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Hello, trying to reconstruct this horn. I would like to practice filling the gap with something removable before I do anything more permanent. Any suggestions? Most things I find are for small gaps, not large. Can paranoid b72 be used for large gaps? How removable is it? Is there a removable wax I can try?

Greetings! I'm Dok Deino, a Paleontology student who is going into fossil prep. Fortunately, I was able to negotiate a volunteer position with my college advisor. My job: to prepare some specimens that have been in the collection for about 60 years. And one of them is pretty big. It's an unidentified sauropod femur, approximately 1.6-1.8 meters in length, weighing at least 70 kg. Genus unknown, but it is most likely from the Morrison formation. I believe the attached photo is a caudal view of the femur, if anyone wants to take a crack at ID-ing it. My professor and I are currently brainstorming our method of attack, but since neither of us are preparators (yet, in my case), I wanted to reach out to people who are. There's another specimen as well, but we have no idea what it might be. It's a 1.2x.2x.5 meter block of plaster, basically. All we know about the specimen is that the people who retrieved it only jacketed Dinosaur remains. So, if anyone out there has some advice, please respond! Whether for these specimens specifically, or just in general. This is an interesting field that I am very excited to break into! Thank you for reading, -Dok

Good day to all ! I was recently offered (by a Moroccan dealer) 2 heteromorphic ammonites at reasonable prices, and would appreciate any input. Both are around 40cm ( 16 in) in total length, and the details on their proversum, flexus and retroversum seem rather convincing. (see the 1st and 2nd photo) What appeared suspicious are the following: - the 2 ammonites are of non typical colorations (this is due to protective coatings per the vendor) - their remaining matrix seemed too smooth and flat, resembling that of a confirmed plaster casting made in a French museum (see the 3rd photo) It is claimed by the vendor that these Ancyloceras were found in broken pieces and glued back, but were mostly 'originals'. Only their spirals were restored/reconstructed. Similar Ancyloceras Sps from the lower Aptian plurimetric clayey formation of east Paris basin in France are known to be extremely rare (Bersac, 2020), but I have no idea how common these are in similar formations of Morocco. Again, thanks for any input ! reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753396919300497 Bersac, 2020

Hello I have some thin limestone plates that contain fossils. Some are only 1/4 inch thick. I would like to strengthen them with a plaster backing. Is plaster of paris the only ingredient you use or are other strengthening or adhesive agents used? Perhaps to help attach the plate more firmly? Help would be appreciated Thanks

Hello, I'm considering getting a mosasaur jaw with tooth/teeth, but seeing as how incredibly common these things are faked or composited I wanted to ask everyone for help to determine which ones seem 100% natural, as I certainly can't tell reliably. Besides the purchase itself, I would also like to train myself to better be able to discern these sort of things. There are 7 items I'm considering, along with my personal thoughts on each. Unfortunately scale listed is in inches but these are all roughly 4-5 inches, which is 10-13cm. 1. Seems ok to me, and has a little replacement tooth coming in. I also like the bone cross-section showing the cortical and spongy bone anatomy that one would expect. 2. Tooth seems a bit too large for the jaw, and attachment seems slightly fishy. 3. Another with replacement tooth. Looks ok but same seller as #2 which I was suspicious about. 4. Hard to say with this one having just one image, seems not as much jaw present. 5. Very odd that the teeth are different colors. I'm thinking this is a composite. Cross-section of the "bone" is also not porous at all. 6. Same seller as in #5. Teeth spacing a bit odd, also look different considering they're adjacent. 7. Unsure with this one, but teeth seem fused ok. Sorry for making such a massive post, I'd really appreciate any input whatsoever!

Not sure if this is the right thread, but, here is a bunch of specimens. All are resin or plaster casts of the real deal. some appear to have been painted (poorly) none have been stored correctly and any records of them are long gone. These are part of the collection at the University I work for. I'm not a mammal guy, but I suspect I had better become one quickly. Some have various collection codes on them, but I have been unable to figure out what they mean. These are some of the ones I am clueless on: Jokingly referred to as the "bonenana"...tusk? rib?

I am having trouble coating this Isotelus plaster cast. This is my first time attempting the ammonium chloride coating method. First I painted the cast with a thin layer of black acrylic (in retrospect, I probably should have used watercolor?). Then made a number of tries to coat the cast with ammonium chloride and was unsuccessful. I tried placing the cast above the smoke, below and directly in front of the flask, nothing worked. I'm wondering if humidity could be an issue? Has anybody tried applying ammonium chloride as a fine liquid spray or magnesium ribbon? Any tips appreciated.

I've started to put together an entry for the "Paleo Re-creations" forum but it will take some time to get all the info entered in and ready to post. My first step has been to create a gallery. I've begun to garnish it with information regarding each plaster or resin cast. Currently, I have the album loaded to the gallery titled "My fossil replicas (casts in plaster and resin)." My Isotelus replica has comments attached now. I'll provide information about each image via comments. Upon completion of that task, I'll write a short article posted here on "Paleo Re-creations" describing my successes and failures so that we can have discussions regarding making fossil replicas as amateurs. I am looking forward to learning a great deal from each of you on this subject. What I know I will happy share with all of you. Bill Heimbrock - billheim@cinci.rr.com

I would like to make plaster casting of some of my finds. Are there any great ideas on how to keep the plaster from sticking, etc?????