MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Kemp adhesive Right. I have spent the afternoon making my own poor pot of ' Kemp adhesive'. for my diatoms. The recipes given were a bit open ended. I have determined that: make a thick syrup of Gum Tragacanth at high temperature- see below. using equal volumes of hot Gum Tragacanth syrup, IPA and ...

I'm currently waiting a delivery of Gum Tragacanth to make up Klaus Kemp's adhesive, so I can hold the picked diatoms and get them in permanent mounts. Just for 'fun' this is one of the triangular forms I got out today. https://jackymac07.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/todays-star-prize/ it's a Trigonium ...

His notes indicate that the formalin was to denature the gelatin and stop the subject moving. I'm guessing it was when he joined the PMS and his slides were making long journeys that shifting specimens became more of an issue. But he used the formula long before that. The same formula minus the form...

Glycerin gelatin mounting medium that is tried and tested. I'd like to share with you this formula for making glycerin gelatin permanent mounts. 60% glycerine 2% gelatin 5% formalin and recently I have been examning a slide of Stephanocerus sp. mounted in this medium in 1918, it's a lovely preparat...

Hobbyist46 My diatoms, unlike a lot in the forum, are long dead. Just the siliceous element remaining. And they come embedded in mud, mineral and plant material . My source is a lump of Oamaru diatomite and I have been following various methods to remove them from the brash, The ones I have located...

Drawing glass needles. I use soda glass melting point capillaries - they have a low melting point. And I use an ordinary paraffin wax tealight. The capillary gets a bit sooty, but you can wipe that off. As long as you keep twiddling the tube and gently tugging until it gives in the right way, you d...

Using a blowtorch to prepare diatom slides. I tried it, having read about the method and spoken to people at PMS meetings. I was very unsuccessful. My little 'blow torch' based on a butane lighter was too hot. The diatoms carbonised nicely but the coverslip buckled and cracked, Actually in one of t...