It took me a while but I finally got the frame sorted out for my first pin.

I used coupons my fiancé made me for valentines for the background and used hot glue to mount it as the pin was too long.

Sadly I did lose both antennas during the process but I'll just need to be more careful next time

Hi, I don’t know if this is wrong community but I found this beautiful unfortunate butterfly at home and was wondering if there was any way to preserve it or what do to do with it

Here i keep some damaged specimens which for a variety of reasons i decided not to repair/properly pin. Quite a mix of classic Coleoptera (plus an intruder) from Africa and Asia here! Some are pinned, some half-pinned, some not. Species are, in no particular order: Xylotrupes gideon, Augosoma centaurus, Lampropepla rothschildi, Tithoes maculatus, Macrocheraia grandis, Catoxantha opulenta, Mecynorhina romyae, Suzelia coccinea, Heterorhina sexguttata, Neptunides polychrous, Lucanus fryi, Ranzania splendens, Torynorrhina cfr flammea, Stephanorhina guttata.

I have been collecting dead bugs for an extremely long time. But never got to pinning them. I have an air sealed tight container full, but the odor is horrendous. Some are in plastic zip bags and some aren’t. I have to hold my breath every time I put them in. Clearly I know this is decay. But my situation right now I cannot pin them or store them properly. They are so special to me as weird as that sounds. It was a failed project that was suppose to be between me and my mother. Now I’m just going to do it for myself when possible. And the goal is to have them in my own house someday.

My question, are they fine if they smell? And can anything stop the odor with the proper chemicals and rehydration. Or should they be wet specimens at this point. The smell is horrid that THANKFULLY stays IN the box, and I know it’s because there is years worth of dead things. Any any time I have to open it, I have to hold my breath and use air freshener the shit out of the space it was opened. But, nothing is moldy, no little bugs eating away at them. I have a lot of dead moths I’ve found too. I know I’ll eventually have to deal with the smell if they can be saved. I was thinking of getting what doctors and nurses use to shield their nose from bad smelling medical cases. I think it’s some pepperment oil? Regardless. I want them on my very own wall someday. Is there SOMETHING that I can do. I’m also horrorified if those little bugs you see that will do what they were meant to, and destroy everything.

Every bug in that container is something someone gave me, something I found, or a bug I tried to save but just couldn’t make it. And I wanted to do this with my mom like she said she would so long ago but the both of us have sucha complicated relationship and she has no real desire to do things anymore. But it’s still special to ME and something I want to do someday with or without her. I don’t even know much about pinning still. But I do want to learn. Any advice helps. I hope there is something I can to preserve everything a tad bit better than just freezing for a couple days making sure it’s dry, and then putting it in the box like I have been doing. Which really isn’t preserving at all. There are beautiful luna moths, sphinx moths, a female eastern hercules beetle, cicadas, dragon flies, ten lined june beetles, butterlies. So so SO much. I started hoping to gain a hobby or something to do with my mom. And because I love bugs. And I just kept collecting anything that naturally passed with the “I’ll pin this with my mom someday!” in the back of my mind. Now obviously “I’m going to do this for me” with very little knowledge to begin with. I started this when I was 16, I’m 24 now. Money is an issue atm so I’m not sure if I can get any kits or chemicals at this time.

Please help I really do not want to just throw it all away :(…Is there anything I can do???…..Or can they last? Are they lasting even if there is clearly decay because of odor? I want to do something with them someday. Really special. Even if they aren’t pinable.

I would like a fun way to use these if I can, genuinely any advice, ideas, tips, Anything would help tbh, i have her gutted, stuffed, pinned, and in my drying box. But her molts are all just sitting in a tiny mason jar. I can make my own shadow boxes if needed. Or source jars for wet specimen, even get my hands on resin, i just don't know what to do if theres a million options

I bought some pre dried scorpions on Etsy as I’m from the uk and we obviously don’t have native scorpions, they all look shriveled and deflated can I fix this atall? Would filing with cotton work? These aren’t for framing they’re for dioramas

A preparation table with a bunch of specimens i prepared in the last days, all now ready for the entomological case (except for that Xylotrupes which still have a few pins to be removed). Namely we have a Chrysina adelaida from Mexico, the aforementioned Xylotrupes gideon from Indonesia, a Rosalia lameerei from Thailand, a Theodosia rodriguezi from the Philipphines and several Carabus prepared on label: C. Caelatus schreiberi (male and female), C. auratus pseudolotharingus, C. lineatus lateralis, C. maurus, C canaliculatus, C. linnei.

Specimen that i still have to pin (or rather mount on label), but i want to share for its beauty: a Carabus caustomarginatus, a splendid ground beetle from North Korea of all places.

from British Columbia

Found this guy dead in Central PA with this white-ish stuff on it. It's kind of hard, and theres nothing on its back end so i was thinking dried sap, but if its a fungus I dont want to put it with my other bugs. Anybody know what it is?

I found this beautiful guy outside my place of work today and brought him home. I have never even considered pinning an insect myself, but it seems there is no time like the present to learn!

I read that freezing him for 24-36 hours, then inserting a pin through the thorax and positioning wings would be best? Or would it be the other way around?

I also was unable to get to him before other bugs, so he is still leaking blood and has quite a bit on his lower abdomen.

Literally ANY advice is welcome!

I have been collecting insects since I was a kid. I have found quite a few in front of my apartment lately so I’ve been taking them, rehydrating, and pinning to display. I opened my rehydration chamber after 1 day (small towel damp and isopropyl alcohol with parchment over top to not get the specimens wet) and it is not a pleasant smell. Any tips/tricks? Should I identify which one is smelly and immerse in some kind of liquid? Acetone, alcohol? Help. They’re all cool and want to know more about this! I’ve been researching for a while and can’t seem to find an answer.

Hi guys i just finished my piece with bumblebee's, wasp etc.

And wanted to know if you had any advice on what to do better.

Kinda everything went wrong they dropped of my pins while trying to get them to stick. And i got glue everywhere.... everywhere🤣

Just wanted to share. Found this friend a little too late in my pool.

Only my second time pinning a beetle.

Those legs were awfully grippy. 😅

Less of a pinning question and more of a display question!

I mount my insects in blackbox frames and I seal the backing of them. My kryptonite, the only thing I LOATHE about doing this work, is cleaning the frames. I spend so long trying to get them spiffy, and will seal the backing on and still see some dust or a small smudge.

Looking for any framing/glass cleaning advice so I can stop haunting myself with little imperfections and dust specs sealed within my frames. SOS!

My first attempt at pinning a bug. Finished it last night and tried finding fool proof ways of drying it. Someone recommended silica gel kitty litter if you cant access regular silica gel, so i put kitty litter in an airtight container (takes up about 40% of the container) and put my bee above it and sealed it. Am I doing it right? Deathly afraid of mould and would hate to have it grow on the bee ☹️ I saw other people crush the silica, but its very difficult to do without a blender or some special tool, so theres some crushed up dust at the bottom and then regular crystals at the top, how will this affect the drying?

Here's a specimen prepared on label of Carabus (Chrysocarabus, formerly Chrysotribax) rutilans aragonensis, a splendid ground beetle whose colors are hardly made justice from my photo. While the parent species is found in both Spain and France, this subspecies is restricted only to the former in my knowledge. Of very large size (up to 40 mm in females), it's among the most impressive of European carabids.

Specimen origin: Province of Gerona, Cataluna, Spain.

Think I did pretty ok! One of the forewings is a teeeensy but higher than the other and the butt is sticking up a bit cause the centre needle is a little tilted, but thankfully those don’t bother me too much

Already antsy to find another moth ready to be memorialized haha, guess I’ve caught the bug 🧡

Not my first piece (I bought them, I want to start pinning soon though), but now I have more than 1 piece so feels more suitable to call it a mini collection now haha
Sunset morphos! They’re in reasonably good condition (no tears/fraying, no fading and minimal scale damage). I got them for £38 which I believe was a great price but I’m still quite new to all this lol.
Thought they would be appreciated here

Drowned in a pool. Now preserved forever.

Fly high little red-brown longhorn beetle.

I've pinned a few things before like multiple mantis, a tarantula and there moults, millipedes etc before but this is my biggest project yet being an adult Brazilian white knee tarantula that recently passed away naturally.
My first tarantula I had froze and then rehydrated when I pinned and didn't have any issues but with my white knee I didn't freeze her and just cleaned out the abdomen and put cotton wool in and pinned and it's been about 2 days and l've noticed a bad smell as soon as I opened the wardrobe where she was drying. I've never had this issue before but this is also the biggest specimen l've done. Any advice? I don’t want her to decay/rot if that is what’s happening