To save flowers from a funeral, take a small handful of blooms home soon after the service, let them dry somewhere dark and still, and keep them safe until you decide what to do with them. That is really all it takes to start. The harder part is usually deciding what comes next.
One lasting option is memorial pottery. At The Potter’s Hands Studio in Oxford, Mississippi, April Dupuis can preserve dried flowers from a service in resin and inlay them into a carved vessel, platter or cross, so the flowers become part of a piece the family keeps.
Below are simple ways to keep funeral flowers at home, what funeral flower preservation in a keepsake piece involves, and how a keepsake piece with preserved flowers comes together.
Start by saving a few flowers
You do not need the whole arrangement. A few blooms from the casket spray, a rose from the family flowers, or a stem from the arrangement a friend sent is plenty.
A few gentle tips for the day of the service:
- Ask early. Let the funeral director or a family friend know you would like to keep some flowers, so they are set aside before arrangements are moved or given away.
- Choose a variety. One or two of each kind gives you more to work with later, especially the flowers your loved one would have recognized from their own garden.
- Keep the card and ribbon. The small card that came with an arrangement is easy to lose and often means a great deal later.
- Give the job to someone. Grieving family members have enough to carry that day. A friend or church member can quietly gather the flowers and bring them by later.
Simple ways to dry flowers at home
Most people dry funeral flowers in one of two old, reliable ways. Neither one needs special equipment.
- Hang them. Tie small bunches with string and hang them upside down in a dark, dry closet or room. This tends to keep the shape of fuller blooms like roses.
- Press them. Lay flatter blooms and petals between sheets of paper inside a heavy book and leave them alone for a while. Pressed flowers keep well in an envelope or a box once they are done.
Whichever you choose, keep them out of sunlight and humidity while they dry, and store them somewhere they will not get crushed. Label the box with the name and date so nobody throws it out by mistake.
If you already know you want a keepsake piece, reach out to April before you dry anything. She will walk you through how to dry and send the flowers for the piece you have in mind.
How flowers become part of a keepsake piece
A memorial piece from the studio is wheel-thrown stoneware, coated in white porcelain slip and carved by hand using sgraffito, the technique of cutting through the slip to show the darker clay beneath. You can read more about it on The Craft page.
When flowers are part of the design, the dried flowers from the service are preserved in resin and inlaid into the carved piece. That can be:
- A keepsake vessel, the kind of piece that sits on a mantel or a bedside table.
- A platter, carved around the flowers and the words you choose.
- A cross, carved with a name and dates and made to hang in the home. Read more about personalized memorial crosses.
Small keepsakes can be inlaid as well. Alongside the flowers, April can carve names, dates, a verse or hymn line, and the blooms your loved one cared about.
What the commission looks like, step by step
A memorial commission moves in three steps, and the first one has no deadline at all.
- Share their story. Tell April about the person you are remembering: a name, a date, the flowers they loved. Share as much or as little as you like.
- April designs with you. She sketches a design and works with you until it feels right. The piece is then thrown, coated in porcelain slip and carved by hand.
- Made to keep. The piece is glazed, kiln-fired twice, and carefully packed and shipped.
Most memorial commissions are finished in 4 to 6 weeks once the design is settled. The conversation before that can take as long as you need.
If the service has already passed
Many people do not think about saving flowers until weeks or months later, and that is completely understandable. If the service has already passed, pressed or dried flowers you have kept can work as well.
So check the family Bible, the funeral program, or the box of cards on the closet shelf. A few pressed petals tucked away are often enough to begin.
And if there are no flowers left at all, a carved piece with their favorite blooms drawn by hand still holds the memory. April’s carving draws on Southern gardens: magnolia, dogwood, camellia, lilies and blooming vines.
Questions people ask
Can flowers from a funeral be preserved in a pottery piece?
Yes. At The Potter’s Hands Studio, dried flowers from the service can be preserved in resin and inlaid into a carved vessel, platter or cross. April will walk you through how to dry and send them.
What if the funeral was months ago and I only kept a few pressed flowers?
Those can still work. If the service has already passed, pressed or dried flowers you have kept can be used as well, so there is no need to rush.
Can anything besides flowers be included?
Small keepsakes can be inlaid as well. Share what you have with April when you begin the commission and she will talk with you about what fits the piece.
When you are ready, share a name and a few words through the memorial and sympathy page. April will reply personally with ideas, pricing and a gentle timeline. You might also find sympathy gifts that last longer than flowers helpful if you are giving to someone else.