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Showing results for tags 'white river fossils'.
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The first (and only- for now) Oreodont skull I prepped was in remarkably good condition and required virtually no reconstruction, just a thorough and careful cleaning + a little stabilizing. Afterwards I was looking for a good way to display this little skull in a manner where it wouldn't just be sitting on a flat surface. I'm not great at bending metal to create an elevated cradle so I came up with this: I laid a sheet of plastic wrap on the underside of the skull and gently pressed Apoxie sculpt on top of the plastic so it molded to the contours of the skull. I then pressed a metal rod bent in two 90 degree angles into the Apoxie making sure it was straight. After setting for a little while- still soft enough to pull it away from the skull without getting stuck, but firm enough to hold its shape- I pulled the mold out and allowed it to dry. Once fully hardened I lightly sanded to smooth out some of the rougher contours and reduce the overall size so it wouldn't be as visible with the skull resting on it. A bit of tweaking here and there and I got it so that the skull could gently 'clip' in and out of the mold. Attached are a couple shots of the original piece with matrix, and the finished fossil and stand. I am really happy with the end result and plan on using this in the future- I hope you find it interesting and useful as well!