heat press fig2 is an illustration of a representative heat press 200 with a saturated snake shed 214 positioned for flash drying which may be used with the disclosed method the illustrated heat press is preferably a fusion u00ae heat press manufactured by hotronix u00ae of carmichaels pa however it is within the scope of the present invention that an alternative heat press is used for flash drying of snake shed or other biological material for some aspects of the present invention a heating device other than a heat press such as a heating iron could be used to provide flash drying of snake shed or another biological material the press 200 includes a base 202 a lower platen 204 a lower platen fitted cover sheet 206 an upper heated platen 208 an upper cover sheet 210 and a user interface 212 the cover sheets 206 210 are preferably made from ptfe although other materials such as other polymers may be suitable the lower cover sheet 206 is fitted closely to and covers the rest of the lower platen 204 the upper heated platen 208 is shiftable into and out of engagement with the lower platen 204 to heat material positioned between the platens in fig2 the lower platen 204 is shifted to a laterally extended position and the upper platen 208 is in an upper disengaged position to begin heating the lower platen 204 is then moved to a retracted position below the upper platen 208 with the lower platen 204 retracted an engagement lever 216 can be swung forwardly to move the upper platen 208 from the upper disengaged position to a lower engaged position the lower engaged position engages the upper cover sheet 210 so that the upper cover sheet 210 and lower cover sheet 206.