Use past-date artichokes as a beautiful homemade home decor! Food crafts are fun, easy and use materials that would otherwise go to waste in your home!
Preparing Your Art-ichokes
Before you start crafting, you’ll need to prepare your artichokes. This includes drying them wholly before you start poking and playing around with it. If they are not fully dry, you might end up with some smelly, moldy art-ichokes if you get our drift.
Drying the Artichokes:
1. Pierce the bottom of the artichoke (the thick stem piece) with a safety pin. Push the pin so that it goes through the whole stem. Close the safety pin.
2. Attach a piece of string to the closed safety pin and hang the artichoke upside down in a cool, dry place (ideally, a window) for a period of 1-2 weeks, checking its dryness intermittently.
Wait until the artichoke is about a third of its original weight, and the exterior leaves feel light and crispy. Remove the safety pin and string.
Note: You can also dry artichokes by baking them in the oven at 245 degrees for about 4 hours - checking every twenty minutes or so. You may have to fine-tune this “recipe” depending on the size and dryness of your artichokes.
Note: If you have a FoodCycler, you can also dry them in that. Add the artichokes whole to the FoodCycler bucket with no other contents, and press Start! Wait until the cycle ends, then remove your art-ichokes. If you find that the artichokes are not dry enough for crafting, let them sit in a cool, dry place for a few days to a week to let them “cure”.
Artichokes... As Home Decor?
Yes! Dried artichokes make gorgeous home decor! And, if you’re like us, you’ve probably already gone halfway to drying them by forgetting them in your fridge for two weeks!
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Spray paint the dried artichokes with the color of your choice (gold, silver, bronze or turquoise are great choices). Make sure to spray all angles and that no spots are still bare. Let dry.
2. With a thin metal straw, a piece of thin (painted) dowel, or thick metal wire, pierce the bottom of the artichoke (where you put the safety pin) until the artichoke is in place and sits stably on the end of the rod without slipping off.
The rod should enter easily enough. You may need to use a screwdriver or something with a fine point to poke the hole in a bit before inserting. If the artichoke slips too much on the rod, you can always superglue the end of the rod to the artichoke’s inner stem.
3. Place in your favorite vase and voila! Beautiful, natural, zero-waste home decor!
If you don't want to add a "stem", the artichokes look equally good in a decorative bowl!