Preserved Flower Jewelry: How Real Flowers Become Wearable Keepsakes

Introduction: Why Preserve Your Flowers?

Choosing to preserve your flowers is deeply personal and everyone’s reason will vary depending on the person or event. 

Flowers are often tied to significant life moments, such as weddings, memorials, graduations, and baby showers. Wanting to keep the memories or the people associated with these moments alive is a key reason to preserve flowers into a keepsake. 

Although the flowers' natural beauty changes over time, preserving flower petals in jewelry is a beautiful and meaningful way to keep important memories close.

What Is Preserved Flower Jewelry?

There are several ways to preserve your flowers, with jewelry being a popular option. 

Typically, jewelry that is made with flowers uses resin to preserve the flowers and creates a crystal-clear pendant holding your flower petals. Moisture and resin do not get along, which is why it is always recommended to use dried flowers in resin.

Once the flowers are dried and cured in resin, they will be sealed in a forever keepsake that will keep your flowers vibrant for years to come.

Like all fine jewelry, the longevity of your resin jewelry will depend on the type and quality of the resin used and how the jewelry is cared for.

Best Flowers for Preserving in Jewelry

Any flower that holds meaning to you is perfect for creating a keepsake. Some of the more popular flowers that are used to make jewelry include:

Every flower dries differently, and not all flowers are good options for preserving in resin jewelry. Since only a few flower petals are needed for a jewelry piece, flower size is usually not an issue, even though petals tend to shrink while drying. What is more important is the condition of the flower before the drying process, the flower drying method, and the original color of the flower.

Colors that preserve well in resin jewelry:

White and light pink flowers are trickier as they can easily brown during the drying process and sometimes turn translucent in resin depending on the flower type. They can still be used in resin jewelry, but it is simply something to keep in mind.

Types of flowers that preserve well in resin jewelry:

It is important to remember that flowers are organic material and are meant to decompose, which we are aiming to stop with careful care. If exposed to any moisture during the drying/preservation process can create certain “imperfections” in the jewelry. 

Even with proper drying and care, it is expected to have occasional bubbles in the resin, changes in certain flower colors, and some fading over time.

The Preservation Process

This is a general overview of the steps that go into creating a custom flower preservation piece from start to finish.

Step 1: The Flowers Are Disassembled and Dried

Flowers can be dried many ways, including:

In the instructions I send for drying and mailing your flowers, I typically suggest air drying or pressing as these do not require any extra materials or supplies and most flowers will dry just fine using these methods. Keep in mind that flowers will shrivel to a much smaller size and change slightly in color using the air dry method.

To keep the flowers as close to their natural color, flower pressing or using silica beads are great options.

Step 2: Choose Jewelry Piece(s) and Ship Your Flowers

Since only a small amount of flower petals is needed per piece, you can typically get many pieces from just one bouquet.

Since the size of petals varies, it is suggested to set aside 6-7 flower petals per jewelry piece or 1-2 petals of each color. 

Dried flower petals are very easy to ship, and many people send them wrapped in a paper towel or plastic bag in a regular envelope with a forever stamp. If you choose to mail your flowers this way it is strongly recommended that you keep some extras in case it is lost in transit.

Some people prefer to send whole flowers in a large mailer with a tracking number.

Either way is fine, and personally, there has been only one piece of mail that has been lost in transit out of hundreds that have been mailed.

You will be sent a detailed guide to drying and shipping your flowers after placing an order.

Step 3: The Flower Is Preserved in Resin

The flowers are dried and shipped, and once they arrive your flowers are immediately unpacked and ready to be preserved.

First, the flower petals are assessed to ensure they are completely dry and processed into small pieces to fit inside the jewelry.

Each petal is then glued in place and left to dry.

Applying the resin is the longest step of the process, but the most satisfying. A two-part jewelry-grade resin is used to encase the flower petals, gold or metal flakes, and other additions, and left for 12-24 hours to harden.

The jewelry is inspected for imperfections in the resin. If needed, it is lightly sanded followed by a jewelry polish and buffer used to polish the jewelry.

Step 4: The Jewelry Is Assembled and Cleaned

Depending on the jewelry chosen, some components may need to be soldered and the floral resin pieces are assembled. 

Each piece is lightly cleaned and inspected again before being packaged to ship.

Step 5: The Finished Keepsake Is Carefully Packaged and Shipped

Packaging the finished jewelry is always a special experience and each piece is packaged with care and special touches. Although the jewelry is durable, each piece is mailed in a padded jewelry box with a bag and polishing cloth.

Wedding Flower Preservation Jewelry

Wedding flowers are some of the most beautiful and unique flower arrangements, and it can be hard to see them fade. Many brides have put countless hours into planning their wedding, and their chosen flowers are a gorgeous representation of the feel and look of their wedding day.

Although most brides want to have a personal keepsake for themselves to remember their day, there are many reasons for preserving wedding flowers:

Memorial Flower Preservation Jewelry

Flowers can also hold deep meaning in remembering someone special in your life, as is the case with memorial flowers. 

Memorial flowers are some of the most vibrant and thoughtful arrangements, making them beautiful for keepsake pieces.

It can be a special way to have a small, but meaningful way to remember a day or life, especially if you do not want a cremation jewelry piece.

Oftentimes, it is a shared experience where many family members and friends will have pieces made using memorial flowers.

When there are several flower arrangements left after a memorial or celebration of life, preserving them in a jewelry keepsake is a simple and unique way to keep them close.

Why Choose Jewelry as Your Flower Preservation Keepsake?

Wearable flower keepsakes are a great option for anyone who wants to preserve their flowers in a simple, beautiful, and meaningful way.

Large keepsakes, such as pressed frames, resin blocks, or trays are stunning, but they do require more time, resources, and costs, making a smaller jewelry keepsake an appealing choice.

Reasons you might choose a jewelry keepsake:

Conclusion

Preserving flowers in jewelry is beautiful, but it is much more than just another piece of jewelry. It captures:

The process for drying and shipping flowers for preservation is easy - send a message with any questions.