I have an expensive silk flower swag that I had made for my bedroom almost 10 years ago. The greenery on it was looking pretty sad and had lots of dust on it. I hated to toss it out and could not figure how to clean it. I did not want to buy the stuff you purchase at the craft shop for cleaning such items so I came up with an idea.
I took the swag and hung it on my fence out back for about 2 weeks. During that time, it has rained a lot. The temperature has been cool so there was not much sun to fade it out. I went and purchased several bunches of new silk flowers to replace some of the colors in the swag. I lucked out and found these flowers at a flea market for a $1 per bunch. I paid a total of $7 for the flowers. A few days ago, I went outside and checked on the swag and the whole arrangement looked so clean and pretty! I took it in and removed the colors of silk flowers I did not want and replaced them with the new ones.
You can also clean any silk flowers or arrangements by putting them in a large plastic bag - anything that is big enough for what you are working with - along with some ordinary table salt ( amount depends again on what you are doing ) and close off the top of bag and give a GOOD shake or two. Repeat if necessary.
By
10/31/2006
Read somewhere that you should put the artificial flowers in a big bag with salt in it, close it & shake it to get ride of the dust - (I would try with a sample first.)