Drying wood for decoupage

[Steve Brookman]

Thanks to the advice I've gotten here I decided to decoupage awards for my trail run. The awards are made from Black Locust 3-6" diameter and 1-2" thick. They were cut, green, about 2 months ago. I've air dried them until now and have started microwaving some of them using Tom Raymond's method.
I've noticed checking on the larger pieces that have been air dried, and even more checking on the microwaved pieces (none on the smaller ones). I lacquered some before microwaving and have not had any checking on those. (I don't think that checking will affect the awards that much, but the unchecked ones are preferred.)
My question is does the lacquer prevent checking or is it just delaying it? Should I continue to dry them with the microwave method or just lacquer and hope for the best? I wouldn't want these awards to be sitting on someone's shelf and start breaking apart a few months from now. I will be presenting the awards on 1/11/09 so I still have some time to get them ready.
http://rrrtrail.com/images/2009/WoodAward1.jpg
Thanks again,
Steve

[Larry Charlot]

leaving the pith in the wood like you have above is just asking for a split in some fashion.

best would be to seal the wood slowing down the drying process. If that time is not possible then use pieces that do not have a center/pith and you will have less cracking.

Larry