(On supporting shells for photography) Perhaps sand would work well too and make
a nice background as well.  White or sand-coloured horticultural quartz sand
might work well and is easily obtainable in small bags at garde centers for those
of us who live far from a beach.

Nora
Calgary, Alberta
Canada

Kurt Auffenberg wrote:

> Tim,
> I've never used cotton gloves for shells, but it probably is a good idea.
> Be careful with cowries though......slippery little devils ....
>
> I use shot from a shotgun shell to orient shells for photography.  The
> plasticine clay does leave an oily residue and should probably be avoided.
> #7 or #8 shot works best......
>
> Kurt
>
> At 10:51 AM 1/24/2000 -0500, you wrote:
> >Dear Mollusca,
> >   We are evaluating our specimen conservation practices and environment at
> >the Delaware Museum of Natural History. The subject of cotton gloves has
> >arisen. Wearing cotton gloves has already been encouraged for handling old
> >library materials and for handling vertebrate mounts and study skins. Cotton
> >gloves helps conserve the materials by keeping oils from the hands off the
> >books and specimens. A conservator recently suggested we should wear cotton
> >gloves when handling mollusk shells.
> >   Do museum staff at other institutions wear gloves or other hand
> >protection when handling mollusk specimens? If not, do you think you (they)
> >should?
> >   On a related subject, on the subject of oil, I sometimes mount mollusk
> >specimens on plasticine (oil clay) when I need them in a particular
> >orientation for photography or drawing. Is this oil a concern to the
> >specimen conservation? If so, what is a better method for mounting
> >specimens?
> >   Thank you very much,
> >
> >Timothy A. Pearce, Ph.D., Curator of Mollusks
> >Delaware Museum of Natural History
> >Box 3937, 4840 Kennett Pike        302-658-9111 x319
> >Wilmington, DE 19807-0937, USA    [log in to unmask]
> >