Casting "live" Flowers and Leaves

[bfrazier]

I've been toying around with the idea of casting some of our beautiful Vermont fall foliage into blanks by utilizing some small colorful leaves or in some cases some truly unique wild flowers of the region. I'm new to some of the more unique casting processes, so I have several questions regarding the process with "live" plants.
Should I dry them out first, but then they may loose some of the vibrant colors? Maybe use a decoupage type spray before casting? I just do not want to loose that high color contrast that these beautiful leaves have.
Any assistance would be greatly helpful... the leaves are just about starting to change now in my area and I would love to get a jump on it while the colors are very vibrant.
Thanks in advance for the assistance.
Brian

 

[carlmorrell]

I really like the "real flowers" that Marla does. She grows the flowers in her front yard. I wonder if she would share some of her secrets with you.

 

[Monty]

You might also shoot Curtis a PM. He has cast bluebonnets in Alumilite.

 

[lhowell]

I don't know if I would mess with Alumilite in this situation as I don't think there would be a good way of stabilizing the leaves without destroying them and Alumilite hates moisture! Might want to try PR. Maybe use a little CA to get the leaf or leaves adhered to the blank then brush a coat of PR over the tube and leaf let dry then cast the rest of the blank in a mold in PR.
I'm fairly new to casting myself so take the aforementioned advice with a grain of salt haha! I am basing a lot of this advice on the library article on casting feathers (which i want to try badly!!)