Fabulous Ordovician Sea Bottom Display

[Bev]

This is an Ordovician Sea Bottom Display done by MinnBuckeye. He collected ALL of these fossils within the city limits of Rochester (!!!) during the summer of 2014 - and yes he works full time plus in a small town way outside of Rochester! It shows nearly all of the common fossils you can find in the Ordovician of southeast Minnesota with the exception of the Ordovician index fossil Maclurites.

Incredible display, well done, needs to be shared and he shared with me how he did it! Which I will share with you as I consider this a wonderful display to create for teaching about Earth's history and fossils. Please be patient with me as this will take a reply or two, so I will note that with "Continued..." If you can't wait, just go to my blog. :-)

You should be able to click on the pictures once or twice to enlarge them and get a better look, but I did reduce them to fit into fewer replies, didn't on the blog.

Now for the closeups!

Continued...

[Bev]

Continued...

[Bev]

He gave me this display to help me teach the families and children who come here about fossils - sooo much easier than the walk around of the gardens than I do! :-)

MinnBuckeye also gave me this wonderful trilobite rock that he chipped out of a quarry in northeastern Iowa!

It is around 50 lbs and filled with Isotelus pygidiums, let's hope I got that right! Feel free to correct me!

And this stunning Calcite Crystal rock!

Continued...

[Bev]

I can pick this display up with one hand! And I'm an old woman! :-)

So how did MinnBuckeye create this wonder?

Expandable Foam & Wood Glue!

Since the back two come off, I will show you as I consider this a teaching and sharing post. :-)

Note the underside of the cephalopod display, you can see that the expandable foam (Great Stuff is one brand name) is cut off. Easiest to do with a serrated knife. This foam also has adhesive qualities, so you can sprinkle the sand onto it as it is drying and also stick the fossils into it as it is drying.

Note the back left corner where you can see the foam has dried without sand.

Common wood glue (yellow in color usually) can be used to adhere the fossils and sand also (or may be needed in addition to the adhesive qualities of the foam, we are dealing with rock), AND the dried display to the finished wood display. FYI if just doing a single display the foam is firm and sturdy enough to use without a wood base.

NOTE: My experience with expandable foam, and the spray rubber for that matter, is that you have to use the entire can in one setting. Just be aware of that before you start a project. This stuff carves really easily once it dries, so you can create any number of mound, etc. shapes with it that you can let dry and come back to later. I usually put a layer of kitchen plastic wrap (garbage bag or plastic) down where I am working and squirt the stuff on that as it is sticky and gets on everything - I learned the hard way... :-( Also great for school diorama's, model RR, etc. It is paintable and is often used on theater sets to create fake boulders and walls.

So, now you have another way to display your fossils, thanks to MinnBuckeye! :-D

[izak_]

Thats amazing! Great job

Izak

[Troodon]

Very nice display. I've used that expandable foam when I moved to help stablize my larger fossils but never thought of using it for display purposes. Thanks will give it a try.

[Nandomas]

Very nice display, thanks for posting it here

[ynot]

That is a nice display, like the materials that were used for it.

Thanks for the posts!!

Tony

[Wrangellian]

Looks good.. I like the graptolites - why I have I not seen any of these from that area before, have you not found any yourself, Bev?

[Bev]

Looks good.. I like the graptolites - why I have I not seen any of these from that area before, have you not found any yourself, Bev?

Yes and you've seen them and commented on them Wrangellian! But it was a couple of years ago that I found the nice 3D ones and it was just outside of Rochester, MN too where these come from. I don't find a lot that are worth bringing home though. And now I know what they are and I don't post them. They are just graptolites. :-)

[Wrangellian]

Yes and you've seen them and commented on them Wrangellian! But it was a couple of years ago that I found the nice 3D ones and it was just outside of Rochester, MN too where these come from. I don't find a lot that are worth bringing home though. And now I know what they are and I don't post them. They are just graptolites. :-)

I have? The memory obviously isn't so good past a year or so... (Now that you mention it I vaguely recall something about graptos but I thought I would have remembered these or ones like them)

Just graptolites??

[Bev]

Oh my, I hope I didn't offend you! Let's face it, graptolites don't turn too many fossil hunters on. :-(

Everyone just wants to find trilobites @#$%#@! I, personally, could care less about trilobites but I do understand that people get excited about them so I do too. :-)

But my true loves are crinoids and gastropods. And this area just does not have many good crinoids, but we do have Maclurites! :-D

[Wrangellian]

I like all the different kinds of fossils, they are all cool in their way, but I think the vertebrates get more than their share of attention so I feel the same way about them as you do about trilos. I like to show some love for the obscure, neglected things like graptolites (plus anything older - the further back you go in the timescale the more fascination is has generally, for me). Plus, there are no graptos to be found anywhere near me! (same with trilos, I am in a mainly Mesozoic area, though I have a lead on a spot for trilos that I still haven't managed to investigate, I need someone to go with me)

Edited August 24, 2015 by Wrangellian

[minnbuckeye]

What is the more impressive species, Graptolites or Trilobites? Bev I challenge you to ask our young paleontologists to be as they visit your unique world. I personally vote for graptolites, though I am not young so my vote doesn't count!Maybe Wrangellian is young enough to officially vote.

Edited August 24, 2015 by minnbuckeye

[Mike Pocock]

Hi Bev,

Thanks for the post I will try the expanding foam for displaying my fossils.

I think that all fossils are fascinating for different reasons and all fossils have a story behind them.

Regards

Mike

[Wrangellian]

Maybe Wrangellian is young enough to officially vote.

Physically or mentally? Might be a different answer...

[Bev]

LOL :-D I will have to make this question part of my presentation with groups! Although I don't really know enough about graptolites to really make a case for them - all I really think I know is that they were branched animals that drifted in the top layer of the ocean. Perhaps I need to research them more.

However, most boys go for the trilobites! I suppose because they look akin to modern bugs so the boys can relate? And because the boys talk about them and get excited, the girls do too. Kind of reminds me of high school and the boys and their cars and sports. If you wanted to catch a boy's interest you had to be able to talk cars and sports...