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andymc
cocoa beetles from zanzibar



Registered: 11/25/09
Posts: 2,395
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How andymc makes prints 7
#12199216 - 03/14/10 07:25 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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I've been complimented on my prints, and I do things just a little bit differently than the other teks I've read on the Shroomery, so I thought I'd write up my technique. Thanks very much to RogerRabbit for looking it over.
There's no big innovation here - most of this is stolen straight from other peoples' teks. The reasoning is that I like to use a method like this one for making spore syringes (summary: drop foil print into ziploc baggie, inject water from blanks, suck spore water back out of the baggie) but I found the other printing teks mildly unsatisfying from the standpoint of sterility; I want to make sure that the piece of foil I drop into my baggie, and anything that touches it, stays sterile. With the other teks I tried, I found that difficult to do - particularly when printing larger caps. I use my glovebox quite a lot, so I can't just leave everything in there while the spores drop.
I've documented my entire procedure, including simple stuff found elsewhere, just so this can be a complete step-by-step.
First step is to cut squares of foil and sterilize them. Obtain a nice big jar, such as a pickle/gherkin jar, and clean off the label. You'll also need scissors and some good foil (the extra thick or "heavy duty" stuff if you can get it). I use Waitrose extra thick (UK). Clean up your workspace with Lysol or Oust, and wear gloves if you prefer to avoid getting fingerprints and other hand ickies on the foil.
We are going to need 2 squares of foil for each print. Make them nice and large; I cut off a strip 8-10 cm wide, and then cut that into 4 equal rectangles. Put them into the jar. I make a lot of prints, so I like to cut at least 20-40 squares at a time.
   
Now we need a lid for our jar, but we don't want to use the original one because it will have sealing material that will char and melt and make a mess. Cut another strip of foil, fold it in half, and fashion a foil lid for the jar as shown. Then preheat your oven to 250c and bake your jar for an hour to sterilize your foil (with the oven door closed of course)
   
Next we select the caps to print. I like these three from this cake

After your jar of foil squares has cooled (when it's cool enough to hold, it's cool enough) collect materials appropriate for the number of prints you'll be making. You'll need a small, portable hard surface for each cap to rest on. I like to use slimline CD jewel cases. You'll also need something to cover the caps while printing. I use petri dishes for most caps, but some caps are too tall so I use drinking glasses for those. In this case, one of those 3 caps I selected looks too tall for a petri. You'll also need some paper towel, a scalpel or knife to cut the cap from the stem, and some alcohol/wipes to clean it. Here's everything assembled and ready to go.

Wrap the jewel cases in squares of paper towel as shown, and load everything into your glovebox. My glovebox is really just a "still air box" constructed from a plastic tote and some tupperware food containers (Dremels are awesome). Give everything a spray with Oust and attach the lid. Wait a few minutes to let the Oust work its deadly magic.
  
Disinfect your gloves with alcohol gel and go into the glovebox to remove the foil lid from your pickle jar. Remove foil squares one by one and put them on your jewel cases, shiny side up, covering each one with a petri dish as you go. I like using the petris because you can stack them like this. When finished, put the foil lid back on your pickle jar.
   
Disinfect your scalpel with alcohol/wipes and cut the mushroom cap from its stem. Try to leave as little stem as possible attached to the cap (ideally, we want to cap to sit flat on the foil). Hold each cap by its edges and carry it into your glovebox through the hand holes. Lift a petri, place the cap on the foil, and re-cover with the petri. If you have a 'proper' glovebox with no holes, you'd have to get the caps into the glovebox before closing it. The point is that the sterile foil is never exposed to the open air, and is uncovered only momentarily whilst you place the cap on it.
  
You can now open your glovebox and move your stacks of printing caps somewhere safe, like a high shelf where no kids, girlfriends, or dogs can disturb them. Some people say to let spores drop for 24 hours, but I've found that 24 hours can lead to disappointingly light prints. 36 hours never disappoints, in my experience. As you can see, that one cap was indeed too tall for a petri, so I used the drinking glass after all.

After 36 hours, move everything back into your glovebox, along with an unfolded paperclip and some alcohol/wipes with which to disinfect it. Give everything inside the glovebox a spray with Oust, attach the lid, and wait a few minutes. Don your gloves and disinfect them with alcohol gel. One by one, remove petris and carefully poke the paperclip into the caps, just enough to lift them straight off the foil. Don't slide the cap around on the foil, and don't puncture the foil with the paperclip. Re-cover each print with its petri as soon as you've lifted the cap. The caps can now join their friends in the dehydrator (they're still good to use). When finished, open your glovebox and put your prints somewhere where they can dry for 24 hours. I put them into my desiccant chamber.
   
After 24 hours, we're ready for the last step. Assemble the materials you'll need, which include your prints, your pickle jar of foil squares, scissors for cutting foil, a straight edge (I use this knife, but a small ruler would probably be better), some alcohol/wipes to clean everything, some ziploc baggies for your finished prints, and a sharpie or other marker to label them. Put everything into the glovebox, give it all a spray with some Oust, attach the lid, and wait a few minutes.
 
Don your gloves and disinfect them with alcohol gel. Go into the glovebox and remove petris one by one from your prints. For each print, cut away the excess foil so that you're left with just a small, relatively sterile square of foil. Disinfect your scissors and straight edge with the alcohol/wipes.
  
Remove the foil lid from your pickle jar and remove a square of foil. Hold it shiny side up. Place your straight edge along one side, perhaps 5mm from the edge, and crease it upwards.
  
Take your sqare of printed foil, and place it face-down (print down) on the second square, with one side tucked inside the crease. Now fold the crease down tightly over the print to hold it in place. Holding the folded down side, cut away the excess foil from the bigger piece of foil, so that approximately 5mm remains on each of the 3 sides.
   
Take your straight edge and use it to crease/fold the remaining 3 sides upwards over the smaller (printed) piece of foil, like so:
 
Finally, use your marker to label the larger piece of foil (on the side with no folds showing - the piece that doesn't have the print on it). Seal it inside a ziploc baggie and you're finished.
 
Don't forget to donate some of your prints to the FSRE (Free Spore Ring Earth - http://www.fsre.nl) so that everyone from around the World can continue to exchange free, high quality prints. Their address is:
FSRE Postbus 2372 5600 CJ EINDHOVEN The Netherlands
Happy printing
-------------------- How I make spore prints
Trade List
My flow hood
If he asks me "Did you have a good time?" I'll say,
"Get the lights, Mr. Grim Reaper" -odds
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JonEveryman88
ಠ_ಠ



Registered: 01/18/10
Posts: 1,638
Loc: Land of Maple Syrup
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: andymc]
#12199237 - 03/14/10 07:34 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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LeopardMan
Constantly changing



Registered: 09/21/09
Posts: 5,467
Loc: A tree house
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: andymc]
#12199264 - 03/14/10 07:45 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Very detailed. 5 (legal) shrooms for you
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You have to die a few times before you can really live.
-Charles Bukowski-
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Damion5050
Mush Doctor


Registered: 05/01/08
Posts: 12,493
Loc: Lost In Translation !
Last seen: 3 years, 11 months
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: LeopardMan]
#12199273 - 03/14/10 07:56 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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That is very detailed and awesome but to much work for me lol.
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St. Chibes
Shermanii


Registered: 02/11/10
Posts: 823
Loc: NC
Last seen: 9 years, 10 months
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: Damion5050]
#12199305 - 03/14/10 08:18 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Hell yeah! This is super helpful! Thanks for the post.
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Check out my Original Instrumental Piece:
Photinus pyralis
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dicky21



Registered: 10/22/09
Posts: 1,612
Loc: UK
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: St. Chibes]
#12201509 - 03/14/10 04:40 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Nice Tek. Really enjoyed reading through it. The TEK on FSRE doesnt seem too bad but 16 hours definately isnt long enough for a print:
http://www.fsre.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=45
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oden42
Wanderer



Registered: 01/29/10
Posts: 261
Last seen: 13 years, 8 months
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: dicky21]
#12201592 - 03/14/10 04:53 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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--------------------

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most."
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badman


Registered: 06/14/06
Posts: 4,039
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: oden42]
#12201833 - 03/14/10 05:28 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Psuper
Psilocybin


Registered: 02/12/08
Posts: 2,878
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 1 month, 1 day
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: dicky21]
#12201888 - 03/14/10 05:38 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
dicky21 said: Nice Tek. Really enjoyed reading through it. The TEK on FSRE doesnt seem too bad but 16 hours definately isnt long enough for a print:
16 hours is more than enough time for a good spore deposting cap. Many caps can be printed twice if wanted. I've printed a cap twice in 14 hours. ~P~
-------------------- Clinical Management of High Dose Psilocybin Sessions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbHOTIqjZLk
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andymc
cocoa beetles from zanzibar



Registered: 11/25/09
Posts: 2,395
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: Psuper]
#12201979 - 03/14/10 05:54 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Thanks for all the kind words and shrooms fellas!
Quote:
Psuper said: 16 hours is more than enough time for a good spore deposting cap. Many caps can be printed twice if wanted. I've printed a cap twice in 14 hours. ~P~
It's certainly true that some caps drop plenty of spores in just a few hours. Others are definitely slower. When I'm doing a stack of them, 36 hours virtually guarantees that they all leave nice, dark prints.
I don't wait until I see mushrooms blasting spores all over my FC; I just eyeball the shape of the caps and pick them all at once, so perhaps some aren't quite ready to sporulate when I harvest them?
-------------------- How I make spore prints
Trade List
My flow hood
If he asks me "Did you have a good time?" I'll say,
"Get the lights, Mr. Grim Reaper" -odds
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Psuper
Psilocybin


Registered: 02/12/08
Posts: 2,878
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 1 month, 1 day
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Prints [Re: andymc]
#12202005 - 03/14/10 06:00 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
andymc said: Thanks for all the kind words and shrooms fellas!
Quote:
Psuper said: 16 hours is more than enough time for a good spore deposting cap. Many caps can be printed twice if wanted. I've printed a cap twice in 14 hours. ~P~
It's certainly true that some caps drop plenty of spores in just a few hours. Others are definitely slower. When I'm doing a stack of them, 36 hours virtually guarantees that they all leave nice, dark prints.
I don't wait until I see mushrooms blasting spores all over my FC; I just eyeball the shape of the caps and pick them all at once, so perhaps some aren't quite ready to sporulate when I harvest them?
Well if it was a multi-spore project to begin with it's hard to say how many different fruting strains your picking. Some will drop earlier, some will drop less, some won't print. ~P~
-------------------- Clinical Management of High Dose Psilocybin Sessions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbHOTIqjZLk
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Themadhatter106
Psychedelic Teacher



Registered: 06/18/09
Posts: 100
Loc: USA
Last seen: 8 years, 7 months
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Re: Prints [Re: Psuper]
#12202302 - 03/14/10 06:55 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Nice tek, I like the emphasis on sterility because if you make a contaminated print and go to inoculate without isolating on agar your whole grow is screwed as long as your using that print.
I have a question though. Why do you wrap your CD jewel cases in paper towel? It is to give it a little air to dry the print? Couldn't contaminants get on the opposite side of the foil from the unsterile paper towel? Wouldn't it be better to not cover the jewel case that way you can wipe the jewel case with alcohol in your glove box?
-------------------- "Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out"- Dr.Timothy Leary
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" - Alice (Alice in Wonderland)
Don't Grow mushrooms just because you want to trip. Grow them to stop drug dealers from going to jail and for the satisfaction of being self-sufficient.
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andymc
cocoa beetles from zanzibar



Registered: 11/25/09
Posts: 2,395
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Quote:
Themadhatter106 said: I have a question though. Why do you wrap your CD jewel cases in paper towel? It is to give it a little air to dry the print? Couldn't contaminants get on the opposite side of the foil from the unsterile paper towel? Wouldn't it be better to not cover the jewel case that way you can wipe the jewel case with alcohol in your glove box?
I think you might've got me there. Yes, other people seem to believe that having something breathable (like a towel or paper towel) underneath helps the process. I don't really know whether that's true. If not, your idea of skipping the paper towel and sanitizing the jewel case seems reasonable. Else you could use an extra square of sterile foil to sit on the paper towel, underneath the one you're printing on.
-------------------- How I make spore prints
Trade List
My flow hood
If he asks me "Did you have a good time?" I'll say,
"Get the lights, Mr. Grim Reaper" -odds
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Fleadh
Eh No....



Registered: 05/11/09
Posts: 2,355
Loc: Ireland
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Re: Prints [Re: andymc]
#12204846 - 03/15/10 04:58 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Regarding the large amount of handling of the Kitchen foil pre-printing.
Kitchen foil fresh off a roll is sterile, Its manufactured and rolled at very high tempratures. If you discard the first 4 inches or so and only handle the foil and cut it to shape inside the glovebox there is no need to go through the whole cutting it up, sticking it in a jar oven heating it and so on procedure.
Its kinda the same as buying a brand new syringe, taking it out of its wrapper in a not streile environment, sticking it in a jar, Sticking it in a oven, letting it cool, and then opeining it in a glovebox and then using it when all you needed to do was unwrap it in the glovebox and use it.
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Friendships have come and gone but I always regret the girls I didn't bang
I just dont really care what you think
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andymc
cocoa beetles from zanzibar



Registered: 11/25/09
Posts: 2,395
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Re: Prints [Re: Fleadh]
#12204858 - 03/15/10 05:16 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Fleadh said: Regarding the large amount of handling of the Kitchen foil pre-printing.
Kitchen foil fresh off a roll is sterile, Its manufactured and rolled at very high tempratures. If you discard the first 4 inches or so and only handle the foil and cut it to shape inside the glovebox there is no need to go through the whole cutting it up, sticking it in a jar oven heating it and so on procedure.
I reckon you're right about fresh foil being sterile. I use foil for lots of things but I suppose it would be possible to keep a separate roll in a clean environment, and only handle it (and the box it comes in) with gloves, etc.
Cutting a bunch of squares and cooking them seems pretty simple and foolproof though.
Quote:
Fleadh said: Its kinda the same as buying a brand new syringe, taking it out of its wrapper in a not streile environment, sticking it in a jar, Sticking it in a oven
Personally, I wouldn't recommend that
-------------------- How I make spore prints
Trade List
My flow hood
If he asks me "Did you have a good time?" I'll say,
"Get the lights, Mr. Grim Reaper" -odds
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Gymnopilus Purpura
Shroomer


Registered: 02/05/10
Posts: 45
Loc: Japan
Last seen: 14 years, 7 months
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Re: Prints [Re: andymc]
#12204866 - 03/15/10 05:23 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Do I need to heat foil in oven if I can wipe them with antibacterial wipes (both sides for all foil pieces)?
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Edited by Gymnopilus Purpura (03/15/10 05:31 AM)
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andymc
cocoa beetles from zanzibar



Registered: 11/25/09
Posts: 2,395
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Quote:
Gymnopilus Purpura said: Does I need to heat foil in oven if I can wipe them with antibacterial wipes (both sides for all foil pieces)? 
Antibacterial wipes will sanitize, but not sterilize, the foil. Antibacterial wipes won't necessarily kill any spores - the real problem - we're not trying to defend against bacteria as much as opportunistic spores of a non-mushroom variety that want land on our print.
The sanitizing gel I use to disinfect things is 70% isopropyl but leaves behind a filmy residue (other antibacterial ingredients, presumably) that I wouldn't want on my foil, though some inevitably transfers to the outer sides of the foil from touching it with my gloves.
EDIT: As Fleadh says, foil is probably going to be pretty sterile anyway if you handle it carefully (i.e. as little as possible). I would guess that rubbing it with antibacterial wipes would be worse than doing nothing.
-------------------- How I make spore prints
Trade List
My flow hood
If he asks me "Did you have a good time?" I'll say,
"Get the lights, Mr. Grim Reaper" -odds
Edited by andymc (03/15/10 05:39 AM)
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Gymnopilus Purpura
Shroomer


Registered: 02/05/10
Posts: 45
Loc: Japan
Last seen: 14 years, 7 months
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OK, thanks for advice adymc.
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libertaire
liberator



Registered: 08/06/08
Posts: 4,204
Last seen: 4 years, 6 months
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Great write up, thanks for sharing!
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dangermike78
GONZO



Registered: 03/11/10
Posts: 891
Loc: Sum wheres?
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Re: How andymc makes prints [Re: andymc]
#12249072 - 03/22/10 02:43 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Just wanted to thank you for this thread! This is the best print tek I've seen!
-------------------- " We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
url=https://files.shroomery.org/files/10-21/521117495-100_7372.jpg] [/url]
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