ok, well today I am cleaning up all the slides and stuff. I am getting ready for some serious magnification at whatever thousands of times using the 100X objective. I have a hash slide that I can use, it’s already prepped! I will prep some more eventually using a single trichome smear! I just have to make the hash first heh heh.
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I discovered the government issued hand sanitizer is 70% ethyl so I used it to scrub the equipment clean then rinsed off all the aloe vera. I scrubbed up all the slides, cover slips and the area around the 'scope. I used a damp cloth on the microscope, no bits of plant residue to scrub off. Got to keep the lab area clean or else I could be the one giving buds contamination. I thew away all unsmoked buds 
they weren’t worthy!!!
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I took a quick photo of the sbr hash I have preserved from the cupboard. See… I didn’t take that one out, so it didn’t get ruined. Lesson: don’t remove the slides from the cupboard. I need one of those cases where I can slot 100 different cannabis samples under glass.
You can tell what it is because of the dots in the trichome.
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ok well I’ll do the 100x objective tomorrow, I’m pretty tired. I did get in some nice images though! I was hoping I could image the sbr again with those dotted trichomes! wow! I measured them at 1.5μm approximately, though there are larger and smaller ones like speckles. I’ve been reading up on my oil lens iris protocol, to make sure I don’t do something stupid like smash the cover slip hah hah.
Single spotted trichome, it’s like a leopard! There are actually quite a number of them in there. Only took a couple min of scanning at 400x to find a cluster.
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here I’ve focused on a single one in the mass, it’s standard size at about 10μm.
I couldn’t tell you the magnification I think it’s 1000x
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Reminds me a little of the early satellite images of Mars.
What do you think that ‘squiggle’ might be under the 10um red bar in the last photo might be?
Cheers
G
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I think it’s just some trapped air in a hash pocket between the glass and hash.
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well, I am still waiting for a drop to form in the cedar oil. I wonder if it’s solidified? Sadly I think I need to clean the objective and also get new oil. I can’t get a good focus on the calibration slide using just air. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh welllllll! stupid thing. I’ll work on that, get it operational. I was really looking forward to a 2000x image of those spots. hah hah when you are focusing in you keep listening for the clunk of metal hitting glass, telling you to stop going down. Good thing they are spring loaded. I used the focus at 10x then switch halfway then put the drop on, which didn’t work, then raise the stage slowly until you get a focal plane you like.
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ok! My kit is ancient and expired. Modern immersion oils won’t do what mine did, dry up and solidify. OK new kit needed there as well. I can get concave slides and type A and B oil. The only thing else I could get was an LED light I 'spose. It would generate far less heat! Light colors don’t matter, I control that with software. I’ll wait a bit before I muster up an order, so I can get all the upgrades I need in one more buy.
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wow I unleashed some scanning there. Just some harvest scans I got carried away lol! I made this unbelievable one I’ll post first. I kept the raw data for this one, it might be a keeper!
I love that color!
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And I got a bonus shot as well. This is what happens when I make that wax, the trichome heads goo together like some kind of goo. Check out the Goo!!!
whatever magnification that is, a quadrillion times? hah hah! I swear you can see the internal cellular structures of the stalk at this level.
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wow, that is just incredible!!!
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Book cover art! 
Cheers
G
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That is definitely the poster winner imho! Super cool images!
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Thanks everyone! I had a crazy microscope attack there and just went insane snapping so many photos. I didn’t keep them all heh heh You can see the colors of the plant starting to turn. It’s like a purplish coating on the edges of everything so far. It seems like there are a host of changes that happen close to harvest time. Hopefully I can pinpoint the day I see the first amber one. That would be…something. I want to start documenting the meat breath ones soon! They are starting to bud. I’m not hoping to learn something in particular from this study…but, I’m hoping to learn something! How fast the trichomes grow? I dunno, we’ll see!
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ok I’ve been playing with my new sample. It’s fun! Tomorrow I hope to encase it in glass. We’ll see how that goes, I have to test my prep kit tonight and replace anything tomorrow. I mean get new glue. I haven’t really made new samples and stuff in a while, phew like years. We’ll dust that off like everything else lol!!!
I hope my measuring is calibrated correctly. It seems right? I have to check again. I’ll use the instructions on the slide?
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you think my measurements might be off by a factor of 10? I’m suspicious, I will check other people’s measurements to see. The instructions aren’t clear on the calibration, I mean, as to what measurement I am looking at each division is 10μm? I’ll get it straight before I get all crazy with it. I have to make sure when I measure something it should be the same as when someone with an electron microscope measures it. For some reason I thought each division was 1μm on the slide. hah hah I will measure the whole thing and confirm what it is.
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mmm yah classic I’m off by a factor of 10 I just verified it. Ohh my. I better go re-calibrate! I have figured out a better system though I will calibrate using the 50 micron divider instead of trying to draw a line between the 10s. I will do that tomorrow, I’m not going to do it tonight I’ll probably do something stupid again and be off on the measurements lol!!!
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