Epoxy Resin Orchids

Preserving Natures Beauty in Epoxy Resin to Accent One’s Own…

My wife and I recently attended the Orchid Show at our local botanical gardens. After we wandered – marveling at the landscape designs throughout the conservatory and surrounding grounds; we eventually made our way into the garden shop. (As everyone does since that is where the exit is – a clever bit of marketing.) There we found orchids beautifully encased in epoxy resin – preserved as necklace ornaments, pins, earrings and other accessories…

Orchids happen to be my wife’s favorite flower as she appreciates both their aesthetic beauty and intricate and delicate structural qualities. In fact, gardeners.com says, “the beauty, complexity and incredible diversity of orchid flowers are unrivaled in the plant world. These exotic beauties comprise the largest family of flowering plants on earth, with over 30,000 different species, and at least 200,000 hybrids. Orchids can be found in the equatorial tropics, the arctic tundra, and everywhere in between.”

Epoxy Resin Encapsulation using Casting Resin

There are several online guides dedicated to instruction on how to encase flowers in epoxy resin – not only for jewelry – but also as decorative accents in paper weights, picture frames, door and cabinet knobs and more. On one such site, author NadjasDiverDiversions comments on instructibles.com in a piece titled, ‘Techniques to Embed Flowers into Resin,’ “Who wouldn't like to carry a piece of spring around during the whole year? But how to do that? Resin is a great way to preserve different things. So, it is the first choice for embedding flowers. But of course, there are different techniques to get the perfect result.”

Another online resource that features step-by-step instructions with images on creating beautiful orchid keepsakes with epoxy resin is ‘The La Vie En Rose Project’ where the author also expounds upon the flower-drying process, as well as capturing imagery with black and white photography:

“Besides creating jewelry by using flowers coated in resin, I also planned from the start of this journey to create artwork by using black and white photography. I planned from the beginning that I would take pictures of the flowers in black and white and then stick a gold-plated flower on the painting.”

And for those not yet ready to jump into the epoxy resin preservation process themselves – but would still like to enjoy decorative accents – there are a wide variety of craft items available on sites like etsy.com. And maybe once you’ve seen and acquired some of the wondrous objects that are featured; you too may take the plunge and express your artistic side through crafting some objects of your own!