Dried Specimens

[Who? Me?]

On Fri, 20 Jul 2001 18:24:52 -0400, gwang <gwang at mb.sympatico.ca>
wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Since we all seem to be on the topic of drying/dried specimens these
>days, I was wondering how others out there keep the wings of their
>already dried specimens from warping.  When my specimens come off the
>pinning board their wings are perfectly straight, but invariably, after
>some time, some of the specimens' wings start to warp.  I put hydrates
>in with all of my specimens to adsorb (no that's not a typo, it really
>is the correct term, as opposed to absorb) any moisture in the air, but
>it doesn't seem to be working out as I has anticipated. Perhaps I'm
>taking my specimens off the pinning board a bit to early so that they
>are actually still in the process of drying when I place them in the
>specimen drawers?  Could this have caused the warping?
>
>Peace,
>Xi Wang

I've found 7 to 10 days @ a relative humidity of 55% is normally
sufficient to dry most specimens. Thereafter, maintaining that
humidity level is the key.

Large variations in humidity can cause the wings to curl and also
swing backwards to their natural position.

A little bit of clear glue applied to the underside of the wing/thorax
joint also helps maintain the set wings and is not apparent to the
casual observer.

Cheers,
Chris Hocking

 
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