[BCMA] Preserving Cedar Boughs?

Fri Mar 16 21:12:19 PDT 2012

Freeze drying - Sorry I do not know if that would work.

I must say that the artificial stuff in North Van sounds like the simplest solution! 

How close you place the artificial foliage to the visitor would depend upon the quality of the reproduction. 

There are artificial smells and even automatic dispensers for these. When I worked on the RCM Police St Roch NHS in the 1970s, some of these dispensers and a variety of smell spray cans were sent from headquarters. As we had a (stuffed) sled dog team on board, one of the smells was "dog kennel smell." Before these devices could be installed, one of the young male tour guides decided to play with the dog kennel smell can. He sprayed a little bit and sniffed. Nothing. He tried again. Nothing noticeable. So then he pressed and held the spray button for a long time. THEN they all smelled it! The office had to be evacuated for at least a day! The boss was not amused and he immediately put all the dispensers and various smell cannisters into permanent storage and they never were installed on the St. Roch. I wonder if they are still there!

Then there was the Musk Ox skull with some flesh still on it which was also sent to us by headquarters ... But that is another story.

Colin MacGregor Stevens
Richmond
BC

Sent from my iPhone

On 2012-03-15, at 1:45 PM, "Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv." <bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:

> Colin,
> What about freeze-drying?  Would this work?
> Lynn Maranda
> 
> From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vvv.com>
> To: "'bcma at lists.vvv.com'" <bcma at lists.vvv.com> 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 11:00:40 AM
> Subject: Re: [BCMA] Preserving Cedar Boughs?
> 
> I have not found a way to actually preserve the branches as this usually involves chemicals and a large cooking tank of some kind. But I have learned of a way to keep the branches from falling apart. It involves spraying the branches with a mixture of water and clear caulking. It does not preserve the branch but rather ‘glues’ it together to keep the branches and needles from falling apart. You can do this for large or small branches. The mixture goes on white but will dry clear. If you need to make large branches, collect your large branch and cut off each small branch close to the main branch (make sense?). the large main branch does not need to be sprayed with the glue mixture, but each small branch does. Once you have finished the small branches, you can re-attach these to the main branch by drilling a hole where you cut it off and insert with some white wood glue.
> The branch will turn dark brown so you will need to paint the branch. Use an airbrush or some other small paint sprayer to coat the glued branches green, then touch up with artists paints.
> You may find larger heavier branches want to curl, it is important that the branches have time to dry properly, this may take several weeks. Be sure the branches are hung or stacked in layers so as to form the final shape. I would suggest several branches be layered with paper in between and a piece of thin plywood on top. Cedar branches are kind of flat naturally and once they are installed in your exhibit would probably start to droop in a natural looking way.
>  
>  
> You will need:
> ·         DAP Dynaflex 230 clear. (this can be found in your local hardware store, it is a caulking compound in a tube).
> ·         Spritzer bottles
> ·         A piece of stucco wire or chicken wire big enough to lay your branches on.
> ·         Artists paints (I have used ordinary latex house paint for the base color, just thin it a bit so you can spray it)
> ·         Poly film
> ·         Electric drill and mixer paddle
>  
> Build a frame with the chicken wire and set this over a sheet of poly to keep your floor clean.
> Cut the end off of the tube and force the contents out into a bucket.
> Add an equal amount of water.
> Mix the two together and add water if needed to make the mixture the consistency of milk.
> Pour this into the spritzer bottles
> Lay your freshly cut cedar branches onto the wire frame and spray with the water/ DAP mix just enough to wet the entire branch. You don’t want to soak your floor with it, just the branch.
> Allow the branch to dry by hanging it by its stem on a clothes line.
> Each branch should be re-coated at least 6 times and up to 10 times.
>  
> If you have any questions please contact me at 250-818-6386 or at clongpre at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
> Colin Longpre
>  
>  
> From: bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com] On Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
> Sent: Friday, March 09, 2012 11:52 PM
> To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
> Subject: Re: [BCMA] Preserving Cedar Boughs?
>  
> They are a fire hazard. We used them for Christmas decorations at  various historic sites I worked at. After a month they were dry as tinder and shedding. At BVM went with synthetic as I recall. Design crew now deceased I believe so no lead on replicas unless current design crew have files etc. can also try Internet search.
>  
> Preservation or synthetic? Try RBCM people who worked with Jean Andre. They created artificial forest when Jean was Chief Designer.
>  
> Colin Stevens
> Richmond BC
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On 2012-03-08, at 12:33 PM, "Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv." <bcma at lists.vvv.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>  
> I am wondering if anyone out there has had any success preserving cedar boughs for long term use in exhibits. If so, any instruction would be kindly appreciated.
>  
> Thank you,
> Erin Wright
> Quatse Salmon Stewardship Centre
> Port Hardy, BC
> www.thesalmoncentre.org
>  
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