Sola Wood Flowers….are they worth it?

Marie Kondo asks “does it spark joy?” Gretchen Rubin created “The Happiness Project.” The Danes have hygge. I’m guided by “what sets my soul on fire?” It’s a global desire to find and amplify that which makes us feel good, makes us smile, and brightens our day. As I try to add more mindful moments, I’ve starting making note of what I enjoy and what I don’t.

A few months ago I had an impulse to buy some gorgeous coral roses I found at Target that lasted 2 weeks(!!). If you never buy yourself fresh flowers, believe me when I say this is a long time. They brightened up my desk and made me smile when I saw them. This led to an initiative to have flowers on my desk all the time. The next set of flowers, however, were from Whole Foods and wilted within 24 hours. I had a moment of regret for my purchase. Not only did I waste money, but I gave business to Whole Foods (an Amazon company) and recognized I know nothing about the fresh flower industry and impacts on sustainability. I added that to my never ending research list and set out to find an alternative.

My DIY zen Sola Wood Flower bouquet by my struggling-to-survive house plants

After a brief internet search for non-wilting wooden flowers, I stumbled across sola wood that is made from the tapioca plant. Sola Wood Flowers is a U.S.-based small business that sold me on their vivid colors, DIY kits, online support, and 70% off sale. They cater to wedding bouquets and offer both “built for you” or DIY. I, of course, went the DIY route. If you’re in the market for wooden flowers to brighten up a space, I do recommend them. However, I would have appreciated a less "Insta-worthy” perfect portrayal of the DIY experience that they present. Here I’ll provide some pros and cons to help on your journey and in your decision making.

Quick note that I am not an affiliate and receive no monetary gain from this post or any links. I’m just a girl, standing in front of a blog, sharing her experience.

Pros

1. The softener is worth the money.

At the time of this posting, the softener is a $2-4 add-on (variable by size). I chose to add this into the dye mix and dip and dye the flowers all at once. The softener morphs the slightly scratchy wood of the petals into a soft microsuede-like texture. It makes the petals more malleable and a little less brittle. Plus it’s just an amazing transformation to experience.

Un-dyed Sola Wood Flowers

2. The individual flowers are beautiful with subtle details.

The range of shapes and textures in these bouquets is truly amazing. There’s a soft curl on a rose bud, a prickly dark center of a sunflower, a dense spiral on a ranunculus. I enjoyed sorting through the various flowers and analyzing how they dye. You can choose to purchase an assortment of flowers for a mixed bouquet or just a single variety. There are an amazing number of possibilities.

3. You can add scent.

I did not purchase this add-on with the intent that I would spritz with an essential oil blend. How great will it be to have a fresh, relaxing smell compared to a wet, rotting smell when you don’t have time to change the water of your fresh flowers. My concern with their dip-dye scent is that it would be too strong (it’s meant to last 6 months). I prefer a subtle, surprise scent when I sit at my desk, so I’ll go the aromatherapy route and live with spritzing more often.

My DIY sunflower daze bouquet nestled next to Jane Austen

4. You can endlessly rearrange and get a pop of color you desire.

More on the color in the cons section, but my desk now has the continuous pop of color I crave. What I love more than that, though, is that it makes me proud that I made them (well, dyed and arranged them!). I placed one set on my sewing desk and the other set on my work table. They are right in the mix of my Maker environment. When I look at them I know I’m still in the shallow end of how I can evolve and improve and reimagine these wooden flowers. The best part? They will never wilt.

Cons

Before I delve into these cons, know that I did not contact customer service. They guarantee that they “will work with you to make it right” if you are not satisfied. You’ll notice my choice is to improve the experience on my own. I did not buy these for a wedding, I bought them for a fun project and some interior design. My cons indicate that their attention to detail could use improvement.

Poor quality dye led to spotty flowers and inconsistency in colors

1. The Dye | Quality

I have so many issues with their provided dyes. First, the bottles have varying degrees of viscosity and quality. Two of the bottles were dried and more of a gel consistency than a pourable liquid. No amount of whisking, stirring, or shaking worked to fully blend the dye with the water. The result is that for two of my colors the flowers are spotty with clumps of dye on the petals. The petals also appeared streaked in areas versus the solid color of good quality dye. In hind sight I should have strained the dye through a cheese cloth prior to dipping the flowers.

2. The Dye | Quantity

I purchased the DIY materials for a large bouquet and a small bouquet. I received the same amount of dye for both, even though the amount of flowers was drastically different. When you purchase your kit you choose the colors you want, but not the quantity. A normal customer would assume that the company would provide enough dye to achieve the vivid color shown in all images for the specified number of flowers. For vivid color, the ratio should be 2:1 water to dye. I was only provided with a small bottle of dye. When mixed with limited water, it’s not even deep enough in the glass to dip a single flower. I had to water down the dyes and, thus, lost the true vividness I craved. If I chose to buy more flowers or re-dye in the future, I would buy my own acrylic paint to control the consistency and increase the vividness.

Flower dyed striated and is too heavy for the wire

3. The Wire

The wire provided is inefficient and annoying. The gauge is too high causing the wire to be flimsy and the flowers to fall off. The wire stems are attached with a dollop of hot glue at the end of the wire that’s slid into the base. Majority of my flowers are larger, which means they are heavier. This means the flowers droop. Additionally, they keep falling off the wire stems, even after re-gluing a few times. You need two sets of hands to create a bouquet because the wire can’t keep the flowers up. This also limits how you place flowers, smaller flowers need to be on the lower, outer edges to support the larger flowers. They also did not include enough stems for the number of flowers I received. I was 3 short. I could reach out and ask for additional wire, but I don’t like the wire and it just speaks to the lack of attention to detail. When I’m ready to invest, I will purchase a thicker wire that can support the weight and improve my bouquet-making. I recently saw they recommend/include green floral foam for vase bouquets, which I’d highly recommend. You don’t need to wrap the stems and can keep your options open.

The label sticker was not easily removed from the flimsy wire

4. The Packaging

This might be my greatest disappointment of the whole experience. And, unfortunately, it’s not within my control if I choose to purchase from them again. My box arrived crushed, despite the “Fragile” sticker. As I hesitantly opened the box, I realized the reason for the appearance was a lack of packing materials in a too-big box. The delicate flowers, a wooden vase, and bottles of liquid were all thrown into a box with no padding, no buffer, and no protection. Majority of the flowers arrived ok, but there were quite a few dented and broken petals. The silk filler greenery was dented and bent. I did not reach out to customer service because I decided they were still usable and I didn’t really like the greenery once I started creating the bouquet. Honestly, I didn’t like the greenery because I didn’t have enough hands to work with that and the droopy flowers when arranging. None of the plastic packaging was recyclable, so the excuse cannot be that it’s better for the environment. The label sticker around the thin green wire stems was an inappropriate choice. Not only did it not remove easily, but due to the delicate nature of the wires, but the time you did remove it, the wires were all bent out of shape. It’s wire, you can straighten it, that’s beside the point as I look at the overall experience.

My sola flowers drying after a dip dye

Overall, it was a fun project that let me add a little more “Me” to my home. To put a positive spin on the disappointments, I now have a future project to make them even better. With different wire I’ll probably choose to split the bouquets and create some smaller, beautiful moments in other rooms and play around even more with scent.

If you decide to try these for yourself or have any tips, tricks, or other wooden flower brands you love, please share in the comments!

As always, remember to show yourself some love today, ❤️ Petra