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Preserving pitchers

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Just sprayed the traps with an acrylic paint spray and they last forever.
I noticed this idea in another thread and thought it warranted its own discussion. I hadn't heard of doing this before and would like to try it out, and it would be great to get more details on it.

Do you use an actual sort of paint, or is it just that sealant spray that artists use to "fix" their finished drawings so they can't get smudged? How heavily do you have to layer it on? Any other tips?
 
I "press" them like flowers. Well I mean all plants not just pitchers.
 
If your question is how to preserve for the eternity a pitcher,then this is also my question!
What materials to use?
Bye!
Mr_Aga
 
I have an idea... instead of pressing the pitchers, maybe if you fill them up with dry sand (packed tightly) and then burry them in more sand, maybe they would dry up in that state and then you can just take out the sand and have your dry, 3-D pitcher :p then you could spray it with something so it doesn't crumple up?

I can't try it since I don't have any neps with pitchers (I have two cuttings but they're still new and don't have pitchers) so I don't know how well it would work.
 
In the botanical gardens in Singapore they sell little pitchers preserved inside clear resin. They put them in there while the resin is hot and liquid and after it cools it becomes hard.
They sell gracilis and, if I recall correctly, rafflesiana too, and they maintained their shape and colour very well.

Phil Mann has a HUUUGE trusmadiensis pitcher that he dried in sand exactly as you describe Alphawolf. That worked very well, but the pitchers go brown of course.
He spray painted his gold... (different strokes and all that).

Cheers, Troy.
 
Preserving Pitchers is not easy.
I have to know exactly the name of liquid resin.
Or maybe I have to find another way...
I could try to begin to use sand and see how it will come out. But before to use Sand I have to wash deeply the pictchers to remove any sugar parts....it could react with the sand.
Mr_Aga
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]In the botanical gardens in Singapore they sell little pitchers preserved inside clear resin. They put them in there while the resin is hot and liquid and after it cools it becomes hard.
They sell gracilis and, if I recall correctly, rafflesiana too, and they maintained their shape and colour very well.
I'm with you guy's on this one.
This sounds like what I want to do as well. Especially if they keep the color! A full size hamata would look awesome.

Anyone know what type of resin they use? Any "plastic" people here?

thanks,
Robin
smile.gif
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (TheAlphaWolf @ June 11 2005,1:40)]I have an idea... instead of pressing the pitchers, maybe if you fill them up with dry sand (packed tightly) and then burry them in more sand, maybe they would dry up in that state and then you can just take out the sand and have your dry, 3-D pitcher :p then you could spray it with something so it doesn't crumple up?

I can't try it since I don't have any neps with pitchers (I have two cuttings but they're still new and don't have pitchers) so I don't know how well it would work.
i bet decomposition would take place before its dry. and it'll look dried and messed up also. maybe dipping the whole thing in ethanol (preservative) remove excess ethanol and then spray with some sort of plastic or acrylic (so they look alive).
 
The sand method is used to preserve cut flowers shape and color while drying. I think it would work on a pitcher if it was cleaned well and excess water dried off before being place in the sand.
 
  • #10
My aunt is an artist on the side and she likes working with polymers. She took a large N. truncata pitcher I had, I dried it and gave it to her. All she did was pour the polymer over it. THe hardest part is prevent drips and allowing it to dry without sticking to a surface.
 
  • #11
didn't they use antifreeze to dry flowers?

or something like that.
 
  • #13
Ive never seen a pitcher plant in real life, but im pretty sure this would work.

Just use the sand idea mentioned eairlier, But replace the sand with Silica sand. Its commenly used for drying flowers. It absorbs water like nobodys Buisiness!
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Then just use a spary on sealent.
 
  • #14
Thanks elgecko
that's exactly what I needed
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  • #15
Hi,
The paint I used was typical acrylic clear spray paint.  Depending on how shiny you want the traps is how many layers of paint you would put on.  Some of the more thin walled traps or the ones that you want to hold the shape I would use the silica gel  that is used for flower drying.  I would fill up the trap and bury it in the silica for a while,  remove it dust off the silica and paint it clear.  Drying this way held the natural color for a while compared to  drying on the vine.  N. lowii and its hybrids seem to do the best.  N. spathulata was one I used the silica on to give to some friend who went to that area mountain climbing.  I guess you could air brush the natural colors in and use it for public displays without worry of dehydrating the live traps.
Truly,
Tom
 
  • #16
If you wanted to get really realistic, I guess you could fill just the bottom of the pitcher up with the Polyester Resin too, to simulate the fluids. Or maybe just fill it up all the way to make sure it can't get smushed easily. Some pitchers would take the whole 1/2 gallon to encase inside a cube.
smile_k_ani_32.gif
 
  • #17
I was just reading this thread. About 6 months ago I took some casting resin and did some nep pitchers. Funny reading about that now
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I had a couple of really cool pitchers that came off some cuttings that were given to me. i wanted to see if I could preserve them.
pitcher%20from%20nep%20cutting%2012%20rs.JPG


pitcher%20from%20nep%20cutting%2013%20rs.JPG


Here are the same pitchers now...
stuffed%20neps1.JPG


I did the one on the left by painting the resin on the outside, then I filled it up and let it sit until it cured.
stuffed%20nep2.JPG


I did the inside of the one on the right first.
stuffed%20nep3.JPG

The one on the left came out better, but neither one kept the colors. these neps are rock solid too. I just wish there was a way to preserve the colors
confused.gif

Oh and how about this? Think about the possibilities....
nepolantern.JPG
 
  • #18
Ew.

I think I've lost interest in the process.
 
  • #19
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]didn't they use antifreeze to dry flowers?
do you know how to make antifreeze?
steal her blanket
he he he... puns rock.
AE, that's why you dry the sand.
 
  • #20
The pitchers will still go brown if you dry them using the sand method, I don't think there's any way you can maintain colour using any method that dries the plants out? There are commercial flower preservation/ drying companies that have been trying to do this for years and no method leaves flowers looking 100% natural.

The pitchers sold in the Singapore gardens that I mentioned earlier keep a lot of their colour and don't look at all dehydrated like the ones above. They don't just have a coating of resin on the surface of the pitcher, the entire pitcher is in a solid block of resin. The resin is a little square or rectangle a couple of inches tall (depending on the pitcher) and the pitcher is right in the middle.

The one I bought I gave away so I can't take a piccy, sorry.
The front of the resin is left clear so you can see the pitcher nice and clearly, it even had a little label inside with the name of the plant. The back and sides had a chiseled look that I guess they made when casting the resin, and that made it look more interesting.

It was a good idea and one I have been thinking of trying it myself.
I have a friend that makes a living doing this with insects (he lives in Sumatra where they get these foot long black scorpions), preserves them in resin and exports them. I might get him to try first as he knows what he's doing.

Cheers, Troy.
 
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