Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

Here you can post pictures and videos to show others.
Post Reply
Message
Author
MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#1 Post by MicroBob » Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:43 pm

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! :roll:

Here a couple of pictures form the process and the results.

Bob
Attachments
Blüten in IProp.jpg
Blüten in IProp.jpg (147.19 KiB) Viewed 3697 times
Block nach dem Schneiden.jpg
Block nach dem Schneiden.jpg (158.9 KiB) Viewed 3697 times
Übersichtsfoto Margerite 1,6er Leitz 1024.jpg
Übersichtsfoto Margerite 1,6er Leitz 1024.jpg (154.02 KiB) Viewed 3697 times
Margerite Einzelblatt 1 1024.jpg
Margerite Einzelblatt 1 1024.jpg (231.13 KiB) Viewed 3697 times
Detail Margerite 1 1024.jpg
Detail Margerite 1 1024.jpg (142 KiB) Viewed 3697 times

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#2 Post by MicroBob » Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:43 pm

.
Attachments
Trocknende Präparate.jpg
Trocknende Präparate.jpg (176.78 KiB) Viewed 3696 times

User avatar
mrsonchus
Posts: 4175
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:42 pm
Location: Cumbria, UK

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#3 Post by mrsonchus » Sun Dec 29, 2019 10:39 pm

Congratulations Bob - looks like a really good start to me!

I look forward to following your adventures.
John B

tgss
Posts: 223
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 3:48 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#4 Post by tgss » Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:49 pm

Very nicely done Bob. I'll definitely be following you along on this journey.
Tom W.

User avatar
KurtM
Posts: 1749
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2015 12:08 am
Location: League City, Texas
Contact:

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#5 Post by KurtM » Mon Dec 30, 2019 1:09 am

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/

MichaelG.
Posts: 3976
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:24 am
Location: North Wales

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#6 Post by MichaelG. » Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:18 am

tgss wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:49 pm
Very nicely done Bob. I'll definitely be following you along on this journey.
Tom W.
+1 from me

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

Hobbyst46
Posts: 4277
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#7 Post by Hobbyst46 » Mon Dec 30, 2019 12:53 pm

MichaelG. wrote:
Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:18 am
tgss wrote:
Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:49 pm
Very nicely done Bob. I'll definitely be following you along on this journey.
Tom W.
+1 from me

MichaelG.
The same from me

User avatar
mrsonchus
Posts: 4175
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:42 pm
Location: Cumbria, UK

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#8 Post by mrsonchus » Mon Dec 30, 2019 5:59 pm

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
John B

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#9 Post by MicroBob » Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:56 pm

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

einman
Posts: 1508
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:03 am

Re: Daisy flower bud cross section - Bob's first paraffin embedding

#10 Post by einman » Tue Dec 31, 2019 4:09 pm

Very Nice!

Post Reply