How it works

How Lisa preserves flowers in resin, stage by stage

Lisa picks the flowers herself, dries them in silica for several days so they keep their shape, lays them out by hand, and pours clear resin over them in layers. A flower frame usually takes three pours. Here is each stage.

A finished flower frame by Lisa Tomasian: dried yellow and purple daisies set in clear resin around a picture frame
A finished flower frame, one of Lisa's best sellers.

  1. Stage 1. Pick the flowers

    Every piece starts with what Lisa finds: flowers from her own front yard and garden, flowers from her walks, and sea glass she finds by hand. What she makes depends on the season. When the flowers in her yard are done for the year, she waits until next spring to make more.

  2. Stage 2. Dry them in silica

    Before a flower goes into resin, it has to be completely dry. Lisa buries each one in silica, the same moisture-absorbing grains that come in those little packets packed with things that need to stay dry. Over several days the silica pulls the water out.

    “It’s got to go in this silica stuff for several days to completely dry it out.”

    Lisa Tomasian

    Drying in silica keeps the flowers three-dimensional instead of flat. They come out a little brittle, and that’s when the resin work starts.

    A whole yellow rose, petals and leaves still full-shaped, set inside a clear resin sphere
    A whole rose keeps its full shape inside a resin sphere.

  3. Stage 3. Lay out the design

    With the flowers dry, Lisa lays them out by hand and works out where each one will go. Every batch of flowers is different, so no two pieces come out the same.

  4. Stage 4. Pour the resin in layers

    A piece is built up in layers of clear resin, not poured all at once. A flower frame usually takes three pours:

    • The first pour fills it about halfway or less, and Lisa starts placing flowers into the resin.
    • The second pour carries more flowers, so the design gets depth and comes up level.
    • The third pour is detail work. She paints resin over any petals or leaves that stick up past the frame.

    Christmas ornaments start the same way, with a dried flower, and are poured in a mold. Bigger work like a river table uses a different resin made for deep pours.

    Round resin Christmas ornaments with dried flowers and ferns, gold rims and gold hanging cords
    Ornaments start with a dried flower and are poured in a mold.

  5. Stage 5. Finish it

    When a piece needs work, Lisa sands it, buffs it, and pours again. Earrings get one more pour on the back to give them a beveled edge.

    Heart-shaped resin earrings with dried red flowers, hanging on a white jewelry stand
    Framed earrings get an extra pour on the back.

  6. Stage 6. Wrap it for the trip home

    At shows, every piece goes home in a bag, wrapped in tissue so it doesn’t scratch.

Custom pieces

A piece from your own flowers

Lisa also makes pieces from flowers you bring her. One customer and her niece picked flowers on a hike and brought them back to her. Lisa dried them and made them into a frame.

Have flowers you want to keep? Tell Lisa about them.

Tell her what you have and what you’d like it made into, and she’ll write back. Or see what she has on hand right now.

Ask about a custom piece → Browse all pieces