Ingredients you will need:
- Flowers and petals (any type, any colour, can be dried or pressed if you prefer)
- Gelatine
- Glass dishes or plastic tubs
- Ribbon or wool
- Hole Punch
Use two sachets to make 3 medium sized gelatine flower suncatchers. You may need more or less gelatine depending on how large your suncatchers are and how deep you want them to be. If you make them around 20cm this will give the best effect – anything above that and it might tear or break. Using some whole flowers works well and will give you a pretty texture but too many large whole flowers means you could have holes in your gelatine.
Method for making your flower suncatcher
First, collect petals, leaves, buds or anything you’d like to display in your suncatcher – you can use pressed flowers petals or small flowers. Anything too chunky might not set properly but different textures adds interest so try all sorts of shapes of leaves and petals. You could even make face shapes or animals with your nature materials!
- First, you need to mix your gelatine according to the packet instructions. Generally – it is 4 gelatine sheets to 750ml of boiling water. Mix your gelatine well until the powder is all absorbed and take care to ensure there are no lumps. Ask an adult to help with pouring the boiling water, Safety First.
- Then carefully pour some of the gelatine into a thin layer (around 0.5cm) in your container. Arrange your petals carefully on top of the gelatine in your glass dish or tub in pretty patterns or shapes. Then carefully pour the rest of the gelatine over your flowers – everything you want to be preserved needs to covered.
- Leave to set. This requires patience! Unfortunately, the gelatine suncatcher takes a while to set – it can be anything between 24 hours and 4 days depending on how deep your suncatcher is – but it is really worth the wait!
- You can tell when your suncatcher is fully dry – when it has shrunk inside your dish. It will be dry to the touch and stretchy (not gloopy). Carefully peel off the suncatcher and admire your handiwork.
- Once your gelatine flower suncatcher is finished – hold it up to the light to admire the beautiful colours. You can hang on the window for the sun to shine through by using a hole punch to punch a hole in the top and adding wool or ribbon to hang.
