How To: Preserve Flowers in Resin

Preserving flowers in resin is a beautiful and unique way to capture the essence of nature and create stunning, long-lasting keepsakes. Whether it’s a wedding bouquet, a sentimental bloom, or simply flowers you love, encasing them in resin transforms these momentary beauties into timeless pieces. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step process or “beginners guide” of preserving flowers in resin, ensuring you achieve perfect results every time. But before we start this process, it’s essential to start with properly dried flowers. You can refer to our blog post “How To: Dry Flowers” for detailed information on that process before diving into the resin side.

Essentials: Before you begin, gather all the necessary materials –
– Dried Flowers: Make sure they are completely dry to prevent moisture from affecting the resin.
– Epoxy Resin: Choose a high-quality, clear resin. (Make sure it is a suitable resin for your specific style of project)
– Mixing Cups and Sticks: For accurate measuring and mixing.
– Moulds: Silicone moulds work best for resin projects. Choose the shapes and sizes that suit your design.
– Gloves and Protective Gear: Resin can be messy, so gloves and a well-ventilated workspace are essential. (Follow manufacturers instructions)
– Tweezers: For precisely placing the flowers in the resin.
– Toothpicks: For adjusting and removing air bubbles.
-Torch: To remove air bubbles from the resin surface.

Now that we have the essential materials ready to go, it’s time to get into the process. It is important to remember that this is not a “quick” project or something you can rush. When you are wanting to preserve something for a lifetime, it’s going to take time to blossom. Anyway, onto the steps:

1. Drying Your Flowers: Before you start working with resin, it’s crucial to have your flowers properly dried. Moisture will cause issues with the resin curing process and lead to cloudiness, bubbles or imperfections. For more information on that process, visit our other blog post mentioned above. Your flowers need to be fully dried before proceeding to the next step. This process can take anywhere between 3 days to over a month, so make sure you don’t rush this step and plan ahead!

2. Preparing Your Workspace: Set up a clean, well-ventilated workspace. Cover your work surface with a protective layer to catch any spills. Make sure you have all your materials within reach. Also create a cover, whether its using a net, box or something similar. Keeping your work covered after poured will prevent any dust or bugs from settling into the resin. When working with clear resin, the last thing you want is visible debris trapped in your piece.

3. Mixing the Resin: Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for mixing the resin and hardener. Typically, this involves combining parts of resin and hardener in a mixing cup. Stir the mixture thoroughly for 2-3 minutes, ensuring that it is well blended and free of streaks. Avoid over mixing as this will lead to unnecessary bubbles and kick-starting the exothermic reaction caused with epoxy resins.

4. Pouring the Base Layer: Pour a thin layer of resin into the bottom of your mould. This base layer will serve as the background for your flowers and help secure them in place. Allow this layer to partially cure for about 30 minutes to ensure that the flowers stay in place when added.

5. Placing the Flowers: Using tweezers, carefully place the dried flowers onto the partially cured resin base layer. Arrange them as desired, taking care to position them flat and avoid air pockets. Use toothpicks or small brushes to adjust the flowers if necessary.

6. Adding More Resin: Once the flowers are arranged, pour another layer of resin over them, covering the flowers completely. Pour slowly to minimise the formation of air bubbles. If any bubbles appear, use a toothpick to gently pop them or apply a heat gun or torch briefly over the surface to release the trapped air.

7. Building Up Layers: Depending on the thickness/ volume of your mould, your resin type (ie. shallow cast, deep pour, etc.) and the desired effect, you may need to build up additional layers of resin. Allow each layer to cure before adding the next to ensure that the flowers stay in place and that the resin cures evenly. Allowing each resin layer to cure entirely, will also avoid an exothermic reaction from the previous layer/s. Repeat the process of pouring, arranging, and curing until the mould is filled.

8. Post Curing: Once you have filled the mould and are satisfied with the appearance of your project, allow the resin to cure fully. This can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks, depending on the type of resin and the environmental conditions. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for curing times and conditions.

9. Finishing: After you have de-moulded your piece/s, you may need to sand edges, or do a final flood coat for a higher gloss finish. If sanding, start with a low grit and work up to the 1000’s for a smooth finish. This can be a very timely process if you decide to sand and polish your pieces.

Bonus Tips:
1. Avoid Overfilling: Leave a small gap at the top of the mould to prevent overflow and to allow for any final adjustments (ie. a flood coat).
2. Monitor Temperature: Ensure that your workspace AND resin is at a stable temperature, ideally between 20-25 degrees Celsius, to facilitate proper curing. Ensuring humidity is as low as possible.
3. Handle with Care: Use gloves when handling resin to protect your skin from irritation and prevent fingerprints on the resin surface.
4. Experiment with Designs: Try different arrangements and combinations of flowers, leaves, and other natural elements to create unique designs.
5. Seal the Flowers: For extra protection, you can seal the dried flowers with a thin layer of clear spray varnish before embedding them in resin. This can help preserve their colour and prevent any bleeding.

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In this beginners guide, we went through 1 particular process of working with flowers in resin. This is by far the most popular or most common process when preserving flowers, however it isn’t the only option. You will find some artists work on smaller scales and some even larger where a deep pour resin (like U RESIN OceanCast) is required. Preserving flowers in resin opens up a new world of creative possibilities. Here are a few other project ideas to help inspire you:

– Jewellery: Create stunning pendants, earrings, and rings with encapsulated flowers.
– Coasters: Design beautiful, functional coasters featuring your favourite blooms.
– Paperweights: Craft elegant paperweights that preserve flowers in a clear, glass-like finish.
– Decorative Ornaments: Make unique ornaments for your home or gifts for loved ones.
– Keychains: Design custom keychains that capture the beauty of nature in a compact form.

Whether you’re making jewellery, home decor, or keepsakes, the combination of dried flowers and resin creates stunning, one-of-a-kind pieces that you can cherish for years to come. Preserving flowers in resin is a rewarding and creative way to eternalise the beauty of nature. It is important to also understand that this blog post should be used as a guide only. Doing your own research and testing is important to the process of creating the perfect preservation piece. Many artists have spent months and years testing designs, products, processes and more to develop their own methods that work best for them. Happy crafting!