4Real Forums: Leaf Collections

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Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science

Topic: Leaf Collections - Questions/Tips

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hylabrook1
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Posted: Sept 10 2008 at 7:17pm \| IP Logged

Right now we have lots of leaves being pressed between layers of newspaper. Does anyone have tips or experiences about the best kind of paper to mount them on or the best glue to stick them down with?

Peace,
Nancy

mary
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Posted: Sept 10 2008 at 9:03pm \| IP Logged

long ago, at the st louis botanical garden, i restored plants that were gathered when the colorado river was explored for the first time. once your plants are pressed and dried, use stiff acid-free paper - something that won't turn yellow or crack. we used elmers glue-all which is pretty strong but won't harm the plants. put it on the stems, veins of leaves and then let it dry flat. have fun!

Mary G
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Posted: Sept 11 2008 at 4:26am \| IP Logged

mary wrote:

long ago, at the st louis botanical garden, i restored plants that were gathered when the colorado river was explored for the first time.

This job sounds so cool -- can you tell us more about it?

mary wrote:

once your plants are pressed and dried, use stiff acid-free paper -

... which is basically any kind of scrapbook paper right? So you could say, go to Jo-Anns (who always has sales on their scrapbook paper) and get a batch of their pale papers and you're all set? Marvelous!

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mary
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Posted: Sept 11 2008 at 6:58am \| IP Logged

mary g - i did this in undergrad. we discovered the old specimens in a college closet and i restored them at the botanical garden as part of a senior thesis. the plants came from the 1869 john wesley powell expedition down the colorado and green rivers. it was the first exploration of the grand canyon. it could be a job though - the pple in the botanical garden who showed me how to restore the plants were doing the same thing with plants from the rainforests. it was an absolutely lovely place to work - nothing like eating your lunch in the japanese garden! thanks for the trip down memory lane, that was over 20 years ago!

the herbarium paper was stiffer than scrapbooking paper, more like cardstock. the size was generally 11x14ish so that long grasses could be glued down without bending. you wouldn't need anything that large though if you are just working with tree leaves.

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