Dried Roses

[countrystudio]

A customer has asked me to frame 8 dried roses. They were hung above the radiator until dry and are extremely brittle.
Have quoted for a box frame, AR glass, foamcore back and I will silicone the glass in place but unsure how to seal the back of the frame.
I am more concerned about how to attach the flowers to the backingboard as the flower stems are in the middle of the flower (as when they were fresh) and the fragile petals touch the mountboard but the stems are up to 30mm away from the board.
I have done a search for 'flowers' but not found anything really helpful.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Heather

[Not your average framer]

the fragile petals touch the mountboard

My instincts would be not to allow the petals to touch the mountboard at all.

but the stems are up to 30mm away from the board

Then you will need to create a support which accommodates the 30mm spacing requirement. This is not going to be an easy one!

BTW, I not sure what effect the outgassing from the silicone might have upon the dried roses. If it was me, I'd find another way just in case!

[Graysalchemy]

I would line the the box with a fillet to hold the glass in place and it will also make a rebate for the backing board. The fillet could be Lion L956 or strips of foam core covered with mount board, however these are tricky with out a cmc to get a decent straight cut.

[silvercleave]

I would ask how long they expect the arrangement to last?

Are they tight buds or open blooms? Open blooms air dried will fade from there colour and will become more brittle, just think of the frame being knocked and the petals shattering after you have framed them, tight buds are not so bad!!

A lot of flowers are dried using glycerine

Just my 2 penny'worth

Ian

[prospero]

My thoughts exactly Ian.

How many antique framed dried flower arrangements are there? I'd give it about three years until it is a load of debris at the bottom of the frame. The woody stems will survive longer, but not the petals.

[Graysalchemy]

I have got a red rose which I gave to my wife when we first met (well I gave her a bunch) she gave it to me dried in a little pewter box in tissue and that was 18 yrs ago. Come to think of it I don't know what condition it is in as it is in a box in the loft

Also go the icing sugar flowers of our wedding cake which I was meant to frame 10 yrs ago but never got round to it.

[silvercleave]

Graysalchemey..............I suggest you look in the loft to see if the rose has has survived, icing flowers will only last if stored properly, ie: dry conditions, if open to the air will absorb moisture from the atmosphere and can end up as a gooey lump.

Pop up now and let me know, I'll just wait

Ian

[Not your average framer]

I also would be somewhat concerned about how long the flowers would last, but I'm not aware at all how long dried flowers will last. People still want stuff like this framed and expect me to have some secret way of preserving such things. They are often disappointed when I tell them I don't.

There was a television advert many years ago for Vaselene intensive care skin lotion where they took a dried up brittle old leaf and put this stuff on it to moisturise it and make it flexible. Not that I'm suggesting doing this, but it makes you wonder if there is something which would stop dried flowers from decaying and falling apart.

[silvercleave]

Mark

Glycerine is one ingredient. but requires the floral artwork to still alive sufficiently to take up the mixture.

This will work on most plant material but also can change the colouring of the plant material if left in solution for too long.

Experience is the best guide to using glycerine as plant material varies so much, some are woody and take longer to take up the solution than softer stems

Ian

[prospero]

One way is to embed in plastic resin.

http://www.dalchem.com.au/index.php?opt ... iew&id=383

Not easy and somewhat detached from the framers' remit.


One the other hand, in 50 million years time somone will be able to extract the DNA of the flowers and recreate them.

[Not your average framer]

Hi Peter (Prospero),

There's quite a lot of detailed information on the page that you have given the link to. During my defence engineering days, we used encapsulate various different assemblies in resin, but the resin was always placed in a vacuum chamber to remove the air bubbles from the casting resin.

Considering that many of us already have stand alone vacuum pumps for use on vacuum presses, this may be an interesting option to consider. Vacuum flasks are available from scientific and laboratory equipment suppliers, or sometimes even secondhand.

I think that some vacuum presses have the vacuum pumps already build into the press so this would not be an option in such cases.

[silvercleave]

Sprayed with hair laquer should hold the petals in place

Ian

[prospero]

On the whole it would be a lot simpler to swap the real ones for artificial ones.

They can be very convincing.

[Tudor Rose]

I still have a dried rose from over 20 years ago and the colour is still good and all the petals are still in place (it was dried as a reasonably tight bud still) - but I would NEVER put it in a frame because it is far too fragile. Mine is in a small glass box which has protected it very nicely all these years. Sometimes you just have to be honest about what can't be done and suggest other ways for them to preserve the memories.

[countrystudio]

Hello,
Thank you one and all for your input.
I have decided not to proceed with framing the roses as they are very fragile and have been dried by hanging above a radiator.
I am concerned that unless that sort of environment is duplicated (and this won't happen in a picture frame) then the plant material may absorb moisture from the atmosphere and rapidly become compost.
I have called the customer and will discuss it when she comes into the shop.
Many thanks for the other ideas for preserving roses which have been put forward. These will help to soften the 'I can't frame these' message.
Thank you for your honesty and advice
Regards
Heather