poehere
Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts October 6, 20170 found this helpful
Best Answer
Using fresh pine cones for crafts:
- It would be best if you waited until the pine cones fell from the tree. it isn't necessary and you can also pick some if you need a few extra.
- Your fresh pine cones need to be prepared in order to use them in crafts.
- Put your pine cones in a large bucket, add water and 1/2 cup of vinegar.
- Let them soak in the water for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the water and let dry overnight on newspaper.
- Now place parchment paper on a baking sheet and put the pine cones on the baking sheet.
- Set the oven to 200 degrees and put the pine cones in the oven.
- You will need to bake these for several hours.
- Check the pine cones frequently to make sure they don't catch on fire.
- The pine cones are done when the cones open up and the outside is nice and shinny. The inside will be very dry.
- Now you can use your pine cones for any craft you wish.
gem
Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 163 Posts October 9, 20170 found this helpful
Best Answer
Great question. Some people pick them and freeze them then spray them with glue so they don't open. It will depend upon what kind of look you want. If you want it opened you can pick them and put them in water and they will open up.
The reason you freeze them is to get the bugs out of them. We have done them both ways and spray painted some for wreathes and to go on the Christmas tree.
Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts October 5, 20170 found this helpful
I would wait until they fell.
October 6, 20170 found this helpful
A lot of the pine cones on the tree will still be greenish but you should be able to find some brown ones that have not fallen yet.
October 10, 20170 found this helpful
Green cones on trees take a long time to dry so if picking from trees try to only pick brown cones.
Pine cones are plentiful all year long so you can collect them and prepare them in advance and picking from trees would not be necessary.
- My daughter and I make pine cone wreaths every year and we generally only wash in vinegar and water and let them dry naturally.
- Baking is not really necessary. Pinecones open as they dry and baking is a quick and easy way to dry them out. You can wait for the pinecones to dry naturally, although that will be a much slower process.
- The simple method to preserve a pine cone is to wash the pine cone in a sink full of warm water with a cup of vinegar. Let them soak in this for 20-30 minutes. Lay down some newspaper so you can place your pine cones on the paper and let them dry. The pine cones will be completely set when they are dry.
- In case you are in doubt about how to clean your cones - people have different ideas about when to wash and dry cones - some wash before baking and some wash after baking. Here are a couple of sites that discuss their methods.
- 3houses.com/.../
- www.hometalk.com/.../how-to-prepare-pine-cones-for-wreaths...
- This is a very good site with easy instructions on preserving your pine cones.
- www.wikihow.com/Preserve-Pinecones
Do not leave any pine cones unattended in the oven. They can heat up quickly and catch on fire.
coville123
Silver Post Medal for All Time! 433 Posts October 16, 20170 found this helpful
You would get the same results.
