Place your copal with the face you want to polish on the start of the board. With light pressure push the copal to the other end of the board and with the same pressure bring back to the start. This is classed as one stroke

After 25 strokes, wash the copal off in your tub of water. As you can see from the photo, the wet and dry ends up with a white liquid residue so do not be frightened to periodically wash the wet and dry off with water as well. Continue doing 25 strokes until you are within 2.5mm of the insect. Switch to the 600 grade and repeat the process until you get to within 1.5mm then switch to the 1000 grade. Again repeat the process until you reach 1mm then switch to the 2500 grade. When you reach this stage you should have a nice polished surface.

For the final stage you can use a small amount of toothpaste which is equivalent to about 4000 grade wet and dry. Turn a piece of your wet and dry over so that the back is facing upwards and apply a small amount of toothpaste. Add a small drop of water until you get a thin paste and then do at least 100 strokes to give it a lovely polished surface.

Depending on where the insect is in the copal, you may be able to polish the opposite surface to let more light into the copal (see examples in the gallery). However, sometimes only one face can be polished if the insect is very near the surface.