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I've notice some smaller armatures for articulated animals are copper and not steel. Is there a good reason for this? I'm about to build my own and have more experience with steel. Sure, it can be heavier and harder to bend, but I don't plan on taking my dino camping with me...

I created these fossil frames for my finds on trips to Kemmerer and Delta. They were a fair amount of work but I thought I'd share the design because I haven't seen anyone selling similar frames. I think the open space shows the fragility of the rock along with its natural shape instead of trapped in a rectangular frame. And I love collecting the accompanying negative impression. If you have any of your own designs, I'd love to see them! (no offense if this doesn't count as prep, but couldn't find display as a category) Cheers.

Happy belated National Fossil Day! Hope I'm not overstepping from bounds by posting this, but a few people on the forum have asked me how to get out to the one accessible spot left at the C and D Canal in Delaware. It's tricky to find and doesn't look like much when you first get there. I am leading a trip out there this Sunday for Delaware Nature Society as my somewhat belated, but more publicly accessible, National Fossil Day excursion. We are going to be out on the plain that is a the spoils from the canal for a couple hours looking for treasures, but it won't take more then a few minutes to find your first fossil out there. You are welcome to stay and play until sunset if you like. The web site says "Families with children ages 7 and up," but this does not mean that adults with no children in tow are unwelcome, only that the terrain isn't really good for shorter children. The cost for non-members is a whopping $18 per person. You can keep anything and everything you find. People come home with buckets of Belemnites, oodles of Ostrea (well, Agerostrea), and generous numbers of gastropods. Occasional Echodus and shark teeth are also around, but pretty rare in this spot. You can see some of what I've found out there in my album. The matrix is loose sand. Just walk around and pick stuff up! We'll clear a spot of weeds and do a little sifting, too. Register online today. https://www.delawarenaturesociety.org/DNS/Events/Registration/Event_Display.aspx?EventKey=F17066AS#.Wd9iJUzMz6c While you're at the DNS visitor center to meet for the trip, you can stop inside and see the displays I'll have set up about Fossils from Delaware and beyond. How well can you tell a fossil from a modern shell or a pseudo fossil? Ever looked at a fossil shell under black light before? See the variety of fossils and ages to be found in our tiny state. Or, if you're not going on the trip but just want to explore with smaller folks, sift through the kiddie pool, for canal fossils I collected earlier this year and for Florida shark teeth donated by the Delaware Museum of Natural History. While I'm around I'll be preparing some matrix from Maryland with my handy dental picks. The visitor center activities are free, but trail fees for the rest of the property apply. The visitor center activities will be open Saturday and Sunday, 9-4. For directions, visit www.delnature.org.

Hi, I keep most of my shark teeth in riker cases, I love the way they look and the protection they provide. My larger megs don't fit into the cases I use so I need a bigger case. Does anyone have a suggestion on what dimensions I should be looking at to house larger megs? I'd like to display a few in each case. thanks, russ

I posted recently asking for opinions on a partial Moroccan Dyrosaurus skull and jaws that I've had for a while, waiting for me to do something with it. The feedback I had encouraged me to start work on it, so I'm going to document my progress here. I seem to have most of the skull and upper jaws, though it is in a very fragmentary state. The bone pieces are very delicate and most are still covered in matrix. I plan to clean and consolidate all of the bones, and then mount them in 3D. Whether I will do this in the traditional way, or with the help of my 3D printer, I am as yet undecided. This summarises my position as of now: I have lots of bones, and don't know what they are. I have no idea what I'm doing. I have never done anything like this before. I'm sure a lot of people would tell me to leave it alone and give it to a professional to do, but firstly I don't have that kind of money and secondly I am keen to learn. If anybody has any tips at any point, those would be greatly appreciated. If you'd rather tell me something in confidence, please send me a message and I will keep the information to myself. Anything I discover on my own I will post here for the benefit of anybody else stupid enough to attempt this. I have cleaned a few of the bones so far, and after some initial hiccups, it's now going well. My method is to dab water onto the matrix, which quickly soaks it up. I continue until the matrix is sodden, at which point is usually comes away fairly easily using a dental pick and a scalpel. As I go, I consolidate the outside of the bones using small quantities of superglue to prevent breaks, and help maintain the basic stability if anything does break. When I'm finished, I have the option of using solvents to remove a bit of the excess glue, but whilst I'm working on it I want to know it's not going to fall to bits. Once I have removed the bulk of the matrix, I use a damp brush to remove any residual bits, and then a dry brush to remove small particles. Then I repeat as necessary. Here's my progress so far - a handful of cleaned and partially cleaned bones. My aim isn't to get them all pristine and white, just to remove the matrix to a point where all of the shapes and details can be seen. I don't mind a little bit of Moroccan sand here and there. Anyway, that's how far I've gotten. I will post occasional progress updates as I progress! I will also post better images in future - I am a professional photographer, so posting poor quality smartphone shots is inexcusable! Feedback or advice is most welcome.

These mounts were mentioned in a different post but I thought I would start a new thread since they are completed. I used copper wire to form the mounts, then soldered several places for strength, soldered to a copper plate and tempered the hot metal to make it rigid. I used combinations of vinegar and ammonia in a closed environment to force a patina on the copper. The bases are made from zebrawood with a satin polyurethane finish.

Anyone know of an Aussie supplier of Riker mounts? I'm looking at getting some overseas but the shipping is killing me.

So I've got something very similar to this: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=display+case&espv=2&biw=1484&bih=752&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=0HlEVfe2BuOxmwXzt4DIAw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&dpr=0.9#tbm=isch&q=hanging+insect+display+case&imgrc=OiM7dhMAoYay0M%253A%3Bn2T9IOQ58V12IM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.hometrainingtools.com%252Fmedia%252Fcatalog%252Fproduct%252Fcache%252F1%252Fimage%252F9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95%252FB%252FE%252FBE-CASEINS_2.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.hometrainingtools.com%252Finsect-exhibit-case-8-x-12%252Fp%252FBE-CASEINS%252F%3B900%3B879 The one I've got has 4 little sections, I want to mount some teeth (mosasaurus, raptor, spinosaurus, triceratops) but I'm not sure how. Is Blu-Tack safe to use on fossils? Any other ideas? Thanks. I'll be sure to put some photos on when done