I'm making a rod for my brother-in-law who works for a nursery/garden center and is really into plants. I wanted to personalize the rod for him by inlaying leaves or flowers on his rod similar to a feather inlay technique. From what I can tell this has been done, but with varying results. I will be pressing any plant materials and drying them thoroughly before applying them to the rod, but I was hoping someone with experience might chime in and give me some advice.

Any specific plants/flowers that work really well as inlays? Any that are terrible to work with? Any tricks/tips for attempting this? I would also love to see any photos of plant/flower inlays on rods. I've done feather before and love the look, but I have no concept of what this will actually look like on the rod.

Thanks,
Jackie

I have not done any inlay with plants or flowers, but the only thing I can think of when pressing them, doing it on a round bar of some type to simulate the rod blank. Think this would make it easier to get them to lie on the blank better to secure them in place.

Good Idea. I'll try putting the plants between two pieces of paper and then using rubber bands to hold them firmly to a spare blank of approximately the same diameter until they dry. I'll also dry some flat just in case. Any other thoughts/ideas?

~JP

I think you can use glycerin to keep the plants flexible.

Where would I get glycerine and will it cause problems with the finish? How do you use it?

~JP

This link should get you started. [www.oznet.ksu.edu]'

As far as the finish goes, give it a test on a scrap piece blank and see what happens is what I would do.

I'll check that out. Has anyone done this before, and do you have photos?

~JP