MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Indeed a curiosity! - thanks JimT!

That's a very kind thing to say 75RR - thanks very much.

Hi all, I've been experimenting with the staining of some of my Daffodil-ovary sections today and have made some progress I think. For starters my sections - all of which shown here are nominally 12µ thick, have shown another slight improvement since I made some careful adjustments of the microtome'...

Superb set of pictures - that looks like a very 'user-serviceable' device to me, given some due care & thought - with a suitable performance-measuring protocol... Personally I'd definitely have a try at it - but, and it's a big but, if you can get your money back (and I'm guessing it's not a trivial...

You might have a go at a bit of clearing & staining.... alcohol+vinegar may help, rinse well after about 1hr then directly drop on some stain such as those found in the blue fish-disease treatments... leave for between 5 & 10 minutes then rinse briefly (10 seconds) with tap (tap is better than DI fo...

This may help - http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/stereozoom/....

These are fascinating pictures and excellently presented! These really do look interesting. I'm starting to think I may have a dip into our Daughter's pond this summer.....
Very nice post - I'd love to see a few more images of these....
Well done & thanks.

Hi, now I don't know very much at all about the actual mechanics of a microscope. but it seems to me that a stereo 'scope is just two 'scopes that have a coincident image when focused..... So, having made a quick search I came quickly across all sorts of resources that will help you to fix your prob...

Oh what a beautiful sight - I drool.... Waaaaay beyond my budget - I can't even begin to dream about owning and using such a majestic behemoth - it's enough to turn the mind of an amateur slicer! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Gimmeeeeee...... I'll be kind to it - it'd love it over here in the UK! Lovely sight...

Hi all, had a quick dabble with CZP and the pollen pictures and made another attempt at a stack: Not bad but needed better pictures to work with I think...

Great colourful and detailed images - the crystals look like they may be raphides?
Nice post.

Looks good! Well fixed!

Thanks very much all for your very kind encouragement - you're very generous. :) The sections pictured above are either 16 or 12µ - I have been 'playing it safe' as far as thickness (or might that be thinness..) goes - the adjustment of the microtome's knife position (that's both orientation relativ...

Hi all, well I'm pretty pleased to report that my tissue-processing (not to mention sectioning... :oops: ) efforts are just starting to yield some half-decent results that I'm not too embarrassed to show others! My processing problems and their attendant sectioning shortcomings are starting to dimin...

Nice pictures - can't help with an ID I'm afraid, but I love the images.

Ok I will try to capture a decent picture of the fruit fly eye and head area. The specimen on the slide has dried up and the general points of my interest seem to have collapsed for the compound eye structures, I should be able to obtain a fresh one soon. I may be able to hydrate this eye section f...

Sounds interesting to me - look forward to your pictures.

A beautiful picture, and a surprising amount of texture on the pollen grains. I wasn't aware of the waxy layer that bedevils microscopy. I'm definitely jotting that down somewhere! Hi Mintaka and thanks. If you search for 'acetolysis of pollen' you'll get the whole picture. I merely de-waxed - don'...

Interesting. How large are the pollen? Like the stylish arrangement in the second image. Not really sure of the size - must get a stage micrometer - keep forgetting. I'll have a go at further processing and staining in between my sectioning episodes. I think in the future (this year sometime..) I'd...

Hi all, as a brief aside I took some Lily-parts from our Daughter's flower vase the other day and subjected some 'sticky' pollen to a clearing process in an attempt to get a decent look at it's surface-ornamentation, here's a quick (stacked) picture, quite good really - Histoclear helped a lot I thi...

Wow - I don't know what it is - but it'd need to be very small indeed before I'd mess with it! Lovely clear and detailed image - good enough I'd say to be termed 'a study'. Really well done & thanks for the interesting post.

Really nice image - has a 'freshness' and clarity about it. I like it a lot. Well done.

Thanks Eddie, that's very kind. Here's the ovary (x4 objective with x2.5 projection eyepiece) 'straight out of the wax' via a nail-biting series of Histoclear->IPA->DI Water - any one of which can (and has done - several times!) result in the mysterious disappearance of the specimen :oops: ... ws_da...

Here's another quick pic of a Daffodil ovary, still 'in the wax' after sectioning at 16µ. I should have some completed slides ready tomorrow after drying, staining & mounting a few of what are at this stage my best efforts... Good sections are now starting to appear very often and things are looking...

Excellent, clear & interesting images - this is a beautiful organism to see - thanks for the post.

Hi all, I haven't been abducted by aliens - I've been holed-up working on the tissue sectioning process for a while now - and I've finally started to get some reliable and reasonably good results! (with a week camping on the Wensleydale fells thrown in without a 'scope :cry: ) Here's a quick pic of ...

Very nice image - the stoma is very clearly shown - I like it.

Mintaka, your pictures are a pleasure to look at - I like them very much indeed.
A super find with a toothbrush - excellently done!
Very nice post, thanks for showing this to us.

Here's a rather nice image...
http://www.victorianmicroscopeslides.co ... /stars.jpg

Now that's a lot of hairs - on a marvelous Victorian slide!

Thanks Peter & 75RR - there's food for thought there.. I'll see what I can find out.