Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
Hi together,
even more than leaf stems I was interested in creating sliedes from flower buds. Cutting these unembedded leads to a heap of flower bits only so this is not promising. I shortly looked at soap embedding but this is not uncomplicated and there is little information available on this method. So finaly I decided to try paraffine embedding. I gathered a lot of information from this and the german forum, from books and group members - thank you a lot! I also got a lot of help from one member who supplied me with several of the needed consumables.
The process didn't run especially smoothly but I'm quite satisfied with the first result. I used the Isopronalol method as written down by Klaus Henkel, used a rest of Euromex paraffin (60°C melt point) and casted the block into a bit thicker aluminium foil before fixing the block to a standard cassette. I did the sectioning with my friendly battleship-grey Leitz base sledge microtom that did a very good job. The knife was Type C, freshly sharpened myself.
I remodes the paraffin in standard slide shipping containers which I optimized with a 3D-printed plug for the opening in the lid. This allowed to work with very moderate xylene vapours. In the containers I filled 4 slides, two back to back held together with Tesa film. This setup proved to be quite satisfactory.
There are still a lot of detail tasks to solve but it becomes clear that this can be handled without too much hassle to be fun.
Together with another group member I will organize a group meeting on paraffin sectioning in september - there is no better motivation than a close deadline!
Here a couple of pictures form the process and the results.
Bob
even more than leaf stems I was interested in creating sliedes from flower buds. Cutting these unembedded leads to a heap of flower bits only so this is not promising. I shortly looked at soap embedding but this is not uncomplicated and there is little information available on this method. So finaly I decided to try paraffine embedding. I gathered a lot of information from this and the german forum, from books and group members - thank you a lot! I also got a lot of help from one member who supplied me with several of the needed consumables.
The process didn't run especially smoothly but I'm quite satisfied with the first result. I used the Isopronalol method as written down by Klaus Henkel, used a rest of Euromex paraffin (60°C melt point) and casted the block into a bit thicker aluminium foil before fixing the block to a standard cassette. I did the sectioning with my friendly battleship-grey Leitz base sledge microtom that did a very good job. The knife was Type C, freshly sharpened myself.
I remodes the paraffin in standard slide shipping containers which I optimized with a 3D-printed plug for the opening in the lid. This allowed to work with very moderate xylene vapours. In the containers I filled 4 slides, two back to back held together with Tesa film. This setup proved to be quite satisfactory.
There are still a lot of detail tasks to solve but it becomes clear that this can be handled without too much hassle to be fun.
Together with another group member I will organize a group meeting on paraffin sectioning in september - there is no better motivation than a close deadline!
Here a couple of pictures form the process and the results.
Bob
- Attachments
-
- Blüten in IProp.jpg (147.19 KiB) Viewed 3763 times
-
- Block nach dem Schneiden.jpg (158.9 KiB) Viewed 3763 times
-
- Übersichtsfoto Margerite 1,6er Leitz 1024.jpg (154.02 KiB) Viewed 3763 times
-
- Margerite Einzelblatt 1 1024.jpg (231.13 KiB) Viewed 3763 times
-
- Detail Margerite 1 1024.jpg (142 KiB) Viewed 3763 times
Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
.
- Attachments
-
- Trocknende Präparate.jpg (176.78 KiB) Viewed 3762 times
Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
Congratulations Bob - looks like a really good start to me!
I look forward to following your adventures.
I look forward to following your adventures.
John B
Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
Very nicely done Bob. I'll definitely be following you along on this journey.
Tom W.
Tom W.
Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
While not my area of special interest (go Team Diatom!), I always find these threads fascinating, and really enjoy pictures of the process. Keep it coming!
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas
email: ngc704(at)gmail(dot)com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/67904872@ ... 912223623/
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas
email: ngc704(at)gmail(dot)com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/67904872@ ... 912223623/
Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
+1 from me
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
Excellent! Looks like you're into the outer petals at this level, with the papillose upper surface of said petals being clearly papillose....
Further down you'll come to dozens of tiny florets comprising the Daisy's 'flower', which show an amazing pattern when caught in TS - think Fibonacci perhaps when you see them begin to appear!
Maybe like this - image link
Further down you'll come to dozens of tiny florets comprising the Daisy's 'flower', which show an amazing pattern when caught in TS - think Fibonacci perhaps when you see them begin to appear!
Maybe like this - image link
John B
Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding
Hi John,
that looks really promising and just the type of images I'm looking for. It is really fascinating at what detail level nature shows it's beauty.
Bob
that looks really promising and just the type of images I'm looking for. It is really fascinating at what detail level nature shows it's beauty.
Bob