Bertha, I think the answer is partly yes and partly no. Does Ray Rogers’ method produce identical results?
In the laboratory, with cloth manufactured from hand-combed, untreated flax, woven with crude starch, washed in Soapwort suds and dried flat, Rogers has been able to create a rough image. Vivid? Yes! Acting in the manner of a negative? Yes! With the rough characteristics of terrain mapping (3D)? Yes! But the image is not focused and it is distorted. Rogers acknowledges that this is a problem and several other researchers working with Rogers agree. In the skunkworks of Shroud research it is sometimes referred to as a “profusion of confusion about diffusion and resolution, all without a solution.”
As for the flower images, that is an open question? Under the right circumstance, there may be enough surface tension on plants to increase the concentration of amine reactants (in the space between the body and the cloth) long enough for imaging to take place. Keep in mind that whatever images of flowers, leaves and stems are there, they are fainter and less distinct than the body images.
Rogers has suggested that the surface tension from hair, the mustache and the beard works the same way. In fact, this may explain why these the hair, mustache and beard of the head appear so light in a photograph (dark on the Shroud, itself). It creates the illusion that Jesus had white or blond hair. In fact, this suggests that what we have is not really a negative, in the true sense of the word, but something that functions like one. Terrain mapping may also be a misunderstanding as it would really not be a representation of distance but instead chemical concentrations.
Believe me when I say that the chemistry seems right on but the physics is completely wrong. There is something going on that we simply don’t grasp. The natural phenomenon disassociates the images from a resurrection event which is a matter of faith. And I don’t think faith would want it otherwise. But, if this is all correct, it may well be empirical evidence of the hand of God in ways we never imagined. There is more in these images, I believe, than science will answer.
The ultimate question, as a test of this hypothesis, is how does such a gaseous effusion act in a collimated fashion? What could keep the reaction from acting laterally as well as vertically as shown on the Shroud? Do the chemicals in the Maillard reaction have some physical ability to cohese (Bubble with surface tension, perhaps?) in violation of Boyle's Law?
Is the effusion so much lighter than air that it makes a beeline vertically before diffusion? If so, how then do we explain the dorsal image?
Are the puffs of effusion small and chemically concentrated close to the body, but expanding and losing concentration as they get farther away, until the reaction ceases? Again, why only vertically?
Could there be a thermal jetting of the effusion that only works in the vertical direction? Seems absurd... random directionality would be the simpler expectation.
Why would there not be evidence of concentated reactions near natural body openings (mouth, nose, anus) where one might assume internal pressures would provide more of the reactive chemicals from the interior?
Until the question of vertical collimation can be satisfactorally included in the Maillard Reaction hypothesis, we are still left with the problem the Shroud presents to every researcher: As we probe into the depths of the enigma of the Shroud to find answers, what we find only deepens the mystery. Answers bring more perplexing questions.
In regard to your comment about the color of Jesus' hair, that perhaps it's an illusion that He has blond or white hair, it is my opinion that a glorified Jesus may indeed have hair that was white in color. Gilbert R. Lavoie, M.D. gives much food for thought in his book, Unlocking the Secrets of the Shroud. Chapter nine goes into the hair and face in great detail.
I completely agree that science may never be able to explain the Shroud completely, nor would faith allow it. If we understood God completely, then He wouldn't be God after all. Keep up the good work in finding these fascinating articles!