preserving apples?

Question

I wish to make sculptures out of apples. Does anyone (ie Damien Hirst for instance) have any idea how to preserve apples so that they don't decay?

furthermore
I do not wish to use fake apples, as I wish to carve / eat them to make the sculpture - that's the whole point, so I need to find a way of preserving them so that they do not decay.
I need advice from a taxidermist / embalmer / Gunther Von Hagen, not someone who once watched Blue Peter! ;-)

Answer 1

Well Damien uses a shed-load of formaldehyde. It's good for preserving animals so it might work on apples.
It's not that easy to but though. You have to order the quantity you need from a chemists, and when you collect it you'll have to sign the poisons register.

Answer 2

Well, you preserve the slices with lemon juice. But the whole apple, so it wont decay and never be eaten? I suggest that, maybe you try dipping them in a clear liquid plastic. Maybe even a clear lacquer. I know you're trying to be creative and unique-and I applaud that. But it might be simpler to just by some fake apples that look real.

Answer 3

Hi,I used to work in a Victorian walled garden and one of the techniques that we employed was to pick the apples while they were under ripe and put them in a cool or cold dark place.Apples thus stored would happily survive the winter without any sign of ageing.Others put their faith in good old fashioned brown paper.Wrap the fruit in this and it'll last a year or more according to the now deceased Head Gardener Peter.

Answer 4

A polyethylene glycol bath may alter the colors too much, but they would be preserved almost indeffinitely. They would also be highly poisonous to eat. I'd ask a Madison Ave. FX expert.

Answer 5

I saw a children's programme recently, where they were making shrunken heads from apples!! They immersed the apples in salt water, but that made them look ancient, discoloured and well.. shrunken. Not much help I suppose?

Answer 6

Look up Apple head doll making, You can only make figures of very old people.

Answer 7

Use a desicant (spelling?) or go to a florists supply and buy their flower drying powders.

Answer 8

Dehydrate them.

Answer 9

use fake apples