[Histonet] preparing a 20% polyvinyl alcohol solution

[Thomas, Nancy]

Dear Histonet,
I am making a 20% PVA solution for cryo embedding murine bones, following John Tarpley's recipe found in his JOH article, March 2003.  He mentions no problems in making it, but after 3 days on the stir plate, it still has not gone into solution.  The PVA settles very quickly, even before I can pour it into a mold to freeze and test.  Is there a trick to this that I need to know?  Any advice would be so great.
Thank you,
Nancy Thomas