How can I make faux flowers look dead and wilted for a Halloween prop?

Question

I creating a ghoul wedding scene in the gazebo of my house for a Halloween party, and I can't find any dead fake flowers! HELP!

Answer 1

Why not use REAL dead flowers?  Can't get any more authentic than that!  Get yourself a fresh bouquet around the tenth of October (or so), and by Halloween, "voila", a "fresh", dead bouquet of flowers.  Good luck with your wedding scene, and for goodness sakes, have a ton of fun!

Answer 2

How about just black ones. And/or take some of the flowers off so you have some that are just stems with a few leaves on them.

Answer 3

Here's a couple of things you can do:

Make a thin wash of brown, black and maybe blue or purple watercolors (all in separate containers). Use these on the flowers to simulate decay. Sometimes one color will do it - it really depends on the color of the flower. Brown will be  your most used, with the darker colors as accents.

If you have some acrylic paints, these will work as well, but go easy. You want a layer ON TOP not to cover the material up.

If the flowers have wires, you can bend them into wilted positions.

The other trick is to take a flame to them.

BE VERY CAREFUL!! This is easy to overdo, and melted plastic can really burn you. An alternative method would be to dip them in boiling water. This will cause the plastic to become soft and bendable.

You will have to do some experimenting, but these are some easy methods for achieving the effect you are going for.

Good luck and HAVE FUN!! Send me some pics!

Answer 4

buy white petaled flowers. bowl tea and drip them it. also you could get a razor and fray the edges of the petals

Answer 5

Just buy some a week before and let them die. Or wait till all the stuff are out. Wal Mart usually have black roses. Or Party City may have what you are looking for.