Rainbow Roses Sometimes you find a fun idea on the internet you just have to try out. When I saw a picture of these beautiful rainbow roses (with sparse but clear instructions) I had to give it a go. I tried twice but neither results were as good as the example. For the first try I used normal white roses I bought at the market. Their stems were quite thin and hard to cut properly. First I tried cutting them with a knife then with scissors. Scissors worked better but I still wasn't able to cut the stem in equal parts. The second try I used long-stem roses which have a thicker stem and are easier to cut. I also used a separation box instead of the little glass bottles but there was a backwash of color where the stems came back together and some roses ended up green/brown. |
- Coloring: To color roses you can use ink or food coloring. Personally I prefer food coloring as this is non-toxic. The colors used were red, yellow, green and blue, I would have loved purple or pink instead of green but was unable to find these.
- Rose: You require white roses but not all roses seem to work as well. Unfortunate I can't tell you which type of rose works better. My suggestion is buying cheap long-stem roses on the market.
- Stem & leaves: The longer the rose stem, the longer it takes for the colors to reach the flower and the more food coloring the rose will absorb. I still suggest using long-stem roses on your first try as it is difficult cutting them properly and you can always shorten them later. Leaves will also absorb coloring which is a waste of coloring, you might want to remove most of them.
- Absorb time: The longer a rose is without water, the more it will whit and this will shorten the time you can enjoy them. On my first try it took about three hours before the flower was colored and I was able to enjoy them for about ten days. The second time it took over six hours and they didn't last very long... the nicer ones I cut and dried, some even looked better dried actually.
Original internet picture with instructions | Another Google example | |
First try (Using small bottles) | First try (the result) span> | |
Second try (Using separation box) | Example of using the separation box | |
Second try (the result) | Second try (dried) | |