Tickseed in winter

I have to admit up front- I am not entirely happy how this image turned out, not just yet. It was perfect for black & white conversion, white and brown to start with (you can see another one from this shooting session here). However, when I started working on the white background I quickly realized, that I am loosing those beautiful ice drops on the flowers, barely visible even as they are. And I also did not see a way to make them more pronounced! Ultimately, the background stayed grey as it was, and with combination of Tone curves, Local Adjustment brush and Channel mixer I got this look, focusing on sharp lines of the dried plant.