Flexicalyquickie

[Peat Burns]

I had an hour to spare today and decided to do a quick prep on a partially enrolled Flexicalymene retrorsa minuens that I got last month from St. Leon, Indiana.  I have a number of these packed away as specimens for science, so I convinced myself it was ethically okay to go Moroccan on this one and build a fake pedestal on some matrix from the site to make it easier to handle and more aesthetic to display (as you can see, it was loose from the matrix when found).  I used a pin vice, air abrasion, and a light coat of Butvar (to help prevent the exoskeleton from popping off). I didn't take great pains to make it perfect, obviously 

 

"Before photo":

 

 

After photos:

 

 

 

[doushantuo]

http://www.thefossilforum.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=393425

I posted this PDF on enrollment yesterday .

You might like this

[Peat Burns]

1 minute ago, doushantuo said:

http://www.thefossilforum.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=393425

Thanks for this, doushantuo.  Rock enroll!  

[doushantuo]

BTW,almost forgot the prepping of this one is totally awesome.

Great work.

 

[Peat Burns]

34 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

BTW,almost forgot the prepping of this one is totally awesome.

Great work.

 

Thanks very much.

[FossilDudeCO]

Love it!

Looks really nice!

[Peat Burns]

37 minutes ago, FossilDudeCO said:

Love it!

Looks really nice!

Thank you 

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Marvelous job !

 

Coco

[Fossildude19]

Well done, Sir! 

Very nice. 

Regards,

[Kane]

You do fine work! 

[Darktooth]

The Moroccan "artists" would be proud! Expect a job offer very soon!

[Peat Burns]

8 hours ago, Coco said:

Hi,

 

Marvelous job !

 

Coco

 

5 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

Well done, Sir! 

Very nice. 

Regards,

 

5 hours ago, Kane said:

You do fine work! 

Thank you, everyone, for the kind words.

[Peat Burns]

5 hours ago, Darktooth said:

The Moroccan "artists" would be proud! Expect a job offer very soon!

Bahahaha!  Maybe I can sell N. American "fossils" (art) in Morocco.  "Payback is a *****" 

[Darktooth]

19 minutes ago, Peat Burns said:

Bahahaha!  Maybe I can sell N. American "fossils" (art) in Morocco.  "Payback is a *****" 

[Fossil Claw]

What abrasive did you use and what pressure setting?

 

Looks awesome!

[Peat Burns]

17 minutes ago, Fossil Claw said:

What abrasive did you use and what pressure setting?

 

Looks awesome!

Thanks!  I used aluminum oxide at 50 PSI.  Probably way too aggressive a medium to use for a serious prep, though.  I'd probably go with something like dolomite if I was doing it right 

[Ptychodus04]

Beautiful preparation. I'm going to nerd out on the enrollment paper now...

[Fossil Claw]

1 hour ago, Peat Burns said:

Thanks!  I used aluminum oxide at 50 PSI.  Probably way too aggressive a medium to use for a serious prep, though.  I'd probably go with something like dolomite if I was doing it right 

Hmmm. Looks snarge good for "too aggressive"

 

How does it look under magnification? Dolomite takes for ever on st. Leon and Cincinnati material.

 

If aluminum oxide looks that good maybe I should switch.

[Peat Burns]

35 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Beautiful preparation. I'm going to nerd out on the enrollment paper now...

 

Thanks Ptychodus04 (and I "nerded out" on that paper, too ).

 

1 minute ago, Fossil Claw said:

Hmmm. Looks snarge good for "too aggressive"

 

How does it look under magnification? Dolomite takes for ever on st. Leon and Cincinnati material.

 

If aluminum oxide looks that good maybe I should switch.

 

Thanks.  To be honest it made the exoskeleton slightly duller than the original condition.  That might be rectified if you play with the pressure.  I got as much of the matrix off that I could with the pin vice before I applied abrasion to reduce amount of time under the abrasive.  The light coat of Butvar (Vinac works fine, too -- I just have a huge reservoir of Butvar that I use for bones, so I use that) seemed to mask the slight dulling caused by the abrasion, though.  Maybe do a test on some trilobits and see what you think  .  Are you a fellow Dry Dredger member?

[Fossil Claw]

Yes, I am. Will you be at Geo fair this weekend?

[Peat Burns]

1 minute ago, Fossil Claw said:

Yes, I am. Will you be at Geo fair this weekend?

Unfortunately, no, and living so far away from Cincy, I never make the meetings either.  But I do go on a lot of the field trips.  It is such a fantastic group of people.  I belong to a number of clubs, and the folks down there are the nicest, most welcoming bunch.  Bob B. has been especially nice as well as Bill H. and Jim Cox.  I'm glad to hear you are a member (I was going to recommend them if you weren't 

[JohnBrewer]

Wow, stunning result!

[Peat Burns]

8 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

Wow, stunning result!

Thank you 

[Lmshoemaker]

What did you use for the artificial part of the pedestal?

[Peat Burns]

7 hours ago, Lmshoemaker said:

What did you use for the artificial part of the pedestal?

I used PaleoSculp, but any two part epoxy stuff that you knead together like clay would work (available at hardware store).  After i molded the pedestal and attached the fossil (and before the paleosculp hardened), I moistened the paleosculp and sprinkled powder I made from the matrix on to it so it would match the color and texture.  To get the matrix powder, I rubbed some matrix on coarse sandpaper.