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Showing results for tags 'bajocian'.
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From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
30cm. ovale zone Early Bajocian Wedelsandstein Formation From the Wutach area -
My customer/friend, let's just call him X. for now, brought me another large ammonite which he had recently pryed up for prep. He got this one out in 3 pieces, 2 of which he glued back together. The ammonite itself has a diameter of 30cm. Here's what I was faced with to begin with (Well almost. I took the pics after I had started in with the stylus.) The 1st pic shows them side by side, the 2nd in original position and the 3rd the reverse side. S. first had the wish that I remove it completely from the matrix, but I wasn't so sure about the chances of success there. For one thing, there were a lot of cavities in the phragmocone, and due to the hardness of the matrix, there was a good chance of breakage under way. There was also a heckuva lot of matrix above and below the fossil, so I knew that this was going to take a loooong time, even with the strong jack stylus. I decided to get started with the larger block and set aside the smaller one for the time being. After a few hours of plugging away with the air pen, it also became obvious that there was no proper separating layer between matrix and fossil, which made for even more time consumption and finesse. Here's how both sides looked at that point. I then decided that it was time to swap over to the air abrader, since I wasn't quite certain how the lay of the land was. There were a lot of oysters and tube worms clinging to the shell which made it difficult in some places to make a judgement as to where the ammonite shell actually started. As you can see in the next two photos, I continued on with the stylus after the abrading was done. 2nd pic in next post.
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I recieved a large (32cm. in diameter) ammonite on commission recently which turned out to be rather complicated to prepare. It's a Fissilobiceras sp. from the ovale zone in the Early Bajocian from the Wutach valley. Most of it was imbedded in matrix, so it wasn't possible to judge at first in what kind of condition the inner whorls were and it was too fragile to just have a quick go at it with hammer and chisel in order to find out, so I had to take the slower route peeling off layer after layer with the stylus. Here's how both sides looked to begin with. After a good number of hours work with the stylus it became obvious for one thing, that the whorls were beginning to dip deeply down radically on their way to the center and there was less and less separation layer to the steinkern available until it practically completely disappeared, so I figured I'd have to stop at this point with the pen work. I also inadvertently dug out a bit too much due to the deformation. On the positive side, however, the inner whorls turned out to be intact. So I changed over to the abrader to remove the remaining thin matrix layer to get a proper view of the lay of things and to help decide how to continue. The circles and arrows on the last 2 photos were used during the exchange between the owner and myself in order to decide how I should proceed with the work, since these ammonites are not easy to find, particularly at this size, and so we decided in the end to make a matrix display out of it. I then removed the rest of the matrix from above the living chamber until its end and abraded that as well. The last step was to fill the gaps with Apoxie modelling compound and to round things off a bit. Once that was hardened, I balanced the colors with waterpaint and then applied a coat of Rember beeswax finish and the job was done. One interesting thing about this piece is that the border between phragmocone and somewhat flattened living chamber is easy to differentiate. The living chamber would certainly have been larger, but that was all I was able to save, and the whorls at the bottom were practically nonexistent, so I figure I got the best out of this one that I could.
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From the album Nautiloidea
18cm in diameter trigonalis zone Early Bajocian Middle Jurassic Wedelsandstein Formation -
From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
24cm. discites zone Early Bajocian Wedelsandstein Formation Found in the Wutach area I had to do some modelling on this one. Here's how it looked beforehand:- 2 comments
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From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
Fissilobiceras ovale. 40cm. ovale zone Wedelsandstein Formation Early Bajocian Middle Jurassic From the Wutach area.-
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I have a very proficient and capable customer (actually he's become more of a friend and colleague with time) when it comes to seeking and finding good fossils, and he struck again last week, bringing me quite a large ammonite with a diameter of ca. 40cm. for preparation. He sent me a photo of it which he took during the extraction procedure. The matrix was pretty tough, so he ended up having to extricate it in several pieces, most of which he glued back together before he brought it to me. I did some stylus work on it to begin with and then we were faced with the decision of whether we should retain the last piece at the end of the living chamber. Either like this: Or like this: We finally decided on the second alternative, since the first would have meant a little too much additional modelling work, so we chucked the piece. We also decided to stick to working on just the one side for two reasons, the first being that it was chock-a-block with oysters and concretions, and the second being that he would have had to pay for a lot more hours of work which probably wouldn't have made all that much difference in the end. Here's a photo of the other side. I then spent a good number of hours with the air abrader on it, alternating back to the fine stylus when necessary in order to remove larger chunks of matrix once I was sure of their position. The abrading was slow going due to the hardness of the matrix, but it was worth having the necessary patience for it as can be seen below. There is a huge tube worm on it and the transition from phragmocone to living chamber can be distinctly seen. The shell is somewhat dented in places, particularly by the inner whorls, but I find that doesn't necessarily detract from the whole picture. I then filled in the gaps with my trusty Apoxie sculpt, painted it and applied the beeswax finish. I also cleaned up the back side a bit. The whole procedure took roughly 10 hours. Here's the final result. Fissilobiceras ovale. 40cm. ovale zone Wedelsandstein Formation Early Bajocian Middle Jurassic From the Wutach area.
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I recently recieved a large Ammonite from the Wutach Valley for preparation from a customer. It was a bit of a task since the thing is so huge with a diameter of 50cm. (1ft.7in.). First of all I had to remove the excess matrix with hammer & chisel. I didn't photograph it beforehand, but here is how it looked afterwards. As you can see, the living chamber was extracted in 2 extra pieces which still needed to be attached. The phragmocone alone has a diameter of over a foot and there is still a piece of living chamber missing at the end where the brown color can be seen at the top. I didn't glue them back on at first, but concentrated rather on stylus and abrader work on the phragmocome. The next photo shows it at that stage with the 2 living chamber pieces just placed next to it. I then abraded the living chamber pieces, removed the unseemly brown layer on the phragmocone and glued it all back together with a strong adhesive which then cured for 24 hours. The next step was to fill the gaps with modelling clay (I use a product called Apoxie Sculpt) and finish off with water color paints and a beeswax finish. I couldn't get the color quite right, so I left that last step to my customer's wife who did an excellent job. Here's the end product:
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From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
I prepped this ammonite with a diameter of 50cm. for a customer who allowed me to show it here. I had to glue the living chamber back on which was in 2 pieces and also fill a lot of gaps with modelling clay. His wife did a great job at balancing the colors with water paints. This is quite a rare find, particularly at this size. ovale zone Wedelsandstein Formation Early Bajocian From the Wutach Valley -
From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
13cm. Phragmocone herveyi zone macrocephalus oolite Wutach Formation Found near Blumberg-Hondingen -
A few of my ammonites collected from the Inferior Oolite at both coastal and inland quarry sites in Dorset, UK.
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Sonninia sp. (Bayle 1878) + Hyperlioceras discites (Waagen 1867)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Members Gallery
From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
11cm. + 10cm. ovale Zone Early Bajocian Wedelsandstein Formtion Found in the Wutach area -
From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
11cm. ovale Zone Early Bajocian Wedelsandstein Formation From the Wutach area. With an Entolium demissum bivalve attached on one side. -
From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
20cm. Phragmocone. Wedelsandstein Formation Early Bajocian ovale Zone From Wutachtal-
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From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
20cm. Wedelsandstein Formation Early Bajocian ovale zone Found in Wutachtal -
My customer brought me another challenging assignment the other day. It's a combination of 2 different ammonite species in one block, something quite rare for the ovale zone in which it was found. Here's what I started with. There was a lot of matrix to be removed, so off we went. Here's what it looked like after a couple of hours with the scribes. Now you can roughly see the positions of the two ammonites. I never cease to be amazed at how abrading can reveal the beauty of fossils. Now the Hyperlioceras can be clearly seen on the left. There was still a bit of shell clinging to the venter at 6 o'clock, but I managed to scribe it off with minimal damage which I'll conceal later with a bit of epoxy putty. I then returned to the scribe and trimmed off most of the matrix from the Sonninia. The oyster which is sticking to it was also removed after I took the photo. The last thing I did today was to abrade the Sonninia. Sometime tomorrow I'll get down to trimming the matrix to give the block an aesthetic shape, smoothing it down and finalizing things. I promise to post the end result when done. By the way, the Hyperlioceras has a diameter of 18cm. and the Sonninia one of 11.
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This past Sunday, I decided to pay my friend a visit at his workplace in the Wutach valley which I reported on recently. I left home a few hours earlier than he did since I wanted to visit a site on the way which another friend had told me about. This was off of a steep path through the woods which I had never taken before, so I was looking forward to excercising my calves and thighs. The way took me a kilometer or so uphill until I reached what appeared to be the pinnacle, which was where the exposure in the humphriesianum zone was supposed to be which I had been looking for. Up to that point I had hardly noticed any exposures, so I was happy to discover an approximately 20 meter long one here just below the path. Downed the knapsack, pulled out the tools and went at it. After a few minutes, however, I noticed that I obviously hadn't reached the highest point, since I was digging in the Aalenium, the epoch where I feel most at home, so it works like a magnet on me. Surprise, surprise. Funnily enough, I ended up making my best finds here. Spent about 2 hours prying away at well-weathered rock which obviously had not been touched by collectors for a good long time. I think I'll come back soon for another visit. Anyway, I carried on afterwards up the hill and eventually found the exposure I had been originally looking for. Spent an hour or so exploring it, but didn't come up with any ammonites as I'd been hoping. Did find a nice bivalve however. After I was done there I headed on over to my friend, a brisk walk of a couple of kilometers through the woods over flat land. Just a bit of downhill slipping and sliding at the end to get to him. Good thing I could hear him hammering since it wasn't all that easy to orientate myself for all the trees and shrubs. Then I just relaxed, drank a lot of water and watched him sweating at it. He'd had enough after an hour or so, so we made our way together down to his car and he drove me back to mine, which was a welcome relief for me. Here are the finds I made, already prepped and finished. The first is a Ludwigia haugi, my avatar, the next ones are Ancolioceras opalinoides and finally the bivalve from the humphriesi oolite, a Ctenostreon proboscideum.
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From the album Middle Jurassic Ammonites from Southern Germany
40cm. Prepared and restored for a friend by yours truly. trigonalis zone Early Bajocian Found in the Wutach Valley- 1 comment
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From the album Belemnites
This rostrum measures 38cm., although it is not quite complete, so it could have been up to 50cm. long originally. The name of the species used to be M.gigantea until it was revised a few years ago, which I find to be more suitable for this behemoth, the largest belemnite ever. It originates from the Bajocium in the Wutach Valley, southwestern Germany. -
From the album Cephalopods Worldwide
9.5cm. discites zone Early Bajocian Middle Jurassic From Beaminster, Dorset, UK -
Hyperlioceras (Toxolioceras) cf. walkeri (Buckman 1889)
Ludwigia posted a gallery image in Members Gallery
From the album Cephalopods Worldwide
8cm. discites zone Early Bajocian Middle Jurassic From Bradford Abbas, Dorset, UK -
From the album Cephalopods Worldwide
8cm. sauzei zone Bajocian Middle Jurassic From Sherborne, Dorset, UK -
From the album Gastropods and Bivalves Worldwide
A grouping of 3x Pyrgotrochus bessinus and 4x Pyrgotrochus macrocephali on a block measuring 17x11x10cm. P.bessinus has a conical form and P.macrocephali is shaped like a lentil. sauzei zone Early Bajocian Middle Jurassic From Sherborne, Dorset, UK-
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