Un-pinning?

[blt]

Hello! I have some pinned butterflies that I would like to sell. Can I soften & un-mount them? Would I use the same technique as I did when softened and pinned them?
Thank you!

[Adam Cotton]

If you want to sell them with wings closed in envelopes as opposed to removing the pin and putting them in a riker mount on cotton wool you can indeed effectively reverse the spreading process. Put the pinned butterfly into the relaxing box for 24-48 hours depending on size. Once soft the wings can easily be folded and the butterfly put into an envelope. Occasionally specimens have had 'superglue' added to the wing bases when they were spread, and those cannot be relaxed again easily.

You can either leave the pin in the specimen or remove it. If you wish to remove the pin grasp the softened butterfly by the thorax with thumb and finger either side of the pin and gently twist the pin with your other hand. The pin should come out easily unless it has been glued in.

Lastly, don't forget to put the specimen labels inside the envelope or attach them to the outside.

Adam.