?Best Preservative/Protectant for use on decayed tissue?

Submitted by Amy on 07/27/2003. ( rattus_amyus@yahoo.com ) 67.30.12.200

Hello everyone,

I am once again brought back to your forum with another question. I have a (practically mummified) pet rat that I originally had planned to keep just the bones of, but have now decided to try something different with. I want to preserve what is left of the tissue on bone - I'd prefer it to be hard so that it does not crumble, but it will not be handled, only displayed. What should I coat it with? And what condition (dry? does it matter if the tissue is very fragile or even jerky like?) does it need to be in before I coat it?

It's has been kept outside in hot, humid temperature for the past 2-3 weeks This may be exraneous information. So please forgive my ignorance as I do not know if it is important or not in choosing what kind of protectant to use.

I would appreciate any help that you could offer me.

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dab with preservit...

This response submitted by trappersteph on 07/28/2003. ( ) 64.12.96.107

Try some Rittel preservit,dab it on gently,let dry,then shellac or modpodge the whole thing. Thats what I would do at least. I have a dried out possum head ( mostly skull) that I shellaced years ago that is still ok,but the shellaced dried flesh on coyote skeleton got eaten by mice!


Preservative/protectant

This response submitted by Amy on 07/28/2003. ( ) 67.30.12.164

I'm sorry, could someone please translate shellac and modpodge for me? What about brushing on a coat of formalin instead of preservit...or would that make it too brittle?

Thanks again


Nevermind...

This response submitted by Amy on 07/28/2003. ( ) 67.30.12.164

What if I don't want a glossy finish? Which would be best then to use?


formalin should work

This response submitted by trappersteph on 07/29/2003. ( ) 64.12.96.107

..but you still need to keep the skeleton from being brittle.Modpodge does come in a matte finish though,but I have never tried it to see if its trully matte and not glossy.


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