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Hello TFF! As my fossil collection continues to further expand, I'm finding it harder to store my finds, especially since my room is tiny and my garage is full (of non-fossil related stuff). For my smaller finds I've considered buying some riker boxes. My problem is I have no idea how wide, long, or deep they should be in regards to my finds. I have a nice large enrolled silica shale trilobite from my state of Ohio, a 3D starfish on a "mound" from Pennsylvania that's taller than most of my finds (despite being small, kind of like a tall enchinoid), some marine reptile teeth, 3D brachiopods, etc. I don't really have the room to display stuff on my walls. What sizes should I be looking for, and how deep/wide/long should they be? Where can I purchase these display cases. If there are better alternatives that will hold the fossils in place but not put too much pressure on them. The starfish in particular is fragile. Thanks in advance, Vraptor

Im in the process of making two large fossil display cabinets and I'm having a hard time thinking of ways to display my Mazon Creek nods without buying hundreds of acrylic easels/stands, as well as utilizing ALL of my space as efficient as possible. So i went vertical. I found a way to display my long and skinny Mazon ferns efficiently as i could, and it was free. This stand is based off of a spoon stand display. I figured i'd show you guys this simple project just encase you may have the same problem. I had a few pieces of Lexan laying around for random projects, so i made it with that. Bend, cut, measure, dremel, drill, finished. It's not perfect, but i was done in about 20mins. A simple solution. Now i just have to make a few dozen more..... After that quick craft i was inspired to make another display piece. This one was a bit more involved, but it was pretty simple also. I have about a dozen of these 4"x4"x8" acrylic display boxes that were given to me. So i decided to experiment with one. I cut out two pieces of leather hide for the base and painted the edges of one piece black and the other antiqued bronze. I left the tan natural look for the top. Next i cut up an old gold look metal coat hanger and bent it accordingly. Then i measured and drilled a few holes to house my newly bent metal pieces. Next i dremeled a few channels in my leather base and sandwiched the two pieces of leather together, holding my metal legs in place. Done. I like it. Now i need a fancy brass name plate to finish her off. All in good time.

Here is the recap of The Glacier Stops Here Expo that so many of you have helped with. I'm a little at a loss as to how to present this and even asked Auspex. Perhaps my pea little brain is a bit muddled given the weekend, but here goes... This all started out with this post: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/44286-help-rocks-fossils-and-caves-oh-my/ YOU Guys & Gals Made So Many Children Happy With Your Fossil Donations! I had 40' of space shared with the high schoolers that were helping out with the kids activities - the fossil stuff took up 3/4 of that! I'm kind of doing this post as an inspiration for others. I did a how to here: http://www.bluffcountryfossils.com/blog/a-fossil-adventure-table-for-you/ Here is an overview of the booths. A lot of people really studied the fossils on this table. The fluorescent fossils/rocks were a hit with young and old. The how to on the fluorescent fossil aquarium is here: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/44879-fluorescent-fossil-aquarium-display/ This is the Caleb Scheer Memorial Sand Box Fossil Dig. His Mom and Dad came to the event along with a lot of relatives. There were a couple of times I teared up. I ended up using sawdust instead of sand. The chicken was a huge hit!!! Especially since the "Chicken from Hell" story came out on national news just 2 days before! This is an overview of the table where the kids were making fossil jewelry (They LOVED the sharks teeth!) and casts. The high schoolers were having as much fun making jewelry and handing it out as the little kids! The fossils that were labeled I put into baskets and bags and provided post a notes and pens for those into it to write down names, formations, location, etc. The labels with pics were a big help with the non-English speaking population and little kids. And Minnesota Buckeye brought his incredible sculptures of the Ordovician sea bottom for display that will be given to nature centers in the area. But I think that these are so fantastic that they deserve a separate post. :-D Please feel free to ask questions. I have tried to put in the appropriate links. Bev