How To Preserve Bugs in Resin: giving specimens a new life after death. step by step with time-lapse
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2020
- You asked and I filmed! This is the long awaited video on how I use resin to save bugs that have passed away; all of the steps, tricks, tips, tools, and challenges that come with working 2 part epoxy resin into beautiful art pieces. Please let me know if you have any favorite pieces or questions by leaving a comment. and Sorry for the music level bumps lol :)
- Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
Thanks so much. I lost my pink toe tarantula this morning and have been panicked on what to do. I didn’t want to jar him up so I went and bought resin and molds. He will be a fabulous cup coaster 😂 not the most honoring but he will remain part of my daily life and I like that idea.
Wow I didn't know you could do that with the bugs. When my son was in 4-H I love catching bugs. I had bug field manual and was forever looking for names of the bugs we found. I found a Carrion beetle for the first time thought it was so beautiful, found out it like decaying flesh. I was so tickled! And mud dabbers the beautiful blue ones, scary but amazing. I only wish I would have been an entomologist as I am fascinated with bugs. I saw a massive locust at one county 4-H show. It looked like a kid's toy it was gigantic! But my absolute proudest moment was catching a massive water beetle , it's the giant water bug (if I remember right they ate in the true bug category) . I still have it in tbe freezer and my son is done with 4-H but I want to keep it. Resin would be perfect but I would not have a clue how to do it. I just turned 45 but my heart is failing so doubt I will ever get it done before I pass. But oh was I proud. I still have 3 or 4 wooden bug boxes that we won purple ribbons with at the state fair here in South Dakota. I should donate them to you for your cart to show kids. Bugs are amazing! We would spent hours and hours walking alfalfa fields with fishing nets that a friend cut fish net out of and sewed in light scarf material for catching butterflies and bugs. Those were fun times. I even collected a good sized yellow jacket wasps nest as I was cleaning up on the side of house my folks lived at. I was so scared! It was attached to old roll of carpet and I rushed nest and jumped on it with old clear pretzel container then duct taped it (ha ha, I was scared as there were 20 or 30 wasps in container angry as could be) so put it in freezer. We were always going to do project with it for 4-H but never got it done. Thank you for the videos. Take care and stay well.
That's nice grandma
amazing
Resin is much easier than it looks! Don’t be intimidated! There are SO SO many UA-cam tutorials you can follow! If you would like to preserve them in resin & need guidance & advice let me know, if you have Facebook I’d be happy to give you a link to mine so we could correspond. I’m always more than happy to help anyone & thank you for sharing your wonderful story. Such great memories made with your son that he’ll remember for a lifetime ♥️
@@iLitAfuseiCantStop Bless your heart. I will definitely keep you in mind...working on going through all of my stuff so when I pass away my son won't have the mess to sort through. Thank you for your kindness. 🥰
Did you put it in resin? I need an update.
I love this, I have a couple pet arthropods (cockroaches, beetles, a scorpion) and I hate the idea of just disposing of them when they die
That is exactly what started this hobby for me, they are so lovely and sometimes once preserved other people are more likely to give them a closer look :)
I think it's great ... a nice memorial 😀
My snail passed away and I’d like to preserve its shell in resin. Thanks for the great tutorial!
thanks for sharing! I like the idea of using these in art pieces.
While waiting for my resin to arrive I stumbled upon this
Now I'm tempted to look for bugs aaaaaaaa
I really like these, I buy one whenever I find them being sold. Now I learned you can make them yourself!
Beautiful art!! 🐞
We love this ...absolutely in love with the domino roach ones!
The kind of thing I could send over the border 😊
Yay! Thank you for this great step by step video! My nieces, nephews and I have slowly collected almost every type of insect in our state (natural deaths only) and now we want to preserve/label them-so they can use them to teach young kids about all of the cool local bugs we have!
In a perfect world, we would LOVE to create a *{Species Collection}* for all 50 states! ❤️
Thank you again for this tutorial!
shes a preservation queen and nice with it nice video imma do this for my son definitely
These are so cool. I have a dead beetle and a moth saved for resin pieces, and this is really helpful!
I found the prettiest yellow and pink month, somehow in perfect condition, and I've kept it for 2 years waiting to put it in resin
Dope. I found an ox beetle major(and also very big for his species) that had unfortunately drowned in a swimming pool, but I'm trying to decide if I'm gonna pin it or put it in resin. I think I'll probably go the resin route. I just hope I don't F it up and get a bunch of bubbles in it or something.
@@TheImmoralNosferatuZodd you probably already did it but for next time if you don't know when you have the mold filled with resin torch the top a little itll get rid of the bubbles
Hey, how do you keep the insects safe? I just found a dead cicada today what do I do with it
So happy to have found you 💓 this is a great way to protect my collected babies and let my kids play with them.
That's nice grandma
Great video. I have a solution for the floating bug issue. I pour a little bit of the resin into the mould first, let it harden a little, then put the insect in, then fill the rest of the mould with resin.
that’s was quite literally what she did
Thank you for specifying that these lives were not taken for art. I am researching this resin process for the sake of preserving my Tarantula when she passes and care about her. It is quite ugly to watch people kill bugs and laugh about it.
Yeah, some woman on another channel was cheerfully talking about the honeybees she killed, just so her kids could cast them in resin. Never mind that that's illegal.
Thanks for the tutorial
So nice yes I like it
You have a beautiful voice!
Tip, dry using a cup with a spout to pour the resin more accurately
You fast forwarded through the parts I wanted to see! It would be really nice if you did one thing from each step at real speed, like one pour, and one peel out.
Also I was hoping to see how the old ones that you topped off turned out.
I am so curious!
Same
Agreed! Why make a video showing how to do it when you go thru the most important sections at breakneck speed?
thank u 4 the help!! u found a beautiful beetle that is dying. i left him outside but if i find him after he has passed away i will try preserving him!!!
I didn't want to do it. But last night 7/9/21 I was working on my car and my dad went outside, lucky he spotted it. I was working near a almost fully mature Black Widow ⏳ that set up camp at the front of my vehicle. The fact she was there, and never tried to harm me still bothers and intrigues me. My dad killed her with Raid, I get it she's poisonous and harmful. However, it's the fact that she has a natural hourglass that's fully red that represents time, and the rest of her whole body is black. It's how you're meant to not pay attention to anything else but the hourglass. The thing that represents how much time you have from when your bitten to when the poison starts to react. You really gotta respect nature, it's all really fascinating. So, I wanted to preserve her, and this was my first idea to resin her inside of a mold. What shape or design idk. However, seeing how easily it's done truly helps. Not everyday you come across a Black Widow, let alone one that's only a few inches away and doesn't feel threatened by a human presence. Thank you. Truly helped. Even I don't use it this time the gained knowledge and insight really helped. 🤝👍🏼✌🏼🤙🏼
Good I was looking for a tutorial on this
hey nice voice... so i have a dead scorpion picked up in my backyard, wanted to put it in the resin. looking forward to buy the materials.
Exactly what I need. Please explain, resin, proportions, technique, drying, bubbles temperature. I didn't see you working in hardner. Am working scorpions,
I found a deceased bee today in the choir loft of my church; scooped him up not knowing what I’d do with him. I think I’ll try this! I may have yet another hobby!
Looking this up because I wanna preserve an io moth a yellow one really beautiful with the black spot on the wings
this is wonderful thank you. After the passing of my mantis ive decided I wanted to make resin things out of her and her molts. What molds do you recommend? its hard for me to find things that will hold them in their later instar sizes. I wish I could make her final instar into a necklace but the pendant moldings are all quite too small
Did you pin and dehydrate anything before setting it in resin? Trying to decide if I have to take the pinning step for my mantises
Thanks
Thank you for video. Best wishes.😮😮😮😮😮😊😊😊😊😅😅😮😮😮
This is such a great video! I've got bugs and tiny seashells waiting to be resin cast. I have a question, why did you pour it in two parts?
I have learned the hard way how important that first hour is to stop the insects or flowers from floating up. Also I needed to put my wasp upside down in my mold 🤦🏻♀️
Hey Ambassador,
I'm really glad I found you channel Mrs. Arthropod Ambassador... I looked into resin preserving because my Giant Golden Asian Mantis is going to eventually pass (short lives) and I wanted to see if there was a way to preserve her (weird I know, but I think you understand)... But the thing I'm seeing with resin preservation is you can't have them in a specific pose. More or less, just kind of laid flat. I have her here next to me this very moment and she assumes very specific poses. Her poses to me are her identity. Anything different just wouldn't be a good memorial... So my question is, can you meticulously pose the animal between multiple levels/layers of epoxy??? I'm thinking meticulously move her each layer, let the epoxy dry and go from there... I know it would be very difficult because to be malleable she would have to be fresh and hydrated. Which is bad..... Have you been able to get natural looking mantis poses while preserving??? Is something like this even feasible or am I better off memorializing with another method?
Hello and thanks! My best attempts have been to pin them in a natural position right after they pass and then leave them to air dry in the freezer for, honestly with that large of a species almost a year or so, just open air in the freezer the same reason your food ends up tasting bad actually dries out the mantises and works really well for that process. With a large species like that you may also need to clean out their abdomen and stuff w cotton, which can be a little bit of a process. Once you retain that shape though it's whether you'd like to put them in resin or not is your choice, larger specimens like that tend to heat the resin and that may also discolor the mantis, but most mantises seem to carry their color in their body instead of on top of their wings like beetles and other animals that preserve really well, So she may not ever end up being the right color, The only preservation I've seen that's been true to color has used a alcohol wash style dye to recolor the animals after they discolor from the drying/preservation process
Or rather large batches of resin heat themselves it's the size of the chemical reaction not the specimen that's heating the resin lol
Hey there, so did you end up doing 3 or 4 layers of resin for the new pieces?
Layer one: placing the specimen
Layer two: about halfway
Layer Three: topping off
Thanks!
Yeah usually 2-3 layers will do it, also depends on if I estimated mixing enough
@@ArthropodAmbassadors got it thanks!
Would it be a good idea to pour a little 1st then insert specimen to avoid air pockets underneath?
When using the whole bug, do you air dry, oven dry, or silica dry?
Can you give me the description of the resin you are using? and what are all the efficient methods of avoiding air bubbles?
Nice 👍 first
Thanks, is this about what process you use? I think the torch shortens the life of my molds, and I finally got silicon mixing cups and a nice mat to pour over :) i appreciate the push to make this video, I had been waiting to do the scorpion enclosure making, but this was less of a setup lol
Have you used silicone powder they use for flowers?
I have a question what is your choice of resin please thanks
would you need to do anything to say a dead moth before you cast them? worried about the wing dust.
Where did you get your molds? And can you drill a hole through resin?
I want to see what you do to the newly dead insect before putting it into the resin.
sometimes pin them into a good position and let them sit open to the air, if i am worried about color i put the pinned setup into a freezer open to the air. i have also used my freeze dryer. or just use the position they are in. there should be lots of content on YT about pinning and ‘relaxing’ insect specimens:)
I wondered how would you start the process. Reason i ask is a lot of bees are dying in my area and ive been trying to figure out a way to preserve them. They are dying naturally. But i dont know what i have to do after finding them. Do i just start the resin pouring after a few days or? Do i have to like put the bees in something first or like do something to prep them first?
Can you use a heat gun instead of butane lighter?
Looks fantastic, great channel too!
What is the resion you use? What do you mix to get it? Cheers!
Hey thanks for watching! I have used a few types, this one is an unnamed made in usa 50/50 epoxy resin I found on ebay
Hi there... have you ever tried a larger spider after preserving in alcohol first?
I saw that you used a blow torch, will that get rid of any bubbles that form? Every layer I add, a cluster of bubbles form at the top. No matter how careful and slow I mix the resin!! Will a hair dryer work? Please let me know thank you.
Where did you get the molds from?
Can I do it with 1 layer
Does anyone know if this will work with uv resin?
I’ve always thought it was a beautiful way of honoring death & would like to try it myself but I’m not sure it’d work
I definitely want to do this if I take in any injured monarch butterflies and they pass away.. im currently raising monarch caterpillars and I love the little guys so much
Where do you get monarch caterpillars?
@@drwdzz you can buy native milkweed seeds online or go to nurseries! Keep in mind that the milkweed varies in different states. Don't get tropical milkweed (red/yellow flowers or all yellow flowers) as they can help a parasite spread which is hurting the monarch population as they are endangered! Milkweed is the host plant for their caterpillars so make sure to get maybe 2 plants or plant a couple because those caterpillars are going to gobble up all those leaves!
I have a giant water beetle and when it dies I plan on putting it in resin. Any suggestions?
where did you get that first mold you picked up? and where did you get the insects?? they look beautiful by the way
nice work! what is the purpose of the lighter? how do you use it?
pops the bubbles as they rise in the liquid by expanding them w heat. can also use a shop heatgun :)
What molds do you use?
Where did u get the molds?
Heyy! I just found a dead cicada how do I keep it safe until I find more insects. How do you keep it preserved??
Whats your experience with wet specimens. I have two very tiny wet specimen scorpions I’m gonna put in enamel for a ring. Do you think they will decompose over time?
I have some Japanese hornets that I'm casting for one of my nephews... Any things to consider before getting started?
I'd make a suggestion to use a high clarity high build high uv stability epoxy resin. And
I put my scorpion in alcohol. He just passed away. Would it be fine since I did not freeze it? Also what else you use besides epoxy?
I also do resin and would love to try this. I have tried it with insects and plants before, both with wet specimens/fresh plants and with dried specimens/dried plants and they still yellow or brown for me. Do you have any tips on stopping them from yellowing, browning, or looseing color naturally as they age.? (like they would outside of resin) anything helps. Thank you so much in advance. 😊
Hello! You could try a freezedry process, I did some pitcher plants that way. But I'm lucky and was gifted a freezedryer lol prob the easiest thing would be to press and/or freeze til they dry, which is a few months open in a cycling freezer.
thank you. my first tarantula died recently and i wanted to try to preserve him in resin instead of doing a wet specimen or taxidermy (taxidermy sounds like too much work lmfao)
This is my first video of yours that I watched. I have 2 cicadas and a bark scorpion I want to put in resien. The cicadas died naturally and the scorpion was a pet that I unfortunately didnt get a heat lamp in time for texas fall/winter a couple years ago. I want put all of them in resin. So you do half and left them float a bit? Then do the other half after?
My scorpion, named scorpyus, was also amazing and I miss him. He is in a half geode right now in a shrine type think in his old take
This past Fall I found an invasive Spotted Lantern Fly and it's in my freezer in a small bottle. They have the most beautiful under wings. Bright orange with black spots. I'm deciding whether to thaw him out. pin him in a flight position and dry him in floral crystals and pour in resin, OR, make a pair of resin earrings out of those beautiful orange polka dotted wings! It depends on the outcome of the freezing. It may effect the color. Thanks for the video. Didn't know you had to do multiple pours. You're very interesting.
How do I clean uncured resin off from past resin attempts? It's so sticky!
Can u plz share the chemicals u used in this preservation and their quantity
May I know the mixture? Thank you
it's good you took already dead bugs. i saw this other resin video where they shoved live bugs in the freezer, murdered them, and then played with their legs without showing a bit of respect. you earned a like :)
Any experience doing this with fish bones, or bones in general? I think a small alligator gar fish skull would look great
Do you think that Mercola Liquid Glass Crystal would be ideal?
I haven't compared brands, but the one's I have tried seem about the same to me.
Thank I had a pet butterfly that died and this will help keep them remembered
(Thay hed messed up wings so thay couldn't fly.there name was jumpy)
Are you mixed hardner?
found a huge dead cicada killer on the sidewalk and i really want to preserve it
These are awesome! Did you do anything special to preserve the whole insects or just let them dry out (I have a dead spider I want to try this with)
I have experimented with preserving right after death, leaving in cycling freezer for months to slowly dry, or air dry with thinner specimen, all have yielded mixed results so far, the drier the better but some preserved right after death have been fine as well, I think cause of death may have something to do with it, if they died from internal bacterial issues it continues after being cast in resin for example
@Dirk Klapwijk I had one phasmid do fine, just lost color, and a different one went terribly wrong and leaked all sort of goo. Overtime the infection will die out, but the months after casting they can blow up and actually crack the resin! lol lots of bacteria can handle no oxygen, and the death of one type can often feed a different species of microbe, so for all the life to die takes time. the last group are called "anaerobic" as they say in Jurassic Park life finds a way
Could you do the same process with a seahorse skeleton? I’ve had one for years that used to belong to my grandma and I thought it would be a good way to preserve it and keep it safe
I would imagine you could, I've seen seahorses set in resin before. although I suppose there could be the issue of air bubbles becoming trapped in the seahorse skeleton
What did you use to make the glowy marbles?
Heyo! I got a glow in the dark powder pack of the dreaded Amazon ;)
How lomg does a bug need to "thaw" before enclosing them in resin
I didn’t see you arrange the bugs at all? It would be good to see how you manipulate the dried bugs into position.
Hello, they are pinned in shape and stored in the freezer for months beforehand slowly drying as I collect enough to do a group with, then I pull them from the freezer right before this process.
Okay so if my hissing roach dies or I find a dead beetle I can just put them in resin? I don’t have dry them a certain way or preserve them first?
you freeze them then soak in alcohol then wait until they dry is what ik
What is the resin?
Do you need to do something to process the bodies before casting? I've heard that putting anything with moisture in resin is a bad idea and can cause it to grow mold, discolor etc.
depends on the insect and its thickness. i tend to either pin them into the shape i want and leave them open in the freezer for a few months (what i mean by “out of the freezer” at the beginning) if i am concerned about color, or just pin them and let dry if they are thinner. bigger critters like tarantula, large mantises, or roaches need gutted if you dont have time to freeze-dry. but also the parts i am using in the video (wings and pronotum) are fine as-is
I see, thank you so much for the response. I have a tiny jumping spider that I want to memorialize in resin, but his abdomen is way too small to be gutted and re-stuffed. What would you recommend doing? I did some searching and ppl said that the exothermic nature of resin curing can cause the abdomens to burst if they're put directly into resin. @@ArthropodAmbassadors
Have they rot in the resin with the freezing method?
Seems to depend on what condition they were in before freezing and how thick they are, as well as how long they were frozen, you can leave them to dry for months open in the freezer, that seems to work well. But super fresh specimen also tend to be hit and miss.
You could probably use those little squeezable condiment bottles for the resin 🤔. Also does anyone know how to keep the resin from yellowing?
What resin do you use, and what song is in the video? Thanks!
Hello and thanks for watching! I use a 50/50 epoxy resin, they don't have a brand name on the bottle, just says the directions and made in USA, got it off eBay, and I've also used the brand from hobby lobby I think that one's called Crystal Clear? The song is from the free to use UA-cam selection and it's title is 'Mia' ❤️🐞🧡🦋💛🐝💚🐛🪰💙🪳💜🐜🤍🦂🖤🕷️🤎🦗
casting a crawfish me and friends took from a buffet and was friends with for the night
What kind of resin do I need to encase a butterfly??? First timer
depending on the kind of butterfly, often resin will saturate the scales that cause the color and turn them brown. past that I use 50/50 epoxy resin
Thank u n I found a dead monarch butterfly in a parking lot n it's in perfact condition so just thought she was Soo beautiful I wanted to some how keep her
is using two types of resin necessary or can i just go to the craft store and just buy one kind? thank you
When I got a store bought resin kit it already comes with 2 kinds to mix together. I hope this helps!
Yep, as JP mentioned, the type of epoxy is a 50/50 mix, so it takes both liquids to mix in order to create the reaction to cure the resin, so it isn't two types but instead two parts of the same resin, if that makes sense. some resin have a second bit that you add much less of, instead of having both be equal amounts, but I find it easier to do the math on a 50/50 mix :)
Does freezing the scorpion kill it??? I wanna kill a scorpion I found tdy and put it in risen mold and ya but I'm still a beginner so some1 please answer
what kind of resin do you use? can you send me a link to it please? also the silicone molds :)
Have used a few brands of 50/50 epoxy resin, the last type just says 'epoxy resin made in usa' got it off eBay.
@@ArthropodAmbassadors thank you very much, i am new into oddities/taxidermy. and i love your work it is beautiful!! do you have a shop on etsy etc?
Can you use UV resin for this?
Uv resin won't cure thick pieces, so anything like, bigger than 1/2 an inch will be all warped
Hi, what resin are you using?
Hello and thanks for watching! I use a 50/50 epoxy resin, they don't have a brand name on the bottle, just says the directions and made in USA, got it off eBay, and I've also used the brand from hobby lobby I think that one's called Crystal Clear?
How do you repair ones that have air bubbles in them?
Short answer, You don't. you can, as they are drying, use a pressure pot or vacuum chamber to modify the bubbles, or I try to poke and pull them to the top, but once dry bubbles are part of the flaws, along w dog hair that floats up and settles halfway thru the drying process lol
With all of the dog hair in my house, it may be an act of futility to try resin. 😊😆
Thanks for your time and reply
Are you supposed to preserve it first
how do you preserve the spiders so that their legs don’t curl up when they die?
Hello! I pinned it while it dried after finding the mature male just as I had died but still flexible
Unfortunately, you would usually have to kill the spider by putting it in like a small jar with rubbing alcohol or acetone. I think freezing it might make it curl up. You could try rehydrating a spider corpse, look up how to rehydrate a dead bug
@@PastelScoops you can easily relax a specimen after death, so leg curl isn't really an issue, no need to kill them to avoid it. whether freezing or putting in alcohol, pinning until dry is def the trick!
What products did you use and what trey ?
Hello! I use a general 50/50 epoxy resin (all the different brands I've used seem to work exactly the same) and they're just regular silicone molds from Amazon.
@@ArthropodAmbassadors can you send me the link to the molds ?
@@LaurenMC1984 I have bought most of the ones on Amazon, so if you just search 'silicone epoxy mold' they pop up in the first few pages. I got the big rectangle set, the combo sets with the sheets of shapes, the marble makers, collected a lot over time so no idea exact links lol
I want to preserve my butterfly but my mantis discoloured as soon as she touched the resin… i know they will be slightly different bcs they’re ‘wet’ but she was completely different. I’m scared this would also happen with my butterfly.
Does anyoneknow what i did wrong/has tips?