Chas Young aka youngc shares his inginuity and eye for nature with us. This time he shows how to preserve and combine natural elements to create a great addition to a jungle diorama

Read the feature here

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

For those who noticed and for Chas I'd like to apologize for accidentally putting the wrong author on the feature. Thanks to Rudi for the keen pair of eyes.

Hey YoungC! I am from Bermuda so I know exactly what you mean about using the Norfolk Pine needles. We have plently of them here, which were imported some ages ago. Anyhow, that's a super way of making plams, and not of just usage for small palms, but also as Royal Palms, Coconut Palms, Queen Palms, I am here as I write this reply, making a Royal Palm with a very skinny Norfolk Pine needle about 13 CM long and applying your method for a Sago Palms and other small species, ie. Chinese Fan Plalm.
Good show mate. I think you should patten the idea .
Do you build tanks? I have an alternative to putty for building armor. Anyway, keep modelling and coming up with great ideas, give this 1 an AWARD!!!!!!

Hi LaVince,
Good to know someone has taken interest in the method! I am also experimenting with the Norfolk needle and have come up with some quite convincing designs. Wish you best of luck and hope to see some of your work in the future.

My thanks go to Scott Lodder for un-muddling and finally publishing the article, no easy job! My thanks also must go to CK Tang for his inspirational work. It is an honour to be mistaken for you!

Regards, Chas

excellent article and work learned alot from it

Woah this was quite a while ago! You are very welcome John.

Just a quick note on the glycerine preserving method. When immersing the stem into the glycerine/water mix, make a fresh, diagonal cut across the stem for a maximum surface area to aid capillary action.

Chas