[Charla]

I make art pieces using natural materials-leaves, seed pods etc. They dry and become very fragile. I have tried a variety of coatings but nothing really works. Is there a way to coat a leaf to make it durable enough to use in art work and not break apart. I paint the leaves with oil paint, which I could do after the coating. Any suggestions??

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Charla, I like to use our resin gloss sealer spray. You can see how I use it in this blog post: https://resinobsession.com/resin-tutorials/using-dried-flowers-in-resin I also have a several posts about using dried flowers in general here: https://resinobsession.com/tag/drying-flowers

[leah]

i’ve had some decent luck coating (dried!) natural objects with a doming resin (or at least resin that you let sit until it’s a little thicker) and then carefully painting a layer of resin on top of the natural object. then, once that’s dry, flipping it over and painting a layer on the back side.

i’ve only used acrylic resins but depending on the type of resin you use and how many layers you coat it with, it might leave the natural object just slightly coated and even bendable (but at least more solid and less fragile than it would have been otherwise) or quite hard and capable of standing on its own without much worry about fragility. i’d say, the harder you want the object, the more layers you should use and a doming resin might be your best bet. or if you want to just coat it enough to make it slightly less fragile, the sealant spray katherine mentions would be much faster, or i’ve also had some luck just dipping the object in resin (if it’s durable enough to do so) and letting it cure on a silicone mat or very flat piece of plastic. you’ll likely have to cut or tear off the extra resin from the edges if you just dip it, though.

good luck! i’d love to see the end results!

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