What is the best way to preserve and / or store horse tails which are not going to be placed on a model? I've got 3. Can they be placed in a storage case without any preserving chemicals?
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Your horsetail needs to be fleshed and tanned or at the very least dry preserved, depending on how it is going to be used. If you are just going to use it as a wall hanging either dry preserve it at the very least after you fleshed it properly or tan it. Horsetails have a rather large piece of fatty skin attached to the hair which needs to be throuroughly fleshed. I've done several, and after fleshing I tan all of mine. They last a lot longer this way and won't start smelling nor attracting insects.
If you haven't done anything to them yet the best way is to store them in the freezer in a plasticbag until you get to them. Otherwise they will rot like any other hide would.