You finally received your kit! Congratulations! Now it’s time to create your sola flower arrangements. And we’re here to give you an extra boost of confidence by sharing with you 5 cool tricks that will make your crafting easier, and the final product looks way better.
Don't have a kit yet? No worries you can still learn tons in this article that will get your wheels turning!
Are you ready? Let’s start!
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Fluffing
If you’re like most people, upon opening the package, you’ll immediately look for the flowers. Logistics companies try their best to handle this package with care, but sola flowers can lose their shape during transportation no matter how much care you put into it. You may receive flowers that are squished on one side, or you may have ordered an assortment of flowers that you want to restyle to fit your vision.
Whatever the reason may be, there are two important things you need to remember when re-shaping those sola wood petals:
- When applying water to the petals while reshaping, you need to dry them out thoroughly before doing anything else with them. Depending on the amount of water you added, it may take 12-24 hours before the sola flowers are completely dry.
- After reshaping, the flowers are still supple and may lose their shape if you do not have a drying rack. You can use egg cartons as a cheap alternative to drying racks. It’s perfect for fluffing sola wood flowers that can’t lie on its side.
If you want to cut down the amount of time you spend on drying out flowers, dye, and reshape in one go! You heard that right! Give the flowers a good dip in your dye mix, and then work the petals right after. This hack instantly eliminates a day of drying which you could use for other tasks such as preparing your vase and fillers.
Dyeing
Raw sola flowers are versatile and extremely elegant pieces that can easily win hearts in any occasion. But dyeing takes your creativity to the next level. From simple dip techniques to airbrushing and applying gradients, adding sola wood dye colors are a fun way to create impressive and vibrant pieces that showcase the whole spectrum of your floral artistry.
Since sola wood flowers are porous, the best way to get the entire flower painted is to dip them in Sola Wood Flowers dye mixed with water (2:1 ratio of water to dye for a rich, bold color that really pops!) Dye sola wood flowers by getting a deep bowl where you could submerge the entire flower into.
- For color variation, use the same dye solution and add more water for a lighter shade. You can split the solution into smaller batches and add varying amounts of water to create a beautiful gradient effect on your flowers. Start by submerging the sola flower into the lightest shade and then use a small paintbrush to apply the darker shades as you paint towards the middle.
This trick is so easy to do, yet it packs a punch and really sets your work apart from the rest. No one will guess that this was your first time doing sola wood flower dye projects.
Scenting
Let’s face it, your second favorite thing to do with flowers is to take a whiff of that sweet scent sola flowers. It’s part of what makes real flowers extremely appealing.
But Sola Wood Flowers has stepped up the game by incorporating oil-based fragrances that can last between 3-6 months. One drop is all you need to keep your arrangement smelling like key lime pie or jasmine with a hint of fresh, zesty mangoes.
- To evenly distribute the oil fragrance throughout the flower, drop the oil on the base of the flower. Its porous nature will allow the oil to penetrate the petals. The sola wood flower scent will come out beautifully a few minutes after it sets in. It’s so effective in diffusing scent that aromatherapy brands started creating diffuser reeds topped with sola flowers!
As much as you want to add more fragrance, do not go overboard with it. Like real flowers, you want people to have a whiff of that nice, faint smell as they pass by the centerpiece you made. You don’t want people to enter your house and immediately get hit by the strong fragrance.
Stemming
How to stem a sola flower. Definitely not the most exciting part of the project, but stemming sola flowers is an essential part of creating centerpieces and bouquets. Whether it’s floral wires or bamboo stems, a secure stem is a secret to a long-lasting craft project that lives on long after the event. After long hours of laboring for the perfect color and arrangement, the least of your worries should be whether the flowers will hold up until the end of the party.
- To keep the stem in place, squeeze enough hot glue to the base of the flower before poking it with a stem. With the hot glue in place, it will harden up and hold the stem where it should be. No more anxiety over long stem sola flower pieces that fall off a centerpiece or wreath!
After adding a stem to all your flowers, that’s when you can start arranging them on the floral foam. It’s much easier to visualize how your project will look like when you have all the sola wood flower stems and fillers right in front of you.
This is an exciting part of your journey into sola flower crafting! We hope you enjoy it as much as we did writing this guide for you. Keep in mind that a huge chunk of why you’re doing this is to destress. Just let your creativity surprise you. If you’re too focused on getting everything right, you’re taking the fun out of crafting!
For more tips and tricks, make sure you’re part of the bustling Facebook group, Sola Wood Flowers Official. Apart from us posting our best practices with sola flowers, it’s a community that loves to support each other and we’re really proud to say that our community members are so generous with their knowledge about crafting (and they certainly don’t mind answering a question or two!) It’s a safe place to learn and explore, and the perfect venue to flaunt your most recent piece.
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