Hi! I’ve been eyeballing your insect pins - any tips for getting into insect pinning as a hobby? I’m a little obsessed right now lol.
I'd say my most important tips are
Don't put pins through the wings or legs.
Instead of gluing a specimen into a case, keep the pin on and stick it into the backing or set. This lets you change your mind later.
Really do your research when it comes to insect sources. Anyone selling perfect specimens, especially lepidopterans, is not "letting them live their full life," if they were, the wings would have damage. (+ species that definitely aren't bred in captivity like bees or cicadas)
Don't glue your cases shut or get displays that permanently seal, in case you end up with a pest problem or moisture inside.
For lepidopteran wings, smooth wide tipped forceps are the best. They cause zero damage if you're careful.
Ecology supplies is great for everything you'd need, but if you're a little tight on money, the cheapest storage I've found worth buying is the wooden display cases from little caterpillar art for $50. The wood is soft enough that you can hammer in a sawtooth hanger on the back and put it on your wall.
Pinning with sewing pins is a-ok! But! You'll want to use actual entomology pins to go through the body to avoid bad reactions with the metal and specimen.
As you've probably seen from my pinning pictures, you don't need to buy a fancy wooden board. Foam or cardboard thrown together gets just as good results! For my foam, I just cut a small groove into it. For the cardboard, I pin two small thin pieces onto a larger one with a gap running down the center between the top two for the body to sit inside of.
If you struggle to get your work symmetrical, you can pin down grid paper below your specimen to act as a guide - this I learned from a pro
That's all I can think of right now! Feel free to ask questions about any of this or about anything I didn't mention, and I may add more onto this post later if something else comes to mind.
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