[NHCOLL-L:4920] Fluid preservation course in UK

[Couteaufin at aol.com]

I would like to advertise the following 4 day course please.
 
 
Fluid Preservation Course, 1st to  4th of November 2010 at the Horniman 
Museum,   100 London Road, London SE23 3PQ. 
Day 1.  10.00 start.  Introduction (incl. local logistics,  fire-exits, 
risks, allergies).   
Power-point 1: overview of course  technology and histological effects of 
fluid preservation.   
Questions and tea-break,  discussion about the importance of fluid 
collections, fixation versus  pseudo-fixation. 
Compounding  of sealant/s (gelatine, Acrifix, bitumen) 
Glass cutting, grinding,  drilling demonstrations and participation 
(demonstration & practical) 
Rehydrations started (d & p) 
Relevance  of injecting fresh material with fixative  
Preparation  of jars (checking, grinding out blemishes – d & p)  
Dehydration/ Hydration ladders start (d & p) 
Thread mounting of specimens (d & p). 
Celloidin  mounting of snails to specimens and labels (d & p) 
- 17.00             Check rehydrating specimens and fix + inject if they 
are ready,  else leave (unheated) overnight (d & p). 
Day 2.    Power-point 2: narcotisation,  historical sealants, pelagic 
(jellyfish) mounts, botanical  preservatives] 
09.00 start.  Check of previous day’s work, analyse  and correct problems.  
Move  specimens in ladders (d & p) 
Changing fluids in sealed jars (d & p). 
Making  glass needles and their use in specimen repair (d & p) 
Celloidin specimen repair (d & p) 
Releasing vacuum in Visijars (talk if none available) 
Thread  mounting of specimens (continuation) including jellyfish on acetate 
discs (d  & p). 
Move  specimens in ladders (d & p) 
Unsealing  jars containing specimens requiring treatment (d & p) 
Other types of sealant including historical sealants (d only) 
- 17.00             Sealing of jars that are ready (d & p)
Day 3.   Power-point 3: preservatives,  lipids, copper wire staining. 
Checking of previous day’s seals (d  & p). 
Assessing  problems: evaporation and dilution  
What has  happened if your Hirst is ‘off-colour’? 
Dealing with lipids and other contaminants including fungal growth 
Copper salts staining specimens, from being mounted on copper wire. 
Detecting  preserving fluids and auto-dilution problems: use of map pins 
and Alcomon‘pills’  -                         Making  your own specific 
gravity detector (d & p) 
Which  preservatives should you use? (on hand-outs) 
Problems of mixing fluids  (exothermic due to binary azeotropy and leading 
to air bubble formation). 
Buffering  and pH levels (d & p). 
How  to deal with air bubbles, especially those trapped inside rehydrated 
specimens;  (small portable vacuum pump required: d & p) 
Stretching polypropylene rod (d &  p)            
Topping  up sealed jars, ‘corking’ and sealing.  Checking for problems and 
why these may have occurred.   
Day 4.  Power-point 4: Transparencies, labels,  tubes in jars, jar types, 
storage areas.  Maybe transporting and posting loan specimens if time allows. 
Check of nearly-finished  jars, are they leaking?  If so, why,  what has 
caused this  –                    understanding  how and why problems can 
occur and why deadlines can be difficult to  meet!   
Dealing with transparencies – keeping fluids including glycerol,  propylene 
glycol, methyl benzoate and turpentine and problems associated with  these. 
  
Sending fluid-preserved specimens by post or courier, worldwide  policies 
changing year to year. 
Which  jars are best for your collection?   
How to store such  collections so that they need minimum monitoring and 
maintenance. 
Labels and their problems, which paper/s to use.  Internal or external 
labels? 
Tubes  in jars – how to seal, invert or not? 
Storage  areas.  Plastination – ethics. 
Interested?  Then  contact Simon Moore - _couteaufin at aol.com_ 
(mailto:couteaufin at aol.com)  or via  website  _www.natural-history-conservation.com_ 
(http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/)  for  full details and modest 
cost.




With all good  wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, FLS, ACR,
Conservator of Natural  Sciences,
20 Newbury Street,
Whitchurch RG28 7DN.
_www.natural-history-conservation.com_ 
(http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/)  
_www.pocket-fruit-knives.info_ (http://www.pocket-fruit-knives.info/)  

_http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve_ 
(http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve)   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/nhcoll-l/attachments/20100804/6b501f96/attachment.html