Contact:
Peter Ocello, (517) 432-2756 or
Sue Nichols, MSU Media Communications, (517) 355-2281, [email protected]
WILTING CONQUERED WITH NEW PRESERVATION PROCESS
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A rose pressed between the pages of a book is a sentimental keepsake.
It's also dried up and squashed.
A new process developed at Michigan State University stands ready to revolutionize the flower industry, make keepsakes truly lasting and open up new possibilities in preservation.
Peter Ocello, director of preservation and research education at MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, has developed a way to preserve plants and flowers -- and vegetables, fruits and even pumpkin pie -- with silicone. The result: a rose, mushroom or dessert that is real, yet is durable enough to be handled freely.
The possibilities are endless: bouquets of real flowers that never wilt; a potted plant you can't kill; a sushi display that looks good enough to eat, but never spoils.
"As long as it's porous, we probably can preserve it," Ocello said. "I've tried crawfish, food, and flowers, and the results have been terrific. I've also done watercolor paintings and pastel drawings -- I can make them waterproof, but they're still beautiful."
The process is called Silyophilization (Sil-lie-fill-i-zation), which Ocello invented and MSU has patented.
Specimens are freeze dried, which efficiently kills bacteria and requires no toxic chemicals. Once freeze dried, the specimen is well preserved, but fragile. To restore flexibility and life-like appearance, Ocello then takes the freeze-dried specimens and infiltrates them with a silicone polymer which fills the spaces once occupied by water and lipids.
A freeze-dried specimen loses much of its color, yet Silyophilization restores the red of a rose or a mushroom's taupe. He also is experimenting, with encouraging results, with adding scent to the silicone.
"In this age of recycling, people are more interested in trying to hold on to things they normally wouldn't give a second thought," Ocello said. "There are always plants and flowers in people's homes, restaurants want to show off their menu items, people want to really keep keepsakes. I think we can help them with that."
Ocello is gearing up to preserve Spanish moss for a friend who owns a restaurant. Spanish moss creates a lovely ambiance, but it's also messy. When moss meets Silyophilization, mess should be eliminated.
The process also holds promise as a teaching tool for horticulture students -- and a useful visual aid for everyone. Ocello has plans to preserve poison ivy and other itch-inducing plants. This way, people could get up close and personal to learn about such plants, but without the rash.
Ocello's first preservation efforts were more academic and decidedly less lyrical. He has had considerable success creating durable and safe anatomical specimens for medical and veterinary schools. Thanks to his technique, students can examine a cat's liver or a sectioned dog leg without being exposed to toxic chemicals.
Since the specimens are virtually indestructible, it means fewer animals need to be used.
He also has done some preservation work for the Smithsonian.
"The work I'm doing now is extremely fun," he said. "This is definitely going to be better than squashing a rose between the pages of a book."
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