White River Skull Prep

[ParkerPaleo]

@jpc @LordTrilobite

 

I don't think Scott and Jepsen will have this one.  The best reference I can think of is:

 

Wang, Xiaoming. (1994). Phylogenetic systematics of the Hesperocyoninae (Carnivora: Canidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 221. 1-207. 

 

I attached the pdf, still upset I can't find the physical copy here at the house.

 

Wang1994AMNHBulletinHesperocyoninae.pdf

[LordTrilobite]

That does indeed look like a close match, thanks!

[LordTrilobite]

It has been quite a while. But I made some more progress on this puppy. Slowly but surely I'm exposing the teeth. I'm not sure how much I'll clean around the middle of the skull. If I remove too much matrix there it might become a bit fragile.

[Randyw]

Looking good!

[LordTrilobite]

So far I think that Enhydrocyon crassidens seems to be the closest match. Although the angle of the first and second premolars are a little different.

 

[fossilhunter21]

Wow! That is an awesome prep project! And it is looking pretty nice! 

 

-Micah

[hadrosauridae]

4 hours ago, LordTrilobite said:

It has been quite a while. But I made some more progress on this puppy. Slowly but surely I'm exposing the teeth. I'm not sure how much I'll clean around the middle of the skull. If I remove too much matrix there it might become a bit fragile.

 

 

Very smart decision!  The matrix is providing a vital function, and you can shape it however you need to.  IF you did remove it all, you would probably have to go back and fill in areas with epoxy putty anyway.

[rocket]

well done prep! I did some skulls from white river, bone-surface was "easy", but the enamel of the teeth..., they make me crazy sometimes...

Have to look in my cellar next day to look on my skulls, as I remember there is a similar one without passport 

Edited September 1, 2022 by rocket

[ParkerPaleo]

Looks awesome!  Happy my ID is holding too.  

[LordTrilobite]

I've done a little more prep. I've cleaned some of the hollows a little more around the eyes and nose. Then I did some rock smoothing. I've left much of the matrix intact in the middle of the skull where it has broken in two before fossilizing. This should be a happy medium between showing the fossil and still keeping it stable. A little piece around the ear was also broken off before and I've now glued it back in place. Then I washed the skull with water. I used a lot of water during prep due to how dusty the matrix was, and it didn't really seem to damage the fossil itself. But now it's nice and clean!
 
The prepping itself is now done. But it's not the end of the project...

[LordTrilobite]

I've now made a digital scan of the fossil with my new infrared scanner. What I plan to do is us this digital scan to make a base for the actual fossil that I can print out. Not only that, but I will be sculpting in some of the missing parts of the fossil into the base. I won't be glueing any reconstruction onto the fossil itself. But when it will sit on its base, it will look like a more complete fossil showing parts like the fangs that aren't preserved on the actual fossil.

[fossilhunter21]

Wonderfull job on that skull! You removed a lot more matrix than I would have been comfortable removing, and I really like it!

 

Can't wait to see what you will do with the digital copy of it. 

 

-Micah

[rocket]

wow, a scan is good, and the skull, fantastic

I picked mine up in the cellar and do a pic in the evening

[hadrosauridae]

Great prep work!  

[LordTrilobite]

Here's some progress on the digital sculpting of the stand I plan to 3d print. I've reconstructed the front teeth and bone surrounding them. I've also mirrored the first premolar from the left to recreate the one on the right. I will use the scan of the fossil to perfectly cut out the area on which the fossil will sit on the stand. I don't think I will reconstruct the zygomatic arches, because I don't want to enclose the original fossil. I still want to be able to remove the fossil from the stand. So I'm only reconstructing parts around the underside that do not go all the way around the fossil that would prevent me from placing/replacing the fossil on the stand.

 

 

[vietnamfossil]

Very nice!

So you will print the teeth and glue it to the fossil? 

[LordTrilobite]

28 minutes ago, vietnamfossil said:

Very nice!

So you will print the teeth and glue it to the fossil? 

No I won't glue anything to the fossil. The fossil will stay as it is. The sculpted teeth are part of the base.

[LordTrilobite]

Alright, I'm done sculpting the base. And I've started 3d printing it. Hopefully it will fit with the fossil nicely. I'll probably post more photos soon when the print is done.

 

[FossilDAWG]

I really like this idea of printing a base with some of the missing elements.  The fossil will look more complete (although it's pretty excellent as it is), yet there will be no question about what is restored vs what is real.

 

Don

[LordTrilobite]

The print turned out pretty good. I had to sand down a couple areas to get the fossil to fit. Now I just have to give it a coat of paint. I haven't yet decided if I want to make the fake bone to match the colour of the real bone or maybe I'll just give it a colour that's roughly similar.

 

[JoeS]

Wow. A great project, and the idea of having the base complement the fossil is inspiring!
 

[Alex S.]

That turned out beautifully congratulations. Such a smart idea.

[fossilhunter21]

Wow, this is looking pretty awesome! 

 

I think it would be cool to paint the fake bone to match the color of the fossil. 

 

-Micah

 

[LordTrilobite]

Alright, I gave it a lick of paint. It doesn't perfectly match entirely. But I think it's good enough for now. Maybe I'll touch it up some more later.

Overall I'm quite happy with how this project turned out. It makes for a nice display piece and the stand also helps protect some of the more fragile parts of the fossil.

 

 

 

[jpc]

That looks really cool.  Great work.