Specimen Pinning
Acquire A Naturally Passed Specimen:
- Butterfly houses may have some if you ask
- Scavenge on your next walk
- Pet bugs that have passed
Preserve Until Pinning:
Some specimens are best worked with immediately so they can be put in acetone to prevent complications from fats during natural drying such as foul odor and color loss. Such specimens include large beetles and many green pigmented insects (doesn't include colorations caused by structural refractions).
Otherwise freeze to eliminate potential pests, if it was frozen before rigor mortis set in, you can keep it there until you're ready to work with it and skip rehydration.
If the specimen is already dry, store it (in quarantine if never frozen) enclosed with a packet of silica in an airtight container to prevent pests (this will become very brittle, handle with extreme care).
Rehydrate if necessary:
Dampen a paper towel with distilled water and place in tupperware, add a cotton ball dampened with ethanol or isopropal to prevent mold. Elevate the specimen on a bottle cap to prevent direct contact, and seal in the humidity for a few hours at a time, checking to see if pliable.
When Acetone is Necessary:
(I haven't attempted yet, will update with any changes once I do)
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TAKE CAUTION:
- Highly flammable!
- Never mix acetone with styrofoam or ethanol, always let it evaporate off and be careful
- Polypropylene Plastic (#5) is safe for use with acetone, but many other plastics dissolve
- Avoid contact with eyes, skin, and inhalation (use outdoors)
Method 1: Soak specimen in a container of 100% acetone for about 8hrs (or more for a large specimen)
Method 2: Inject 100% acetone into the specimen?
Pinning Supplies:
- Cardboard, balsa wood, or styrofoam pinning board (I make my own)
- Pins
- Glassine paper (cut into strips)
- Forceps
Final Display:
Keep a silica sachet in the display and airtight seal, keep away from sunlight or use UV resistant acrylic to prevent color fade.
If Something Breaks:
I've had success using glue on a toothpick to carefully dab small specimen parts back on. (The glue I used is the now discontinued Elmers blue gel glue)
Lepidoptera
- Classic Spread: bottom of forewings are horizontal, overall flat and symmetrical
- Live Pose: side view, wings closed, back wings slightly lower than front, legs perched
- Resting Pose: top of forewings are horizontal, overall flat and symmetrical
- Open up wings with the paper to make sure it's pliable (you may set it in the pinning board groove and pin the papers over them to flatten for a bit if needed in order to complete the next step)
- Hold body and pin straight through the center of the thorax (where some have bald spots)
- Place down and arrange legs with pins if desired
- Place in the pinning board groove, same height as the boards, and place pins on sides of abdomen for stability
- Forcep the forewings from the top near the body into position, pin the paper down for tension to hold in place (avoid pinning over antennae)
- Extra gently on the hindwings do the same
- Pin around the head and antennae into place
Cicada
- Classic Spread: bottom of forewings are horizontal, overall flat and symmetrical
- Resting Pose: Wings closed, legs positioned to perch
- Open up wings with the paper to make sure it's pliable
- Hold body and pin straight through the center-right of the thorax (center right shield joint)
- Place down and arrange legs with pins if desired
- Place in the pinning board groove, same height as the boards, and place pins on sides of abdomen for stability
- Forcep the forewings from the top near the body into position, pin the paper down for tension to hold in place (avoid pinning over antennae)
- Extra gently on the hindwings do the same
- Reposition head/abdomen with pins if desired
