With Memorial Day soon approaching, I wanted to share this tip for silk flower arrangements. Spray with a couple coats of WD-40 to help repel water from rain and sprinklers, and to protect silk flowers' colors from fading due to sunlight.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
The silk flowers I place on grave sites seem to fade very fast in the sun. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make the colors stay brighter longer?
don'tknow how well this works but i read it elsewhere: spray the flowers with wd40. it makes them waterproof and holds the colors (so they say)
i'd try it on a flower that fell off or something like that first, but you just never know till you try!! good luck, carla in missouri
I know something that i think will help. Try spraying them with 2 coats of shellac/lacquer while they are still new. Let them dry completely between coats. I've done this for things I was going to put in my yard or even inside near a window that gets a lot of sunlight.
Every year i go out and put fresh silk flowers on 16 graves and i pick out light color ones as i have found they dont fade as fast as the dark ones and they last up to one year
Thompsons water seal clear multi surface. spray on the arrangement. The flowers last! . I take care of 23 graves( 3 cemeteries ) and mostly saddle arrangements . We changed them about 5 times per year depending what holiday it is and use Thompson. .I reuse the flowers every year. When I take them off I will wash with soap and water .when they dry store in a tote. Next year spray them and put them back on the graves.
To liven up my silk flowers I purchase a variety of spray can paints and give them a touch up which works fine for me, goodluck
Spray Scotchgard fabric protector on them to help with fading from sun.
With that many graves to maintain, I'll take your advice any day. Thanks a million! I will definitely do this and will let you know how it worked for me. I have 8 graves to maintain locally and definitely need help in preserving expensive silk flowers! Thanks again!
Does the water seal need to be thinned so as not to be too heavy on the petals? If so, with what and what do you use to spray them with?
Does the Thompson water seal need to be thinned and what type of sprayer do you use.
They now have the Thompson WaterSeal Fabric Seal Waterproofing Spray which is especially for fabrics that I would imagine would be perfect for silk flowers because it has the UV inhibitors in it to help protect fading from the sun.
Tried it, use it every year now! Definitely helps with fade prevention!!
I am making a saddle arrangement for a family headstone for the first time. My mother expressed concern that the fall flowers might bleed and stain the headstone.
