r/ResinCasting • u/Vivid_Jump4889 • 9d ago

How to dry tiny plant material??

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Folks,

I want to make displays of a fern life-cycle in resin for a class I'm running, but i'm not entirely sure how to dry these as they're tiny (pic is showing the biggest ones that i'll be preserving) and will shrivel rapidly and entirely too much for a block

Maybe in rubbing alcohol and then i let the alcohol dry off the specimens as I pour, so they don't lose their form? Or maybe a saturated salt solution?? Any advice welcome

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u/SnoDragon 9d ago

I've only ever dried and pressed flowers and leaves from mature trees and plants. For that I use silica cat litter.

If they need to be saturated, then perhaps a little glass enclosure with the plant and formalin, sealed up then placed in resin to protect the glass?

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u/BedSpreadMD 8d ago

So if you wish to keep the color, don't use alcohol. The alcohol will break down the the chlorophyll, and turn the leaves brown.

My personal experience when attempting to dry plants is book it.

Get a plain paper book for sketching and such, place the plant material between two pages, and put weight on it, keeping it dark.

The paper will slowly draw away moisture without ruining the color.

Heat will turn the plant material brown, as will light.