The head of a Queen Anne’s Lace flower is made up of hundreds of tiny blossoms. Each blossom unfolds its individual petals to produce the lacy network of the entire flower. These blossoms are very receptive to coloring when they are allowed to drink food colorant through their stems. The resulting effect is a beautiful web of delicate petals brightly displaying any color a person can mix.
To begin, it is important to pick suitable blossoms. All Queen Anne’s Lace will take up dye to some degree, but for truly vibrant color, there are better times to pick the flowers than others. It is best to harvest the flowers when 1/2 to 2/3 of the of the head’s tiny blossoms have opened. The head itself will be opened flat, with the ends rounding down a bit, much like an open umbrella. Flowers picked too early never open fully to display the dyed petals. Flowers picked too late generally wither away before they can take up enough colored water to show. It may take a few attempts to find the right cutting time.
Once you have the flowers, fill a glass with a cup of cool water. Take a bottle of food coloring of your choice and place 10-20 drops in the water. Stir well. I find that yellow and green work the best and require less colorant than reds and blues. You can also dye multiple flowers in the same glass at the same time. Leave the flowers in the water for a few days, sit back, and watch them change color.
Once the flowers are dyed, they can be easily dried by cutting the heads off the stems. Lay them flat upon the ground, with the stem stub pointing skyward. Leave them in a dry place for a week. Once dry, the flowers can be carefully hot-glued to a wreath form, one by one to make a simple, but striking wreath.
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