Monogram Wedding Flower Preservation
by rocket radhi in Craft > Art
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Monogram Wedding Flower Preservation
Hello All,
Back with another resin tutorial, this time with more personal touch, you can check out my basic introduction about resin art here https://www.instructables.com/Things-That-Can-Be-Done-With-Epoxy-Resin-Beginner-/
This is a special preservation or one of the best way of using epoxy resin to preserve your wedding flowers to stay forever with you. The monogram Initial model adds a personalized touch, making the preserved garland a unique and meaningful memento of your first letter. The process requires careful preparation and curing, ensuring that the colors and details of the garland are preserved impeccably.
The result is a stunning piece of art that can be displayed and cherished for years to come, capturing the essence of your wedding day in a timeless form.
This was my gift to a recently married couple, Groom name is Arun and Bride name is Nikitha, Hence initials used here are A & N
Thought of gifting that they might use a unique decor piece in their bed room
In India we use wedding garland on the special day, both bride and groom, After wedding it will be Air dried and later buried dried flowers in backyard so it decays and promotes benefits to plant and trees welfare, symbolizing couple grow together and stays together till older year like the trees.
Now Epoxy resin is on top notch for everything around world, creativity of preserving wedding garland has increased too.
This is one of trending of wedding garland preservation.
Don't worry rest of the flowers apart from preservation was sent back to owner to perform the ritual.
Supplies
Materials list
1) Resin & Hardener (2:1 ration) = 1kg : 500gram
2) Wedding garland (dried) or Dried flowers if you are experimenting
3) Alphabetical Silicone mould ( here A & N and N & K is used)
4) Acrylic pearl beads (optional)
5) Cork light 1 meter (warm yellow)- 2 Nos
6) Book mark mould (optional)
7) Semolina - 1 Kg
8) Gold Foil
9) Transparent strong glue or UV resin
Safety Equipments
1) Respirator Mask
2) Nitrile Gloves (Surgery Grade)
3) Plastic sheet to cover table
Inspection of Flower
This wedding garland arrived from different city to my place after 10 days of occasion. As you can see the condition of garland before shipping(air drying stage) and second image, arrived condition to me. Garland consisted of Lotus, Purple Orchid, Baby Breath and acrylic pearls. Even it was air dried before sending it to me, lotus were destroyed due fungus.
Orchids few had turn brown in edges and few were fresh as new
As for baby breath they have more longevity compared to other flowers as they don't contain moisture within them much.
First thing first, remove all the destroyed flower by separating good ones and bad ones, so that good has more chance of survival with its colour being intact for preservation
Method of Preservation
There are three method of flower preservation, detailed demonstration check this link here :) https://www.instructables.com/Botanical-Resin-Jewelry/ (step 2)
Drying flowers using Silica gel
Drying flower using Semolina
Pressing flowers in book or wood with paper in between to make in 2d
Here first i have used semolina to drain the flower's moisture for 3 days (since its orchid), and pressed the orchid in diary for 3 more days
As you can see image 1 with orchid been dried and its white become ivory white, but now its moisture free and ready to be used in resin
As for baby breath, air dry is enough. if you want to press it you can use diary as used for orchid. but here i preferred it as same as it was available.
Made teeny tiny bouquets of baby breath using acrylic pearl as it adds a unique touch of design.
First Layer
Initially measure resin - 100 g and hardener - 50 g and mix well for 3 minutes as mentioned in resin manual, until it turns transparent.
Clean you silicone mould and make sure its dust free before pouring resin.
Pour first layer, here quantity of resin is measured by pouring water in silicone and measuring the gram of water is required to fill it or approximate it based on the size of the silicone mould, here i have used 6 inch Alphabet mould.
After pouring an even layer of epoxy resin, start arranging your flowers and add on, First used a pearl strip to add a touch elegance and slowly started placing bouquet of baby breath one by one in random places
Preserving Orchid & Baby Breath
As its monogram, placement of orchid as whole is very difficult considering its size and space availability. So placement shall be done according to the alphabet chosen that enhances the look. so in bigger spaces big orchid and narrow spaces petals of orchids filling up the mould.
Final touch of drizzling baby breath head alone, that fills up gap in between orchids
Once its done close your work area and tiny air space to let out the heat produced by resin curing as well make sure the resin work is safe from dust or tiny bugs
Second Layer
After 24 hours, mix epoxy resin of 76g and hardener 38g ; you will get 114 g , add a sheet of crumbled gold foil and pour.
This adds richness to out come, who doesn't like to see floating crumbled pieces of gold.
Fix Cork Light
&Before pouring third layer, arrange wire of cork light and fix it using transparent glue, i have used stikfast adhesive an Enelbee company brand or you can use UV resin at intersection of cork wire and cure it using UV lamp. So once all the wire are fixed on the resin surface, pour third layer of epoxy (50+25 = 75 g) covering your cork light wire and leaving the battery operating part outside the mould.
Final Layer
For smooth & flat finishing pour a final layer of epoxy resin (50+25 = 75 g) and cover it leaving a ventilation gap
For Alphabet N
Repeat the process as from step 3, Pour epoxy resin place the acrylic pearl belt , place baby breath bouquet randomly and start placing your orchid, Placed a 5 cm orchid in most spacious part and filling the rest of space with petal and smaller version of it. Final touch of drizzling baby breath head all over the mould. After 24 hours pour
For Second layer add crumbled gold foils, let it cure. Once it cured, place cork light and spread it wire and fix using transparent glue or UV resin and pour third layer of resin
And for smooth flat final layer pour final layer of resin
De-mould and its ready
Base (optional)
As these Alphabets are self standing, added extra support of preparing a base for it using bookmark mould and poured resin and struck them with UV resin.
Another Batch
This preservation is done using Rosed of orange and red colour with Multicolour Cork light
Start by preserving rose and pressing them, preserving in resin, covering with gold foil background, fixing corklight and pouring final layer for smooth finishing
De-mould
De-moulding and looking the beauty gives a frenzy feel, pays off for waiting four days of work
Thank You
Thank you for coming this far, hope you liked this instructable and find it useful for your future DIY's
Feel free to drop your doubts, suggestion or correction in comment.
See in you in comment section !! Until then Adios !!