Craftings of The World

Apples are everywhere at harvest time. You've got apple pie, apple cider, even apple festivals. So how about adding apples to your crafting projects? If you want to make apple crafts, the first thing you need to do is dry your apples. Depending on what you want to make and how you want it to look, you've got a couple of different ways to go about preparing your dried apples, but the basic steps will be the same.

Select and Slice Your Apples

Just like when you're picking out apples to eat, you want to look for fruit without any blemishes or soft spots. Always pick out nice firm apples. Now you need to decide how to slice your apples. Do you want to go from top to bottom, or take a horizontal slice from the middle? It really doesn’t matter as far as drying is concerned, as long as your slices are about a quarter inch thick. Go by how you want your apple slices to look in your crafting project. A cross section with the seeds in is a great look, but you can also core the able and use wedges. It's all up to you.

Prep Your Apple Slices

The next step is to soak your apple slices in a mixture of lemon juice and salt. This is to keep the slices from turning brown and yucky. Use about 2 cups lemon juice and two or three tablespoons of salt. Soak your apple slices for 20 minutes and then dab dry with a paper towel. If you want your apples to be fragrant and fill your home with the smell of hot apple pie, you can sprinkle some cinnamon (or any other spice you fancy) on top. If you plan on sealing your apple crafts with an acrylic spry, don't bother with the spices.

Now Dry Them in Your Oven

Here's where a lot of people mess up. You want to slowly dry your apple slices and not cook them or worse yet burn them. Place a wire rack in a cookie sheet, and put your apple slices on the rack. Don't overlap the slices. Now simply heat them in your oven at 150 degrees for about 6 hours turning them every couple hours. After you're done you'll have perfectly dried apples for all your crafting projects. If you want, you can use a clear acrylic spray to preserve your slices.

Now that you know how to dry apples, it's time to get crafting. Use your dried apples in all types of things from wreaths to garlands or maybe even a harvest centerpiece for your table. You're only limited by your imagination.

Source : www.myartsandcrafts.com

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