Tips on Ichthyosaur preparation?

[Aurelius]

Hi there. I recently purchased a big box full of shale, containing a number of disarticulated ichthyosaur bones from South Wales. Mostly ribs, but there's also a humerus and one or two other unidentified bones too. It's not an amazing piece, but I'd consider it good practice.

 

I've been trying to work out how to prep it. It's in many pieces, and putting them together is a bit of a task in itself! As you can see from this terrible photo, I've made some progress. I've numbered the joins so that their positions can be found easily, and drawn in marker pen on the surface of the shale where the bones appear to run beneath.

 

I'd appreciate any advice from anyone that's done this sort of thing before.

 

This is how I intend on proceeding:

 

1. Complete the jigsaw - and hope it all fits together!

2. Prep each piece to expose the bones

3. Set the pieces onto some kind of backing - not sure what?

4. Tidy up the prep, and use epoxy clay to fill the cracks.

 

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful. I've never dealt with any icthyosaur material before.

 

[RJB]

   Ive never done any Ichthyosaur before, but i would put everything together first and put some kind of backing on it and then go on the prep attack?  

 

RB

[LordTrilobite]

Though I don't have any experience myself with these kinds of project. The one tip I can give is that you could use like a wooden board to glue the pieces on when you complete the jigsaw puzzle so that you have a strong solid structure, preventing any more breaks. But as you say you were already planning something like that it seems.

 

But I would probably partially prep some parts first before putting it onto a backing. Because small pieces are easier to handle, and once you get an idea of the bone layout, you might be able to figure out the best way to display on a backing. Depending on the orientation of the bones you might want a different orientation of the whole plaque.

 

Looks like a fun project!

[JohnBrewer]

Man, I’m soooo envious, my favourite beast. 

 

I think I’d stick it back together then put it in a jacket and then prep. 

@Laboratary FODERE @Ptychodus04

[Ptychodus04]

I agree with @JohnBrewer, put the jigsaw puzzle back together then put a plaster jacket on what you expect to be the back side (slightly wrapping around the edges). This will give you the support you need to go after it with air scribes and the like. If you decide the orientation of the bones isn’t to your liking, you can always remove the jacket later.

 

be careful how much cyanoacrylate you use, it is a pain in the rear to remove from delicate bones. Use Paraloid/Vinac/Butvar as adhesive where/if you can as it comes off with acetone.

 

Good luck; post pics! 

[jpc]

I would avoid putting  it ALL back together because a big piece can be hard to handle.  But you could figure out how it all goes back together and prep smallish pieces.  

[Ptychodus04]

59 minutes ago, jpc said:

I would avoid putting  it ALL back together because a big piece can be hard to handle.  But you could figure out how it all goes back together and prep smallish pieces.  

 

Unless there are more pieces than what’s in the photo, it doesn’t loot like it’s horribly large (depending on the size of the shirt it’s all sitting on). 

[jpc]

15 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 

Unless there are more pieces than what’s in the photo, it doesn’t loot like it’s horribly large (depending on the size of the shirt it’s all sitting on). 

True.  Another thing to consider when gluing the pieces together is to avoid what I call 'negative corners'.  This is an area where you are missing a piece and if you find it it will not fit nicely because you have glued all the pieces around it back together and the newly found piece can't be made to fit where it belongs.  I am looking at the long slender gap in the block on the top edge of the bottom block on the t-shirt, in the green oval.   

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, jpc said:

True.  Another thing to consider when gluing the pieces together is to avoid what I call 'negative corners'.  This is an area where you are missing a piece and if you find it it will not fit nicely because you have glued all the pieces around it back together and the newly found piece can't be made to fit where it belongs.  I am looking at the long slender gap in the block on the top edge of the bottom block on the t-shirt, in the green oval.  

 

This is a great thing to point out. Debonding a fouled joint and re-gluing is a nightmare especially with cyanoacrylate.

[Aurelius]

On 10/17/2017 at 12:49 AM, Ptychodus04 said:

 

Unless there are more pieces than what’s in the photo, it doesn’t loot like it’s horribly large (depending on the size of the shirt it’s all sitting on). 

 

It's not a shirt, it's quite a big sheet! It's probably about three times bigger than it appears.

 

Thanks for the tips! I'll be prepping it next year, and will post the results.

[LordTrilobite]

Looking forward to seeing the result!

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Aurelius said:

It's not a shirt, it's quite a big sheet! It's probably about three times bigger than it appears.

 

That makes a difference. It’s hard to understand scale without a known variable in the photo. If it’s that big, prepping in sections and then joining is probably how I would do it.

[JohnBrewer]

1 hour ago, Aurelius said:

It's not a shirt, it's quite a big sheet!

You wear sheets?! 

 

sooooo looking forward to your prep. Do post your step by step progress. 

[steelhead9]

Typically, ichthyosaur bones are completely removed from the matrix then repositioned on a clean, solid piece of slate. Filling all those cracks with putty is not going to look great. That is how I would prep this.

[Aurelius]

36 minutes ago, steelhead9 said:

Typically, ichthyosaur bones are completely removed from the matrix then repositioned on a clean, solid piece of slate. Filling all those cracks with putty is not going to look great. That is how I would prep this.

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's how most UK ichthyosaur bones are prepped - at least, I'd be very surprised to learn that was the case. I've never done one, of course (my personal

ichthyosaur is still hiding in the ground for now).

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, steelhead9 said:

Typically, ichthyosaur bones are completely removed from the matrix then repositioned on a clean, solid piece of slate. Filling all those cracks with putty is not going to look great. That is how I would prep this.

 

I wouldn’t attempt to fill every crack. As long as you support the back side, the cracks give the matrix character.

[steelhead9]

16 hours ago, Aurelius said:

 

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's how most UK ichthyosaur bones are prepped - at least, I'd be very surprised to learn that was the case. I've never done one, of course (my personal

ichthyosaur is still hiding in the ground for now).

They don’t find ichthyosaurs laid out perfectly like they were swimming on wonderful, clean plates of slate. Of course if you have only a few bones in apiece of matrix you would not do this, but you appear to have quite a few pieces. May not be worth the effort though. 

[Ludwigia]

17 hours ago, steelhead9 said:

Typically, ichthyosaur bones are completely removed from the matrix then repositioned on a clean, solid piece of slate. Filling all those cracks with putty is not going to look great. That is how I would prep this.

Sorry, but that's generally not the method used over here, and there are an awful lot of them to be found, including complete articulated ones. As far as the unarticulated bits and pieces are concerned, I've done a bit myself and know a lot of people that work on pieces like that. A little bit of filler doesn't do any harm and it regives the impression of the in situ depositional circumstances. I think that Aurelius has a good chance of coming up with a very interesting piece when he's done.

[Taogan]

I would suggest you don't jacket the thing too early, use a sand box to lay it out and work on the sections individually. When you are almost ready use a plaster jacket and a frame to mount it. Don't be too quick with the glue and when you do glue use Paraloid because it is reversible and it should look interesting when it is finished. Also don't worry about the gaps, either filler or plaster  to lay it out how it was found is traditional in the UK. I cleaned a Victorian one that had plaster  in the gaps once. It gave me hours of fun repainting the plaster to match the rock

[steelhead9]

10 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Sorry, but that's generally not the method used over here, and there are an awful lot of them to be found, including complete articulated ones. As far as the unarticulated bits and pieces are concerned, I've done a bit myself and know a lot of people that work on pieces like that. A little bit of filler doesn't do any harm and it regives the impression of the in situ depositional circumstances. I think that Aurelius has a good chance of coming up with a very interesting piece when he's done.

Don’t know about English ones, but the Holzmaden specimens are generally repositioned. Of course dealers won’t tell you that, but the ones I have repaired or cleaned were definitely repositioned on clean slates. As far as an in situ specimen, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Certainly there are many who prefer an in situ piece and with good reason, but many also prefer a clean, articulated specimen. 

[Ludwigia]

8 minutes ago, steelhead9 said:

Don’t know about English ones, but the Holzmaden specimens are generally repositioned. Of course dealers won’t tell you that, but the ones I have repaired or cleaned were definitely repositioned on clean slates. As far as an in situ specimen, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Certainly there are many who prefer an in situ piece and with good reason, but many also prefer a clean, articulated specimen. 

Ok. You seem to know what you're talking about.

[JohnBrewer]

21 hours ago, Aurelius said:

I may be wrong, but I don't think that's how most UK ichthyosaur bones are prepped

You are right, certainly with UK specimens. I’ve seen several UK specimens being worked on as well as completed and they are pretty much flat as found. The matrix is almost always split into several pieces either purposely for extraction or because it was found that way. Don’t know about ichthys from other countries tho.