Keeping Clippings As Keepsake?

[Bales9er]

What is the best way to keep grass clippings as a keepsake and on display? Some sort of airtight acrylic case? Think sporting event field souvenirs...

[MorpheusPA]

You can't store anything wet, it'll mold and eventually rot, flowers, grasses, stems, etc., must be dried before storage and display. I do this to make acrylic displays and pens (photo below). Drying instructions below, three possible methods.

A) Dry them thoroughly.

1) If you have an air dryer, try drying them at 110 degrees for about 36 hours, but only try this on some as I think you may get curling. Perhaps do this in a pressed-down state if possible.

2) Dry others in a book, the old-fashioned way. Just press between pages for some months.

3) You can dry flowers and grasses in the microwave, but it takes attention and a dab hand (I do this to speed-dry things I want to cast). First, place the grasses between the pages of an old book you don't care about; don't allow grass bits to touch each other. I use very inexpensive watercolor paper books from the local Cheap Stuff Store (the paper really isn't good at all for watercolor painting, but can be used to dry many, many things before it's done for).

Two, place book in microwave. Three, fire radiation at grass in 10 second to 1 minute increments (depending on microwave strength and amount of grass). Grass should get very hot to steamy, but not to the point of bursting or leaving green stains all over the book pages.

B) Display.

1) As shown below, items that are appropriately dried can be cast into acrylic. This is actually really easy to do with some practice; the below pens are UV acrylic that you can get at any hobby store. They'll have forms as well. Use a UV light to solidify the acrylic, and there you go. Grass display. I'd recommend practicing. Over time, many acrylics do discolor from addition ultraviolet exposure. You can use a spray UV protectant (clear) to avoid that. But if you keep the item out of sunlight, it'll last many years. My little desk toy, an LED pyramid, is probably five years old with little discoloration and it sits in my windowsill.

2) You can absolutely display those in a little acrylic box. Keep air (oxygen) away from the grass; it'll discolor over time and tend to turn brownish. Perhaps a little plastic bag?

3) Even just a little plastic bag, appropriately marked?

[turf_toes]

You could try Amber.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180981446/

[Bales9er]

What do you think about this? Baseball card case, although definitely not completely air tight...maybe a tiny bead of silicone around the edges?

[MorpheusPA]

That should be just fine even without the silicone bead, although you could certainly do that if you wanted. Discoloration will be very slow.

[Bales9er]

Thanks Morph! Clippings are from my recent trip to Augusta National for the Masters, thought it'd be a one of a kind souvenir!