Info needed: airtight display frames, preserving, resin, etc

[joniverson]

Hi,

First time posting here. I have been into entomology as a hobby off and on for many years, more reading about insects really and not into the physical aspects so much. About the only pinning and mounting I ever did were a tiger swallowtail and red spotted purple pinned and mounted into a standard 8x10 picture frame when I was a kid. To my surprise, the last time I checked, the butterflies were still intact but now I don't know where I stored the frame.

This Summer, I decided to go on an actual collecting spree for the first time in many years since I now have eight and six year old boys who are interested in insects. Between the three of us, we picked up a bunch of reddish brown stag beetles at night around our tree bases (I was very surprised at this!), and, more of my job only really, I collected several male/ female cicada killer wasps from a local underground nest with the bonus of several cicadas as well.

I've collected enough specimens now that I want to do three things:

1) Simply keep some in storage until I'm ready to pin, dry, etc. What's the best way to do this? Right now, I have all bugs in containers in the freezer. I've thought of alcohol, but a cicada killer I had in iso was so stiff after being preserved in it for years that I was unable to pin it. I don't think I can keep these in the freezer long term. 

2) Before the end of Summer, within the next week in fact, I want to remove one male and one female stag and single male/ female cicada killer wasps, and cicada from the freezer, pin them, and then mount them in a display case of some sort. The problem I have here is which case to use. I want something airtight I think with a place I can either add mothballs or insecticide. Suggestions for a reasonable cost case would be welcome. Also, how long should I allow the pinned insects to dry before placing in the case? Should I place the insects in a sealed glass jar with silica gel and a few moth balls while they dry? Should I gut the beetles and wasps since they are larger?

3) Ideally, I wanted to embed both the wasps and beetles in resin. Only ever having tried this once before as a late teen with a cicada killer I captured, that attempt was not met with success. Due to the cost of resin and not being sure of the processes needed to get the insects prepared, I may or may not do this in the future which is why I'm asking about (1) above for long term storage of the bugs until that time. At least I'll have some of the samples in frames to show and have the option of doing this in the future. I find complete resin embedding information difficult to find on the web. Many videos and sites will cover the actual process, but no instructions as to the proper drying beforehand which I understand is critical. Here's another area where I'm wondering if gutting of the beetle and wasp would be necessary first. This resin topic should probably be separate under a different thread, but I would appreciate any help here, particularly drying methods, techniques, non-yellowing resin products, etc.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jon

[neominois]

Hello, welcome to the forum! Here is what I'd with your questions and comments, I'm sure many others on here will have alternatives.

1. If you are going to store the wasps short-term, the freezer is fine. It will keep them soft and able to pin. If keeping them longer in storage, I'd take them out and put the in glassine envelopes, then inside a tightly sealed tupperware container. Of course once this is done, you will need to relax them in order to pin them. As an Lepidopterist, I enjoy spreading large wasps. I spread the wings similar to a butterflies and adjust the legs, antennae, and abdomen. To do this I use a bunch of pins and a thick piece of styrofoam.

2. Riker mounts are probably the classic way to go, you can seal them up and if done correctly, look pretty good. I never use riker mounts however, but my collection is not meant to be displayed. I have given insects as a gift using a display case I purchased from Hobby Lobby, then sealed up air tight. You can buy these "Shadow boxes" fairly cheap and add a cork bottom. If it is sealed air-tight, there is no need to add moth balls or insecticide as nothing harmful can get into the box. I allow most insects two weeks to dry once spread. You can wait longer, but once its dry, its dry... Waiting longer really is not necessary.

3. I have no suggestions on resin, as I have never attempted it! Good Luck!

Hope this helps!

[joniverson]

Thanks for your response, neominois. I suppose I better start thinking about removing the bugs from the freezer then and pinning them. I've held off because I'm still trying to get more information on drying, since I intend to try resin embedding, so I've wondered whether or not gutting the beetles/ wasps will be a necessary step. I have a book on the way that I'm hoping will shed a lot of light on the drying process for resin.

I've looked up the riker mounts and could possibly try those for specimens I don't intend to embed. How do you go about sealing them for air tightness?

Thanks.

[neominois]

Riker mounts seal up well when they are put together. Pins hold them in place. You can use adhesive to seal them up further if you wish. I have a few rikers that have been sealed for decades without any demestid issues.

I know some people eviscerate their insects, grasshopper abdomens etc. I have never done this but it can help dry them out.

[Adam Cotton]

Orthoptera and Odonata are eviscerated immediately after death in order to at least partially preserve their original colour, not to assist in drying out.

Adam.

[joniverson]

The book on plastic embedding of specimens arrived yesterday and it is actually quite interesting. The author highly recommends using ethylene glycol to replace water in specimens as the ethylene apparently does not interfere with resin setting up as water would. In addition, the process of water displacement is very fast and is done within 24-48 hours of initial soaking of insect in it. Since ethylene glycol is most often the primary ingredient in common auto antifreeze, it seems that I should nearly be able to achieve 100% concentration in the non-diluted types. Only problem is finding clear antifreeze, but I think at least some of the concentrate is sold in clear forms.

The only question remaining, which the book didn't seem to touch on, is whether or not the bug would still remain flexible after soaking in the ethylene?

[joniverson]

To answer my own question above, the answer so far is yes: the insect does still remain flexible after 24 hour glycol immersion. Next question: To eliminate any remaining water within the specimen after the glycol soak, it is suggested to place in an oven at 120 degrees F with the specimen surrounded & covered with silica gel for 24-48 hours. Since I don't want to take up my oven with this, I am thinking of using a large, sealed jar with light bulb inside placed so that silica surrounded specimen temp is 120 deg F. Is this feasible, should I allow ventilation, etc? Suggestions welcome here.

[neominois]

Cool, why to you want to resinate these guys?

[joniverson]

Aug 3, 2017 0:07:17 GMT neominois said:

Cool, why to you want to resinate these guys?

I've always wanted to try and successfully repeat the same experiment I tried when I was a teen.  I caught a cicada killer at that time too, but knew nothing about drying and tried to place it in resin right away and it of course was ruined.  Now that I have samples once again, along with the beetles, I want to try again.  Of course, it's been a good many years now but hopefully I'm at least somewhat smarter after finding the book and other resources. 

In addition, I also have sufficient samples to simply dry and frame.  Today Hobby Lobby had a 50% off sale on shadow boxes, so I picked up several.  I think for sealing air tight, I'll simply silicone around the area where the frame is opened.  At least in the future if I want to change out the interior, all I'll have to do is cut the silicone. 

One question I have is the best way to mount the insects in the box.  I was planning on having either a cork or balsa base, but this isn't a necessity.  First thought was to just pin through the center (or offcenter for the beetle) and into the cork, but maybe there's a more aesthetically pleasing way, so any suggestions would be welcome.     

[neominois]

For aesthetics, have you thought of adding a soft cork covered by a nice color felt? Have the wasp pinned, then push the pinned specimen through the felt into the cork to hold it in place. I'd add several support pins around the wasps body to stabilize it and prevent it from moving after it is sealed up.

Silicone should work well, just make sure everything is sealed.

[exoticimports]

Aug 3, 2017 0:07:17 GMT neominois said:

Cool, why to you want to resinate these guys?

If one desired to ensure some specimens survive 1000 years through the inevitable disorders, resin would be the way to do it.

[joniverson]

Well, just to update, I've decided against the resin for now. I'm really not making enough spare money to afford $20 resin batches at a time not turning out properly once the bug is embedded, plus most of it seems to yellow over time which is something I'm not thrilled about.

I have several insects mounted and drying for now; others still in the freezer, but I will soon either be thawing, mounting, and drying or placing in 70% ethyl indefinitely. The local pharmacy had 70% ethyl ready to go, but I don't like the additives the label says it has so just to be on the safe side I picked up a bottle of Everclear and will simply dilute it to 70%.

In the meantime, I picked up several shadow and similar boxes on sale and I might use them, but I better like the idea of the anniversary type clock dome. I realize that the dome would have to be sealed to the base once the bugs are placed inside, but I'm looking for recommendations on adding an appropriate internal environment for posing material for the Eastern Hercules and Stag beetles. I'm guessing maybe some peat moss as a base then large branches for the insects to pose on. Would I need to freeze the branch first or will my hidden moth balls be enough to prevent bugs attacking the beetles? Any other recommendations welcome here.

[Adam Cotton]

Moth balls will not kill any pests already on the branch, or on anything else you put inside the sealed dome. They will only discourage pests from entering afterwards. You would need to freeze everything, preferably twice with about 10 days at normal temperature between each freeze. The reason for that is many pests' eggs can withstand freezing, but once they hatch the young insects die after freezing the second time.

Adam.

[joniverson]

Aug 11, 2017 19:26:44 GMT Adam Cotton said:

Moth balls will not kill any pests already on the branch, or on anything else you put inside the sealed dome. They will only discourage pests from entering afterwards. You would need to freeze everything, preferably twice with about 10 days at normal temperature between each freeze. The reason for that is many pests' eggs can withstand freezing, but once they hatch the young insects die after freezing the second time.

Adam.

 
Wow, that's pretty elaborate!  I guess freeze for a week, then remove for ten days, and refreeze?  I might just have to go with wood look-a-like.  To my surprise, when I visited Hobby Lobby for the domes, I also found a resin stump that looked so much like wood that it would be hard to tell the difference.  Only problem was that it was too large to fit into any of the domes I purchased and I didn't think cutting it up would be a good idea.  Maybe I can find smaller pieces somewhere at reasonable price.  Other than the one piece, I couldn't find any others at HL nor Michaels, so any thoughts would be welcome.  

[joniverson]

Well, I ended up cutting the resin stump look-a-like. Not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be and I can sort of hide the obviously fake backside. I have the section glued to the wooden base of the dome. Now to just wait for a couple of additional bugs to dry before I place them. I placed two already dried bugs tonight, only problem I ran into was that the bugs were dried on a flat board and since the "stump" is curved, I tried to bend the legs obviously without much success other than breaking one. I tried a trick I read about where you apply ammonia to the leg, but no help.