What type of material can seal off freshly cut plants.

[jhawtin]

I am looking to do some art work with natural materials, i.e. plants. I want to be able to use leaves, and stems, and flowers and things. I thought that liquin might do the trick, but it did not, after a while the plant products start to shrivell up. So I am wondering if there is some sort of sealant material I could use that would maintain the plant structure, and of possible the color, but I don't know if that would be possible for the color since photosynthesis will not longer be occuring. The closest thing I can think of would be the materials that were used by the artist that does the body exhibit.

 

[kenvlach]

A spray sealant (maybe acrylic lacquer?) could 'lock in' water to prevent wilting, but the bigger task would be to kill all the living plant cells (stop the metabolism) and all bacteria naturally present. Perhaps ionizing radiation as used for spices (after sealing). There is information on killing bacteria on food, e.g.,

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/feb05/foods0205.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9414630&dopt=Abstract