How can we pull this off?

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capcrnch

capcrnch

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2010
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Location
Michigan
I'm trying to pull off a material for casting, but i'm having one heck of a time getting it ready.

Essentially, i'm trying to take a flower "bud", and cast it in a clear resin.
To give a better example, this is a cone..
bivwuw.jpg


These are fresh "buds", so they're not dry.. I can only think that the moisture in it will screw up the cast.

I tried to dehydrate it, but when I did, the leaves all fell off and became brittle.
I've tried multiple variations in the dehydrator as well, each time it results in the same thing...

Anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this?
I'm out of town right now, so I can't play with it, but i'd like to take advantage of a day off this week and get it done!
 
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Are you trying to cast Hops?

The only thing I can suggest is try to dehydrate it in the mold prior to pouring? then you do not have to handle it as much
 
Oh, my friend...!:eek: I wish I could tell you how to achieve it, look at what happened to me in a recent attempt to achieve the same thing, here

The positive side of the whole experience is that I discover a lot more about this flower (so I thought) and today I'm making beautiful blanks out of it but still, disappointed that I didn't manage to "freeze in time" cast in clear resin the flower in perfect and full bloom...!:mad:

If you ever find out a successful way of do that, I would like to know for next years flowering bloom season!

Good luck...!

Cheers
George
 
maxwell_smart007 said:
Go to your local brewery supply store and ask for dried hops cones - should be a lot easier than doing it yourself!
Click to expand...

None. Tried that. Too late in the season.
I grow my own hops, so for the most part, i've got an unlimited supply of experiment material.
 
witz1976 said:
Are you trying to cast Hops?

The only thing I can suggest is try to dehydrate it in the mold prior to pouring? then you do not have to handle it as much
Click to expand...

Yeah, the goal is to have a full hop pen.

I thought of dehydrating in the mold and as an experiment, I poured water in (obviously lighter than resin) and they still broke up.
 
robutacion said:
Oh, my friend...!:eek: I wish I could tell you how to achieve it, look at what happened to me in a recent attempt to achieve the same thing, here

The positive side of the whole experience is that I discover a lot more about this flower (so I thought) and today I'm making beautiful blanks out of it but still, disappointed that I didn't manage to "freeze in time" cast in clear resin the flower in perfect and full bloom...!:mad:

If you ever find out a successful way of do that, I would like to know for next years flowering bloom season!

Good luck...!

Cheers
George
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember looking at that. I think our concern is more that the moisture in the hops will cause the clear resin to whiten. We talked about doing it with another colored resin as well, but the same threat remains.

It's frustrating me because I really want to pull this off.
 
I remember my grandmother drying flowers all spring and summer for the winter. She kept an old cloth flower sack full of corn meal. She would place a layer of meal in the bottom of a cardboard box, lay in the flowers of intrest, cover with meal and then lay a cloth over the box. This kept the bugs out so they would not mess up the meal. She knew how long to wait, I have no real idea, but when the flowers came out they were dry and long term usable. I have seen the same flowers used for years. Will it work on hops? Your guess.
 
Its a long shot, but how about trying to soak the wet bud in something like pentacril (spelling?), or something similar that's used to dry wet wood. It may stabilize it, absorb the water and perhaps leave something more compatible with casting resin. If you're up for experimenting, I would also try thin Ca in very small increments. May take a while.
 
How about using some sort of desiccant to surround the hop until it sucks all the moisture out of it?

Is there a clear water compatible "CA" type glue out there that you could drizzling into the cone attachment points?
 
Back in the day (1972) we used to dry flowers and all kinds of plant material by burying it in a container of Boraxo. It only took a few days.
 
ok, I think we're all a little off..

I don't have a problem drying them.

The problem is, when they're dry, the hop breaks up into pieces. Like dried leaves.

What i'm asking is, is there any way to preserve the hop, as is, then cast..

ie, can I cover the hop in CA, then cast it without it turning the resin white?
 
capcrnch said:
ok, I think we're all a little off..

I don't have a problem drying them.

The problem is, when they're dry, the hop breaks up into pieces. Like dried leaves.

What i'm asking is, is there any way to preserve the hop, as is, then cast..

ie, can I cover the hop in CA, then cast it without it turning the resin white?
Click to expand...

NO, there will still be moisture in there. You will have to get them completely dry first. I think I would dry them first with whatever method it takes to get them dry without them busing up. Then I would drip thin ca onto them to harden them for casting.
 
I'd try spraying it with clear polyurethane. Once upon a time I did this with some leaves and months later they were still green, but had become brittle.

So the Poly should help hold the hop together.

The other issue I've seen when casting organics with PR is that they tend to bleach. Whether that's due to the heat or the peroxide, I'm not sure. But hopefully the poly would help with that as well.
 
You might try dipping in laquer to seal prior to casting. Might work. There is a solution that metal platers use to coat flowers and such before plating with copper then silver or gold. Texas Platers Supply should be able to answer your questions.

desertrat
 
hops

capcrnch, I grow my own hops and have had a similar idea but I am still experimenting.

I picked some the smaller hops, trimmed one side of the fresh hop (basically I cut it in half) and glued it to a painted tube. I then dried the hop tube an all. Once it was dry I popped it in Charlies resin saver mold and cast with clear PR. Each one I tried had the stem still attached and wrapped around the tube. One I tried even had a couple of leaves still attached. The leaves started out ok but ended up with black spots after casting probably from the heat.

I did not have any problems with the hops falling apart.

I may try and cast a bunch of dried hops in a square mold next or into a couple of stopper blanks. Since the hops are quite large I don't know how they will look or hold up to being drilled through.

Hope I was able to help
 
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