an old friend is sending me a [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Canada Red Cherry tree branch[/FONT] from a particular place overseas we've had a lot of memory of, i was wondering what to use as a proper long term storage solution for the branch and the leafs, i don't plan on taking it out nor flaunting it all about on the streets i only want to keep it nice and clean in storage so i can look at it from time to time. are there any ways to maintain a clean and proper keeping of the branch?
thank you so much for all the help
Hi tomoyoeafter. I hope you found out if it is legal to have this shipped to you. Spreading of disease in and among plant species is a no joke thing.
That said, I would consider shadow box mounting the specimen. Pressing some of the leaves, and mounting them too, saving the seed, and mounting some of them too, drying one of the seedpods, and mounting that too. All in one shadowbox, kind of like a collage. Another idea is to get a photo of the tree, and mounting that, say in one of the corners of the box (I would edge burn the photo, and have a good background color to contrast the specimens, mounted). Also a handwritten description of the item, and maybe what it means to you (cursive writing if you are good at that, printing is OK ), Shellacking the items after they are dried a bit might be a good idea. The leaf presses will have to be fully dried, and if the seeds are fleshy covered, they should dry out really good too.
