Make Flowers from Old Bread
Besides making bread crumbs or tossing it away, your stale or outdated bread can have a new lease of life – as a floral arrangement! You’ll be amazed at how you can turn your unwanted loaf of sandwich bread into a beautiful bouquet of roses.
Steps
- Spread the slices of bread on a tray. Dry them under the sunshine (in the windowsill is fine) for about half an hour. If there is no sun, dry in an oven on very low heat. Make sure that both sides of the slices are dried. When dry, each slice should be very crispy.
- Separate the middle part from the crust. This is to make sure you get the color you want. The middle part is whiter, while the crust or outer part of the bread is almost brownish. You can use the middle part to make the rose petals and the brownish part for the leaves. You can mix them however, depending on the color you want your flowers to be. So, if you want white roses, use only the middle part for the petals.
- Crush the bread to form fine crumbs. You can use a food processor to do this.
- Add in the white glue to the breadcrumbs. Mix them well to form dough (similar to pastry dough). The texture of this dough should also be similar to pastry dough.
- At this point, you can add in the oil color of your choice. Again, work the dough well so that the color is evenly spread and mixed with the dough.
- Start making the flower of your choice now. It is recommended that you make thin petals, at least while you're learning. While thick petals are alright, the thin ones dry faster. For a rose:
- Work from the inside first. Create the inner part of the rose, and decide on how big or small you want it to be.
- Then, use your palm to make each of the rose petals. Alternatively, press the dough over the curve of a bottle or a rolling pin to form the curved shape instantly.
- Use the artificial stem as the holder or stem for your rose base (or your own choice of flower). When using the artificial stem, bend the edge a little bit to form a curve. This prevents the petals from slipping away from the stems once they are dried.
- Wait until you are finished with the roses, and put them in a standing position (vertical upward position) in a vase. Put these flowers under the sunshine to dry (again, the windowsill is fine). They will harden and dry in a day or two under direct sunshine.
- Make sure that the flowers are completely dry before completing this step. Dip each rose into the wood varnish to cover completely. Then let them dry again. This varnish acts as a protector or a shield for the flowers and helps them to last longer. It also makes dusting them much easier.
- You can also use spray varnish but it is much more expensive.
- Finished.
- Share your results.
Tips
- If you're interrupted, simply keep the dough in a covered container. You don’t have to finish making flowers in one day; you can keep the dough for later, but keep it covered all the time. It will harden in open air.
- You can decorate these flowers with artificial leaves and other decorations. These "bread flowers" last longer once varnished. If well varnished, a flower can last a couple of years, if not longer.
- Some people remove doughs from certain breads such as baguettes; these can be recycled to make bread flowers, or crafts similar to it. If you don't have any bread at the moment, then ask a bakery if they have any spare dough or bread.
Warnings
- Just make sure before they are varnished, the flowers are completely dry. If they are not completely dry, you might end up with mold on the flowers.
- Don't wash the bread flowers directly with water. To clean, just wipe the flowers with a piece of cloth.
- Some of the craft supplies (like the varnish) may be toxic, so remember to keep very young kids, babies, and pets away from the craft area so they don't get sick.
Things You'll Need
- A loaf of bread (normal sandwich bread),
- ½ a bottle (about 350 ml) white glue (available at bookstores or drugstores)
- Oil color (your preferred color, red for roses, green for leaves)
- Wood varnish
- Artificial flower stems (available at any florist shop)
