Fossil diatom arrangement - Triskele second attempt

Beatsy · Post by **Beatsy** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 1:13 pm

I posted one of these before but labelled it a failure due to the blizzard of floaters shaken loose during mounting. Not happy. Anyway, I made a new batch of fixative which has been working far better, so I chanced another go.

This one went perfectly. A total of 247 forms from various locations with approximately 170 different species (or more - it's tough to count them).

steveminchington · Post by **steveminchington** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 1:40 pm

That's amazing... how do you move them?

arturoag75 · Post by **arturoag75** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 2:29 pm

One of the best arrangement i never seen

arturo

discomorphella · Post by **discomorphella** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 2:41 pm

Stunning. What mountant do you use, and yes, what device to manipulate the diatoms into place?

David

RogelioMoreno · Post by **RogelioMoreno** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 3:21 pm

Wow, amazing job!

Rogelio

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 3:32 pm

.....

(and I don't like so much emoticons...)

SW_Perspective · Post by **SW_Perspective** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 5:19 pm

Yes, how do you do that! Beautiful!!

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 5:37 pm

Maravilloso!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 11:54 pm

Anatoly · Post by **Anatoly** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 1:47 am

Great! Very hard work ...
What micromanipulator?

sebba28 · Post by **sebba28** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:02 am

Wonderful.

Beatsy · Post by **Beatsy** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:18 am

Thanks for the comments all. To answer your questions...

1. I use Debe's fixative to attach the diatoms to the coverslip while arranging. Thanks to forum-member Raymond for the recommendation as I was using the fixative after Solliday before that, with mixed results. (http://www.diatomsireland.com/diatom-mo ... adhesives/)

2. I mount the finished arrangement in zrax

3. My micromanipulator was inspired by forum-member Raymond too, in his article at http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art ... atoms.html. I use a stereo zoom instead of a compound microscope and usually work at 40x but will go up to 100x for very small diatoms. The hand-pulled glass needle just moves up and down and the slide is moved around by hand for picking and placement. Picture of my rig below. Note: I improved vastly on Raymond's design by attaching the straightened paper clip with epoxy instead of a clothes peg

Then just lots of patience and practice.

descall · Post by **descall** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:49 am

Superb! Moller would certainly have tipped his cap

Marek Mis · Post by **Marek Mis** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:43 am

Unbeliveable that you have done it handy !

Great composition and a lot of work ! Super, congratulations. This is masterpiece.

Marek

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:49 pm

A really lovely, and technically extremely accomplished arrangement. It certainly can stand company with the very best Victorian and modern examples. The illumination and photography is excellent as well and does the arrangement justice.