Make your own glowing flowers

Let’s face it, there is something about glow-in-the-dark décor that is always appealing to us from a young age. This has led to the discovery of several tricks to create glow-in-the-dark accessories and decorations at home. If you want your very own glowing flowers, here are a few easy methods.

The highlighter technique

Certain highlighter pens glow under black light. Yellow is usually the colour you can most rely on but some other colours may work too. Test the highlighter before you begin. You will need to cut the highlighter pen open and expose the fibres that hold the ink. Remove the ink strip and squeeze the ink out into a small amount of water. Depending on how many flowers you are using, you might need more than one highlighter pen. You should then trim the end of the flowers so that they can absorb water faster and place them in the water with the highlighter pen ink. After several hours, the flower should have absorbed enough ink for it to glow under black light.

A glowing tonic

Tonic water is known for its many benefits. It can even help you create flowers that glow under black light. All you need to do is place your freshly trimmed blooms in tonic water instead of regular water and let them soak up some quinine for a few hours. If you do this in the morning, you should notice the effect that evening or the following day. It does take time for the flowers to absorb enough of this substance so be patient when using this method to create glowing flowers.

Submersion

For this method, you can use some diet tonic water, highlighter ink and water or thinned glowing paint. All you need to do is gently submerge the flower in the ‘glowing water’ and swish it around just a little bit. Allow the flower to really soak up the colour rather than giving it a quick dip. If you work too quickly, it can have spotty results. For best results, let the flowers soak for an hour or two. While the flower head is submerged, you can keep the flower hydrated by wrapping a damp paper towel around the base. Once you are done, remove your glowing flowers and place them in a vase with fresh water.

Remember, when making glowing flowers, just like dying flowers, you will enjoy the best results if you use white blooms rather than colourful ones. This is because the pigment in colourful flowers block the glowing light. You should also use healthy flowers that are still opening up. If you use flowers that are already fully opened, they will not last as long and they will not prove to be as impressive. Some flowers work better than others. For example, due to the shape of carnations and daisies, they prove more suitable than roses with their tightly arranged petals.