Freshly cut flowers are very pleasing to the eye. Placing an arrangement of freshly cut flowers in a vase that sets them off properly will bring instant color and beauty to a room no matter how drab and shabby it may have otherwise been. Most people are cheered up by the sight of freshly cut flowers in a lovely vase. However, there are other people who cannot abide being near freshly cut flowers, mainly because they are allergic to them. For such people artificial silk flowers are seen as a suitable alternative.
There are benefits to using artificial silk flowers in decorating a room rather than buying freshly cut ones. As mentioned above, artificial silk flowers bring the beauty of flowers to a room without triggering allergic reactions to anyone who will walk into the room. Artificial silk flowers are also seen as more practical by some people. Freshly cut flowers can be expensive and need constant maintenance, and they wilt eventually. Artificial silk flowers, on the other hand, are relatively inexpensive and will last for as long as you take good care of them. Of course, artificial silk flowers will never be as beautiful as real flowers, but they can serve as good alternatives.
Why Care for Artificial Silk Flowers?
Even if artificial silk flowers are not real flowers, they still need to be cared for. It is very easy to stick them in a vase and then forget all about them because they do not need a change of water every now and then and they do not wilt. However, artificial silk flowers can still gather dust. A layer of dust gathered in the leaves and petals of artificial silk flowers will make them lose their beauty and shine. Dust can also trigger allergic reactions in people. So, in order to keep the beauty of these flowers, you have to make sure that they are kept clean all the time.
It is not difficult at all to keep your artificial silk flowers clean. In fact, if you give them a light feather dusting once every week, your artificial silk flowers will look as beautiful and new as the first time you brought them home from the store. You only need to give your artificial silk flowers the thorough cleaning that they need once every three to six months.
Cleaning Artificial Silk Flowers
Here is a step-by-step guide to cleaning artificial silk flowers the easy way.
1. Take out a blossom from the back of your artificial silk flower arrangement, one that would hardly be missed when anyone looks at it. If the leaves of your flower arrangement are detachable, taking just one leaf would be fine.
2. Put the leaf you have detached from your flower arrangement under running tap water. Once you have washed all the dust out, shake out the water from the leaf and check out if it is shiny and if there are no visible damages or discoloration on the silk. If there is no visible damage, you may proceed to clean the entire artificial silk flower.
3. Take your flower arrangement to the kitchen or wherever you think you can safely clean them without making a mess. If your arrangement is too big to be cleaned indoors, like the ones that come in floor pots, take them outside.
4. Check if your artificial silk flowers have newspaper fillings in them. If so, do not get them wet or else you will end up damaging them. There are other ways of cleaning artificial silk flowers without getting them wet.
5. If your artificial silk flower arrangement is embedded in a metal pot, such as copper or brass, cover the pot first with a plastic sheet before getting the whole thing wet. Make sure that when you clean your arrangement, the pot is sufficiently covered so that water will not get to the pot. Moisture on metal will cause the metal to tarnish and rust.
6. Give the flower arrangement a good feather dusting before you get anything wet. This will minimize the possibility of the dust clumping and discoloring the silk of your flowers.
7. For small artificial silk flower arrangements, just use a small spray bottle or a spritzer and thoroughly spray the arrangement with cold water. When the arrangement has become clean and dust-free to your satisfaction, shake the water out completely from the flowers and set them aside to dry.
8. For big artificial silk flower arrangements set in floor pots, hose them down outside, keeping the spray of your hose light. Once clean, shake the water out from the leaves and flowers, and then let the whole thing out for a while so it can dry out in the sun.
9. Do this once every three to six months. In between, keep your artificial silk flower arrangements free from dust by giving it a regular feather dusting.
Alternative Ways of Cleaning Artificial Silk Flowers
There are artificial silk flowers that cannot be cleaned using water. If the arrangement is small enough, you can throw them in a plastic or paper bag, sprinkle some coarse salt over them and shake them until they are clean. Salt can absorb the dirt and the dust from your artificial silk flowers. An alternative to salt is baking soda.
If your artificial silk flowers can withstand heat, it is also possible to keep them clean by blowing out the dust with your hair dryer set at minimum heat. Or, you can use a vacuum cleaner to suck the dust out. You can also buy an ozone-safe aerosol spray cleaner specially designed for artificial silk flowers.