Drying Paphs and other Orchid Flower Displays

[kc6847]

Had this idea of displaying my dried blooms almost like insect specimen display cases. I've been attempting to improve the positions of the flowers during drying (you can kind of tell by the quality of the P. sanderianum vs the P. Regine Plows flowers). I have so many blooms collected over the years that I could sell a bunch of these things but I'm worried the flowers will break/dislodge during shipping. Any thoughts on shipping delicate stuff like this?


Paph box:
P. sanderianum
P. Regine Plows
P. Lynleigh Koopowitz


Cattleya Box:
E. porpax 'Chiquita'
C. maxima semi-alba highland form
C. trianae alba 'Joe'
B. nodosa
S (or C) coccinea 4N
Bc. Morning Glory 'Vengeful Fae Queen'


Assorted box:
A. sesquipedale
B. cucullata (appendiculata)
A. fastuosa
B. lobii subsp.breviflorum (Malacca form)
P. lehmanii
C. usitana
M. amabilis
J. comorensis
P. Mendenhall 'Hildos'
P. Butterfly 'Yellow Canary'
S. coccinea 4N
C. maxima semi-alba highland form
Rlc. Karbela Beauty 'Song of Canary'
Ctt. Blazing Sun 'NN'

 

[Ernesto]

this looks so nice! are these boxy frames specific to the insect collecting hobby? i may now have a use for all these dried phrag blooms lol

 

[kc6847]

this looks so nice! are these boxy frames specific to the insect collecting hobby? i may now have a use for all these dried phrag blooms lol

nah these are just off of amazon lol, just search up shadow boxes. They're a bit expensive though so I still have boxes of dried flowers in storage

 

[big923cattleya]

In seeing the way some of my packages arrive via Amazon, or Fed-Ex and UPS, I would not take the chance. Some of my parcels arrived with a side or an end caved in, a sure sign that they got some rough care somewhere. You are for the most part displaying dried Herbarium specimens. Those can be very fragile at times. Some things would have some substance to them and maybe do better then others but some would be severely damaged and be broken or destroyed by rough treatment.
If you placed a warning label like "FRAGILE" on the parcel, that is no guarantee at all. I would prepare for insurance claims at both ends of the shipping route.

Maybe selling them at orchid shows, garden shows or trendy boutiques would be something to consider? You would display, you would transport to the venue but then the customer has to get them home. How could they reliably do that?

 

[Ray]

Twice now I have ordered drinking glasses through Amazon. Each time a box of a dozen were ordered and each time one glass was broken, and they refunded the total cost of the orders.

 

[McPeg]

Are you drying these by laying down? Put them in silica? Veggie dehydrator? Very interesting results!

 

[JawDroppingSlippers]

Hi! I’ve dabbled in drying my orchids too after I started collecting paphs about 3 years ago. I usually purchase in-spike or blooming sized plants and catalogued the flowers through photos and dried specimens, just in case the plant never bloomed again in my indoor environment. Fortunately since I purchased the easier to grow plants they all rebloomed. Your collection is quite more extensive than mine.

Regarding your question about shipping, knowing first hand how delicate these displays are, I’m afraid it will be difficult (but maybe still doable with lots of creativity). The orchids in my shadow boxes just sit on a styrofoam block. I don’t glue them on the back of the board in case I want to reposition them later. I do delicately glue gun the stem to the flower.

If you’re thinking of sharing your orchids with others you might want to consider shipping in pieces, i.e. wrap the flowers in tissue then in a box, instead of the full completed shadow box display. As for the question about shadow boxes, if you live near a craft store like Michaels or Hobby Lobby, buy them there, they frequently have 30-50% coupons, also available online.

Here’s how I display the flowers (ignore the clematis in the shadow box). DM me if you want further details.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Love it!!

 

[NYEric]

Some people press them in books.