RJB Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 My youngest son goes fossil hunting without me these days and a few years ago he went to the parachute member of the Green River Formation and found some fossil leafs. He asked me the other day if I would do a prep job on a leaf he had found. I said "sure". So, he brought it over and I did some 'prep majic on it. It didn't look too good when I first took a gander at it, but I figured I could get some tips out of it and expose the stem. The more work I did on it the better it got. The bad thing was the leaf itself was not in very good preservation with the rock very discolored around the leaf making it hard to see. So, the mind got to thinkin and then I decided to do a bit of artwork around it. I have to say that was a good idea. Still have a ways to go but its coming along quite nice!!! One of those fossils where the more you do the better it gets. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Looks good! Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 very nice, beautiful find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 I love it! Great work! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 Beautiful, as always RJB. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcordova Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Excellent! Beautiful Leaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Lookin good, Ron! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 9, 2017 Author Share Posted February 9, 2017 Thanks everyone. I will post another pic once I get it done. May take a few days. got lots of other stuff to do first. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Good call Ron. Often, work on the surrounding matrix is as important as uncovering the specimen. Looks great. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Looking good, but I wonder if there was a less-obvious thing you could have done: has anyone tried using, say, watercolor paint to make the colored area around the leaf more uniform, to make it less distracting but still natural-looking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdsnl Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Could you explain how you prepped it? I would imagine leaves are quite fragile and easy to damage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 9, 2017 Author Share Posted February 9, 2017 Thanks everyone. Wrangellian: I wouldn't dream of adding any kind of paint to this rock. sdsnl: I used my good ole trusty ME9100 to prep this. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 11 hours ago, Wrangellian said: Looking good, but I wonder if there was a less-obvious thing you could have done: has anyone tried using, say, watercolor paint to make the colored area around the leaf more uniform, to make it less distracting but still natural-looking? Selective removal/remaining matrix is a very common and accepted method of preparation. This is generally preferred over painting or staining of a specimen/matrix by most preparators. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 If the idea is to alter the piece in some way make the fossil stand out from the matrix, but not more than necessary, it seems to me a less invasive method would be to paint around the fossil (not the fossil itself), especially if there is a paint you could remove later if you wanted to. You can't restore the matrix that is removed by air scribe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 8 hours ago, Wrangellian said: If the idea is to alter the piece in some way make the fossil stand out from the matrix, but not more than necessary, it seems to me a less invasive method would be to paint around the fossil (not the fossil itself), especially if there is a paint you could remove later if you wanted to. You can't restore the matrix that is removed by air scribe. Agreed, but I've never met anyone who asked me to make their fossil stand out less on the matrix. Paints and stains change over time. Matrix removal is permanent. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 I guess I don't understand this 'painting procedure', but its for my son and he already has several nice leafs and I told him this was going to turn into a piece of fossil art doing what im doing and he likes it very much, so too late now. I did some more rock sculpting to make it even better, at least in my eyes. I am actually quite happy with the way it turned out. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 8 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said: Agreed, but I've never met anyone who asked me to make their fossil stand out less on the matrix. Paints and stains change over time. Matrix removal is permanent. 50 minutes ago, RJB said: I guess I don't understand this 'painting procedure', but its for my son and he already has several nice leafs and I told him this was going to turn into a piece of fossil art doing what im doing and he likes it very much, so too late now. I did some more rock sculpting to make it even better, at least in my eyes. I am actually quite happy with the way it turned out. RB Yes, matrix removal is permanent. I'm not talking about slathering it in some cheap house paint, and I wouldn't suggest anything that made the fossil stand out LESS. My idea was some kind of thin watercolor-type paint strategically applied to reduce the mottled look of the leaf's surroundings, either some orangish to fill in the lighter spots, or some kind of white 'wash' applied to the orangey ares which might make the leaf 'pop' even more. There are paints and pigments that are 'archival' and I believe watercolors should be removable with water though I don't know how your fossil would stand up to being wetted. Kept out of the sun most colors aren't going to change in your lifetime or you son's. Someone with a good eye and understanding of watercolors (or paints in general) would know what to do, and with a good hand also, I suspect could make it look so natural that you would never guess that it wasn't natural, whereas what you've done is very obviously done by the hand of man. Not that it doesn't look good. Of course it's an aesthetic choice. Mine was just an idea I wanted to toss out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 11, 2017 Author Share Posted February 11, 2017 Hey Wrangellian, your last explination makes total sense. STill not sure If I would have done that. another learning curve and maybe be a little scared of how it would turn out. Maybe the next one. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigantoraptor Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Amazing Do you have any idea about the name of this species? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 7 hours ago, RJB said: Hey Wrangellian, your last explination makes total sense. STill not sure If I would have done that. another learning curve and maybe be a little scared of how it would turn out. Maybe the next one. RB Yes it would probably be a learning curve, but may be worth it to have various tricks up your sleeve other than the airscibe/abrader. I know I've seen other members reconstruct missing pieces of fossils and paint them to match the intact parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Hi gigantoraptor. All I can say is its some kind of Maple? Green River Formaion and Eocene in age. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 6 hours ago, RJB said: ...All I can say is its some kind of Maple?... It is a sycamore (Platanaceae) - Macginitiea (=Platanus) wyomingensis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Thank you piranha, always nice to have a little help. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 What tools did you use to do this, great work BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 On 2/9/2017 at 6:03 AM, RJB said: Thanks everyone. Wrangellian: I wouldn't dream of adding any kind of paint to this rock. sdsnl: I used my good ole trusty ME9100 to prep this. RB 1 minute ago, Noah said: What tools did you use to do this, great work BTW. He already answered this earlier. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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