Have you been looking around for sola wood flowers for your wedding? They’re a great, eco-friendly choice, and if you’re going to be making bouquets or centerpieces with them, you may be wondering one important thing while searching online: Do sola wood flowers come with stems?
Most sola wood flower companies sell their flowers loose. The flowers do not come with stems in the package nor do they come pre-stemmed. In most cases, you’ll have to purchase stems separately.
This is generally a good thing, because not everyone wants to make bouquets with their sola wood flowers. People also use them to make boutonnieres, flower crowns, wall decorations, etc. and it’s better if they come loose so that we have more freedom to make whatever we want!
But no need to worry if you do want stemmed flowers! Some sola wood flower companies sell stems separately on their websites, such as the shop Oh You’re Lovely, or you can purchase stems such as these ones on Amazon or these ones on Etsy. I’ll show you below how to stem your flowers yourself (it’s really easy) and what supplies you’ll need to do this.
If you do happen to purchase your sola flowers and stems from Oh You’re Lovely, which I highly recommend you do, you can get 20% off on your order with the coupon code Wayfaring20 🙂 (this is limited to one code per customer). This is where I bought my sola wood flowers — It’s a small company with great customer service and their flowers are very high quality!
You should also check out my other posts on sola wood flowers:
Where to Get Stems for Sola Flowers
You can buy stems for your sola wood flowers from several places online. Like I said earlier, if you want to make it really easy for yourself, just get both your flowers and your stems from Oh You’re Lovely for a one-stop-shopping experience and to receive everything at the same time. You can also get your supplies, paints, and artificial or dried greenery there (to make bouquets)!
The size of wire that you order will come down to personal preference and how exactly you want your bouquet to look. The 18 or 20 gauge seem to be sold most often and quite popular with many sola wood crafters. Length of the stems is up to your own personal preference as well, but you could always be on the safe side by ordering longer than you think you’ll need — and then you can always cut them down shorter.
On Amazon, I really like these 16 inch dark green paper-wrapped wire stems. They’re wrapped with green paper, so they aren’t super thin and will require thick wire cutters to adjust them down to the size that you want.
Stem wires in general are quite cheap, but think about how many you might need before you order to avoid buying waaay too many which could end up being a bit wasteful.
There are also all different wire stems options available on Etsy from different sellers, including all different lengths and thicknesses.
Materials You’ll Need for Stemming Sola Flowers
In order to stem your sola wood flowers at home, you only need a few simple tools and materials, some of which you probably already have at home! If not, these items are all available on Amazon:
- Sola wood flowers from your favorite sola wood flower provider 🙂
- Strong cutting pliers for cutting the wire stems
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Floral tape to cover up any dye (if you dye your flowers after stemming — more information on this point below)
You can also search your local Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, dollar store, etc. to find the items you need!
How to Stem a Sola Wood Flower
Depending on the type of flower you’re stemming, it may have a bit of a “tail” sticking out (instead of a flat base on its backside). If this is the case, you can trim the tail with scissors (just a bit! don’t cut too high and unravel the flower) before sticking the stem into it. You’ll see it explained in the short video below.
The easiest way to stem a sola wood flower is with a hot glue gun. And it only takes a second, but you may be a little nervous the first time you do it. I really like how Stefanie from Oh You’re Lovely explains it in her YouTube video below (it’s so simple!).
You basically hold the flower in one hand and the stem in the other. Make a small “pre-hole” in the flower by poking the stem in it. Then take the stem out, apply a dab of hot glue and put it back into the hole… and voila! Your sola flower is stemmed!
Do You Dye Sola Flowers Before or After You Stem Them?
I know that some people like to stem their sola wood flowers before dying them so that they have something to hold onto while dunking them in the dye. And if this works for you, great! But personally, I think it works best if you dye the flowers first and then stem them after they have completely dried (1-2 days later) and here’s why…
If you stem them first and your stems are papered or wrapped in cloth (as some of them are), you’re taking the risk of the dye from the flowers discoloring the stems. You can always cover up the dye on the stems with some floral tape, but in my opinion this isn’t ideal.
Secondly, if you live in a humid climate, you might want to dry your sola wood flowers in the oven after dying them, to avoid the chance of them not drying thoroughly (and then getting moldy! yuck!). If you’re going to dry them in the oven, they can’t be stemmed.
So in my opinion, it’s better to dye them first, let them dry (completely!) and then stem them.
Buying Pre-Stemmed Sola Flowers
One final option is to purchase pre-stemmed sola wood flowers. In fact, you can buy them already stemmed and dyed if you wish! If you do a bit of shopping around, you’ll see that some sola wood flowers are sold all made for you, sometimes entire bouquets. I have to say though that for me, this takes all of the fun out of it!
A huge benefit of using sola wood flowers for your wedding is the freedom to create the bouquet and flower decor (crowns, boutonnieres, etc.) that perfectly match your personal taste and vision. And they’re really fun to work on and create! It can even be an activity that you do with friends or family 🙂
Don’t leave without checking out my other posts on sola wood flowers:
