Finally got orchid mantises again, I have a pair now and both are very young. With any luck I can get the male to mature slowly enough raise another generation. I really like working with this species of mantis. They naturally pose well and will after awhile allow you to pose them with a stick. Above is the new male and bellow are some I have worked with before. I had a female 3 or so years back and a friend let me shoot his female for an hour or so last year.
awful videos of mantises eating
I should edit these into something better at some point. Video quality also isn't so hot, but here you go, awful videos of mantises eating.
The nightmare of mounting skins
I finally got around to documenting the two skins I've had somewhat successfully mounted. The process has been long draw out and trying. I originally wanted to mount them between sheets of museum glass (which that glass just even more amazing, tru-view updated their design and it's awesome) but I have been unable to find anyone willing to try. I know what needs to be done to do it. Frustratingly I have clear idea of the process and know someone with the tools but have been unable to go give it try. As result I've been looking into other options.
My coworkers at the frameshop I work at recommended a company here in SF called Paragon Frame that specializes in custom acrylic display cases. Having explored similar services paragon seems reasonably priced and willing to try to do it. Other places have flat out refused. While acrylic is far from my ideal it has worked with some limitations. Air bubbles are unavoidable in the process and vary widely in appearance. Of further issue is that the skins themselves are surprisingly fragile. Of the 3 attempted 2 have been successful. The failure essentially disintegrated upon the application of the gel bonding the plexi together.
Of a benefit though is the price and diversity of the plexi available. Rather than having to stack many sheets of museum glass to get the desired depth I can use a thicker base piece with framing grade UV plex as the top piece. Museum grade plexi is awfully tempting price prohibitive at this point and who knows how it would react with the glue. Similarly it comes in a diversity of colors. I've had the two successful ones mounted onto black plexi as well. It does give a kind of depth-less look but bubbles are too problematic to be reliable, especially in the corners (the white glare you see in the corners of the images) so in future ones I intend to just float them over the black plexi. Honestly this isn't ideal either, getting everything clean and polished before sealing it from dust will be nightmare but that's a game for next batch that will be done.
I'll be making a how-to on the frame design soon on instructables for another go at the Autodesk residency if you're interested in seeing the internals of the frames. They're 3D printed custom frames with LED lights attached on the inside.
