Dandelions are not considered weeds in my world. They announce spring with their burst of sunny yellow, then fill up the yard with wishes just waiting to happen. In summer, their deep taproots help the soil, and I never pull them up from my garden. The leaves are a tasty snack for our baby chicks, we gather up a few to toss to the girls, and all the chickens come running to get a bite.
If you saw our yard, you’d be very surprised to learn that my husband spent his career running country clubs. It would make sense to use the knowledge learned in supervising the upkeep of the greens to make our grass just as nice as the professionals do.
But at the cottage, I encourage dandelions, clover, and whatever else wants to pop up. I like the textures (and the lack of chemicals).
When I heard you could easily preserve the puffs of fluff, I was pretty excited. I tried all the instructions I could find on line, just to realize that it isn’t as easy as it sounded. At least I had a never ending supply to work with.
I tried dying the buds before they opened, but the color barely showed it did sorta work, but not enough to go through this step.
I tried floral wire inserted into the stem and then the head of the puff. Well, it seemed fine, but a few days later, as it dried out, it didn’t want to stay in place. So I squirted a lot of glue up inside the ball to reattach it to the wire stem.
Hairspray was a suggested preservative but didn’t seem strong enough to me. My spray of choice was white spray paint topped with clear glitter while still wet.
They look pretty and hold their shape well.
Keeping them airtight should help too. I filled some cloches and jars with my new collection of wishes, then decorated them. Fingers crossed that they last.
I was going to suggest either Krylon 1311, a spray matte varnish or a spray glitter. Yours look great, though!
Posted by: Ellen Bailey | June 11, 2024 at 12:12 AM