. This allows you to quickly get rid of sand. If zinnias, calendula, and gerberas are dried, the flowers are placed face down. The rest, on the contrary, are placed in inflorescences on top. Otherwise, there is no difference between the previous method.

Creating a painting in the form of a collage

An autumn-themed collage made from collected leaves can be an excellent decoration for your home. You can create such a picture either yourself or together with your child.

Let the child show his imagination

The peculiarity of such a collage is that it will be used not whole, but crushed. For example, you can make a craft in the form of a tree.

Well-dried material is ground into small fragments. Then everything depends on your imagination, since part of the picture will be painted with acrylic paint, and the other part will be formed using crushed paint.

Portrait theme

Some tips:

• the paint should be applied in a thick layer;
• to get a beautiful branching of a tree, you need to blow through a tube onto the drawn trunk;
• It should be applied only after the barrel has dried;
• To hold on, you need to press down the material with your hands.

As in previous cases, to create a craft it is extremely important to wait until the leaves are completely dry

Selecting a dehumidifier

There are several popular desiccants - substances that quickly absorb moisture. Each has its own characteristics:

1. Borax, corn and white flour. They are characterized by low cost. The duration of drying in desiccant is 8-18 days.
2. Semolina. More suitable for small and medium flowers. Large petals may fall apart. The medium-sized inflorescences are perfectly preserved and keep their shape.
3. Silica gel. Allows you to dry small colors in 2-4, and large ones in 6-7 days. It can be used repeatedly. The downside is the cost. For five liters you will have to pay 150-300 rubles. Before use, be sure to bake in the oven at 100 degrees for about 2-3 hours.
4. Salt. Absorbs moisture well and has a low cost. It is often used to dry the herbarium, but you will have to wait about a month until the flowers dry. It is best to use fine salt, which can penetrate deeply into the petals.

If speed of drying of the herbarium is of paramount importance, it is best to use silica gel.

Is it possible to keep dried flowers at home?

The question is quite vague, as it affects several areas of life.

From an esoteric point of view, a herbarium is a treasure of energy that can give a person natural warmth. They improve immunity, maintain health and prolong life.

According to the teachings of Feng Shui, any cut plants bring withering and death, so it is not recommended to keep dried flowers at home.

There is an opinion among scientists that dry buds accumulate a lot of dust, which is difficult to remove from the surface, so keeping a herbarium in an apartment is contraindicated for asthmatics and allergy sufferers.

Features of drying different types of flowers

For the drying procedure to be effective, please note that some varieties of flowers should only be dried in a certain way, as well as properly prepared. For example:

• Before drying, hold roses over steam for 15–20 minutes;
• to preserve small lilac flowers, use semolina, lowering the branch with the buds down, or put them under a press;
• It is better to dry bird cherry in separate branches, so they dry faster;
• Jasmine petals are very fragile and delicate, so they can only be dried naturally, without heat treatment;
• White apple buds may turn brown after drying, so choose pink varieties.

Tips for preserving a dry bouquet

To make dried flowers pleasing to the eye for a long time, follow these simple recommendations for storing them:

• do not keep bouquets in places exposed to direct sunlight, otherwise they will become too fragile;
• It is better not to place compositions in highly lit places at all, as they will quickly lose color;
• Ventilate the room regularly and monitor the humidity level, since neither living nor dried plants like dry air.

Caring for dry buds is not difficult, but since they quickly accumulate dust on the surface, remove it regularly using a rubber syringe. To reduce dust on your plants, coat the petals with hairspray or store them under a glass cover or in a transparent box.

Compositions of dried flowers in the interior

A beautiful herbarium on the wall in a frame or vase can completely transform your home. The herbarium will fit into any interior. The room in the style of strict minimalism will be decorated with paintings of “experimental samples” taken from the botanical collection.

On the walls of the children's room, the child will be delighted with paintings in wooden frames with children's appliqués. Dry compositions made from spices or ears of corn are suitable for the kitchen. You can place dried gifts of autumn in the living room. Delicate bouquets of green ears in decorative vases, romantic and sensual flowers under glass will complement the bedroom interior.

DIY lamps are covered with paper with a painted herbarium. Dried flower arrangements in glass bowls and candlesticks are interesting.

Ceiling decor with dried flowers

Pressing plants for herbarium

We create decorations with flowers

Often, not only people who collect flowers for the herbarium are involved in the procurement of plants. Some craftsmen are interested in preserving them and making exquisite jewelry, for example, a brooch with a dandelion, chamomile or rose hip flower. You need to know how to properly cope with such a task.

To begin with, the flowers are simply dried - using any of the methods listed above. Most craftsmen use books or a hand-assembled press from two thin planks and several bolts and nuts.

The main work consists of several stages:

1. Selection of base. This can be a blank for a brooch or a small plastic container - at your discretion.
2. Preparation - a white background is placed on the bottom. Some people use polymer clay, while others simply apply white enamel paint. In any case, you need to let the material dry.
3. Using glue, fix the flower. There is no need to use a lot of glue - one drop is enough, just so that the element does not move during further work. It is advisable to use quick-drying glue. It saves at least a few hours.
4. Pouring epoxy resin. Sometimes they install a small formwork around the flower to prevent the resin from spilling out. Pour a very thin layer of epoxy, being careful not to get it on the petals. Then their shape will be more natural and attractive.
5. Removing air bubbles. The easiest way to deal with them is with a needle - the voids are carefully adjusted to the surface and pierced. However, experienced craftsmen rarely develop bubbles.
6. After 48 hours, the epoxy resin will have gained sufficient strength for the decoration to be used. Transparent as water, it creates the illusion that the flower is stuck in a drop of dew.

As you can see, the process of drying leaves and flowers can be not only simple, but also quite interesting. Follow simple rules to get the perfect option.

Questions and answers

The herbarium is crumbling and breaking, what should I do?

To preserve the integrity of fragile leaves and flowers, use a mixture of 4 tbsp. spoons of PVA glue and 1 tbsp. spoons of water. It is carefully applied to the herbarium with a brush and left to dry for 24 hours. After this, dry plants become denser and more flexible. In addition, they stick well to paper with dry glue.

What plants cannot be used for a herbarium for school?

You cannot pick plants listed in the Red Book. Students should also avoid poisonous plants and plants with thorns.

A herbarium is, first of all, material for studying the plant world. With its help you can learn a lot about the plants of your native land or a remote corner of the world. Beautiful dried herbs can often be used for home decor, they can be used to make soap and make jewelry. In both cases, it is important to properly collect and dry the material.

Involving children

Children will certainly be interested in what you do with herbs and flowers. Doing a herbarium will help your child learn more about the types of plants that he sees during walks.

Kids will have fun decorating dried flowers using coloring paper. Grasses with small veins and details are suitable. To prevent thin ink paper from becoming wrinkled, it is placed on thick cardboard. The child places the dried leaf on dyeing paper, covers it with glass and takes it out into the sun. After a few minutes, the emerging imprint of the plant will become clearly visible on the blue leaf.

You can invite your child to make an unusual herbarium: an imprint of a plant on salt dough or modeling clay.

Wild onion herbarium

Autumn leaves decor

Leaves panel

Sources

• https://vplate.ru/hobbi/gerbarij/
• https://handskill.ru/478874a-gerbariy-iz-listev-svoimi-rukami-foto-poshagovaya-instruktsiya-sozdaniya
• https://www.NeoLove.ru/articles/housewife/Needlework/gerbarij_vybor_rastenij_sushka_oformlenie_gerbarij_v_shkolu_dets.html
• https://godacha.ru/bez-rubriki/gerbarij-iz-tsvetov-kak-delat.html
• https://godacha.ru/bez-rubriki/kak-pravilno-delat-gerbarij-iz-listev.html
• https://landshaftnydizain.ru/kak-eto-sdelat/1396-gerbarij-krasota-nepodvlastnaya-vremeni-kak-sdelat-gerbarij-svoimi-rukami.html
• https://suseky.com/gerbarij-iz-listev-kak-pravilno-sushit-listya-dlya-gerbariya/
• https://superarch.ru/usadba/posadki/kak-byistro-vyisushit-gerbarij
• https://hoznauka.ru/poleznye-sovety/kak-zasushit-cvety.html
• https://FlowersHoliday.com/sushka-cvetov-i-rasteniy-obzor/
• https://mschistota.ru/sovety/cvety-i-listya-dlya-gerbariya.html
• https://RoomPlan.ru/dekorirovanie/gerbarij/

Using herbarium in decoration

Dried leaves, twigs and flowers are widely used not only in science and in creating children's crafts. Greeting cards, photo albums are decorated with herbarium, and entire paintings and panels are created with it.

In recent years, interest in dried plants and flowers has increased greatly. Herbariums are often used for home decoration by adherents of eco-style.

A beautiful arrangement of dried flowers in a vase does not require the same care as freshly cut flowers and indoor plants. Away from the sun and moisture, it lasts for 3 years.

Illustrative examples of how you can use a herbarium for home decor:

Dried leaves and flowers are used to create ikebana. Ikebana is an art form where the composition of plants has a philosophical meaning.

Herbarium decor is very popular at weddings. Artificial flowers are not appropriate for such a joyful event, and are considered bad manners, and live ones quickly fade. Dried plants have all the benefits of freshly cut flowers, but at the same time they have positive energy.

Dried herbs and flowers are often used in soap making. They not only favorably emphasize the beauty and naturalness of homemade soap, but also give it their aroma and play the role of a scrub.

Decorations are made from neat dried plants: rings, pendants, earrings, brooches. To do this, they are sealed in transparent epoxy resin. The jewelry looks very delicate and is suitable for any age and status.