You can find some excellent information on this subject at www.naturespressed.com. On their home page click on the flower that is titled Products. On this page click on Craft-Books/Project-Sheets Exotic. On the left side of this page you will be able to scroll down to Coasters/Paper Weight Project Sheet. Here you will find more than enough information on what you are asking for. John O.
good luck with the birds of paradise. I've been trying to dry orchid blooms, which also have a 3-D shape and embed them in polyester resin with little success. I used silica gel to dry the blooms, and they shriveled a little and lost some of their color. Then sprayed them with 2 coats of clear acrylic to make them rigid, also to protect them from the catalyzing resin. Then soak the acryliced flower in catalyzing resin, place it where you want it, and pour it into your mold. You typically need to do a multi-layer pouring to keep the flower upright. Air bubbles are killer, but if you let it cure someplace cool, it will take longer, and the air will have more time to escape. good luck.
