I've said it before and I'll say it again...
Peonies are one of my favorite flowers! They are bold, bountiful, and really command attention. That's why I've used peonies as a muse for many crafty blah to TADA! transformations:
Handmade paper flowers made from gift tissue...TADA!
Creative gift wrapping where I turned an empty jar from blah to TADA!
And still another page from my art journal where I used rubber stamped-peonies, colored pencils, and collage...TADA!
Even if my peonies have wilted, don't they still look beautiful? Instead of tossing them right away, I'm going to experiment using these peony petals as dye.
I separated the petals and spread them on top of white paper (this is copy paper) that I trimmed into rectangles (about 4 inches by 6 inches).
I'm using these cake pans to help me stack my paper. This is what I had in my cupboards. You can use saucers, tiles or other objects with a flat surface.
Flip one of the cake pans so that the bottom faces you. Lay one sheet of paper with petals on top of the cake pan.
Keep adding another sheet of paper with petals on top until you have six stacks.
Top the stack with another cake pan, this time the inside facing you. The goal is to sandwich the paper with the two cake pans. If you have a few more sheets of paper with petals, put them inside the cake pan and use a smaller cake pan to sandwich this set.
I gently put my cake pans sandwiched with paper and petals inside a cooking pot. I weighed everything down with a marble mortar bowl (from a mortar and pestle set). They key here is to add a weight so that when boiling water is poured inside the pot, the cake pans do not float and release the sandwiched paper and petals.
I poured freshly boiled water inside the pot, making sure to cover the paper. Then I let this sit for at least two hours.
Then I removed the cake pans from the pot, took out the paper, and placed the paper on an old t-shirt or towel to absorb the moisture. If you can see, there are hints of the color pink that have stained the paper.
Wrap the paper in the old t-shirt or towel and put a weight on top of it (like a stack of books, making sure to put a plastic bag between the books and the t-shirt/towel bundle to keep the books from getting wet). Leave this to dry overnight.
Unwrap the bundle and take out the paper. It will still be a little damp.
Slowly separate the layers.
Gently peel off the petals and discard them. They have done their job by adding pink tint to the paper...TADA!
Leave the paper to dry completely.
I can use my peony petal-tinted papers as stationery, for scrapbooking, art journaling, and collage.
And that is how I turned wilted flowers from blah to TADA!
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