Flower Arranging – one of the ongoing issues with flowers in vases is getting them to stay where you want… and not flopping over. You can use flower sleeves that come on long stems like daisies and tulips at some vendors, but magic water gels work much better in my opinion.
Magic Water Gels
Magic water gels come in a variety of colors and are inexpensive. The only downside is they take about 4 hours to expand for use. They come in a small tube and 2 tsps of the beads grow into a full vase of colorful beads. They are lightweight and easy to move around. They hold even fragile stems in place.
In a glass vase you see the color. They also come in clear. You can layer the colors too. They may appear cloudy after being with flowers for a long time but you can rinse them.
They are fun to photograph on their own too to create abstract patterns.
In an opaque vase you never see them. I have tried all kinds of ways to hold stems in place but like this the best by far! Here is a link to one of the products on Amazon but there are many available.
So glad you posted this, Susan. I have a little round “frog” that is made up of plastic net filled with glass beads. It’s about the size and shape of a large doughnut and has worked well in flower bowls. Over the years, the net has broken in places and beads spill out. The water gels just might be an answer for a replacement without a net. Do they shrink after they are removed from water?
Cheryl, hope they work for you. They seem to last in a ziploc after use and don’t see shrinkage. They are much lighter weight than glass beads but not sure if that is a consideration for you. Susan