My Echinocaris prep process

[Nautiloid]

Last Saturday as some of you know, I found this really awesome Echinocaris punctuata with both valves and part of the telson. I had the idea of prepping it and then entering it into the IFOTM contest here on the forum. I’ve been working on it for 1 or 2 hours a day using pins and an old screwdriver. In this post I plan to post an image of the prep process everyday until it is complete. 

[Nautiloid]

Saturday 7/18/20: The day it was found. 

[Nautiloid]

Monday 7/20/20: Beginning of prep. 

[Nautiloid]

Tuesday 7/21/20:
 

[Nautiloid]

Wednesday 7/22/20:

[Tidgy's Dad]

Super job thus far. 

That's beautiful. 

[Nautiloid]

15 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Super job thus far. 

That's beautiful. 

Thanks!  I’m super proud of it. 

[Fossildude19]

Well done!

It's a rare find and a nice prep.  

[Ludwigia]

Excellent.

[Nautiloid]

19 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Well done!

It's a rare find and a nice prep.  

Thanks!  Hopefully I’ll have a chance at winning the IFOTM contest with it 

[Nautiloid]

19 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Excellent.

Thank you! 

[EscarpmentMary]

Please continue posting! Amazing work!

[Nautiloid]

25 minutes ago, EscarpmentMary said:

Please continue posting! Amazing work!

Thank you  and I plan to keep posting pictures until it’s completion! 

[Nautiloid]

Thursday 7/23/20:

[FossilNerd]

8 hours ago, Nautiloid said:

I’ve been working on it for 1 or 2 hours a day using pins and an old screwdriver.

Not bad at all for using a few pins and a screwdriver! Nice job and excellent find! 

[Nautiloid]

17 minutes ago, FossilNerd said:

Not bad at all for using a few pins and a screwdriver! Nice job and excellent find! 

Thank you very much! 

[Nautiloid]

Friday 7/24/20:

[Nautiloid]

Saturday 7/25/20:

[Nautiloid]

I’m going on vacation so I won’t be working on this fossil for the next week. I’ll resume posting prep pics afterwards! 

[Jeffrey P]

Awesome specimen and the prep work so far displays it well. Congratulations. Like to see it after you return and work on it some more.  That matrix must be pretty workable. Good luck!

[Nautiloid]

1 hour ago, Jeffrey P said:

Awesome specimen and the prep work so far displays it well. Congratulations. Like to see it after you return and work on it some more.  That matrix must be pretty workable. Good luck!

Thanks!!  And the specimen has been pretty easy to prep thus far. Only hit a couple hard spots that are a bit more tedious. I’ll definitely continue posting pictures once I get back. 

[Nautiloid]

Tuesday 8/04/20

[Nautiloid]

8/05/20: focused on one of the harder spots today. 

[Nautiloid]

Thursday 8/06/20:

[Pagurus]

You're showing off your find beautifully. That's a specimen you can be proud of!