Ptychodus04’s Fossil Fish Prepapalooza

[Kane]

35 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I don't think my client would appreciate that very much. The rest of the fish is just as nice.

Tell the client it will soon be my cat’s birthday, and he likes fish.  

 

In all seriousness, this will look phenomenal.

[Ptychodus04]

Here are a few fish on the other side of the size spectrum. 3 Diplomystus fry and a tiny Phareodus! I had to really set my pressure low on the abrasive to keep from annihilating these little guys!

 

 

 

[hadrosauridae]

amazing fry.  None of mine are so perfect.

 

[Ptychodus04]

10 minutes ago, hadrosauridae said:

amazing fry.  None of mine are so perfect.

 

I got lucky for sure. One guy in the quarry found a Priscacara that was 1/2” long!

 

You know you’ve collected too many fish when these are far more exciting than the monsters.

[fossilhunter21]

Awesome job!

[hadrosauridae]

3 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I got lucky for sure. One guy in the quarry found a Priscacara that was 1/2” long!

 

You know you’ve collected too many fish when these are far more exciting than the monsters.

 

I would say they are much rarer than the monsters.  Fish (like most animals) have 2 general paths in life.  They get eaten or they grow into adults.  To die as juveniles, and then to be fossilized would be a much rarer event.

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

 

I would say they are much rarer than the monsters.  Fish (like most animals) have 2 general paths in life.  They get eaten or they grow into adults.  To die as juveniles, and then to be fossilized would be a much rarer event.

Good point

[Randyw]

Great looking pieces!

[RJB]

 I have thought the fry fish cool for a very long time.  You might want to hang onto that little baby phare, those are hard to come by. 

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

3 hours ago, RJB said:

 You might want to hang onto that little baby phare, those are hard to come by.

I have an adult to eventually finish prepping. As soon as I get it done, I am going to mount the fry, a juvenile, and the adult in a live progression display. Should be cool.

[Ptychodus04]

I wrapped up the Diplo prep with the awesome fin preservation last night. This was a tough prep. The fish is well preserved but there was a hard, sticky, layer right on top of the fish. This makes matrix removal difficult because the matrix is much harder than the super thin scales on these fish. I had to compromise total matrix removal with scale/bone damage. 

 

[fossilhunter21]

Awesome job on the Diplo! It looks very nice.

[Randyw]

Thats Still an awesome job on it! It’d look great in any collection!

[RJB]

  Super job on this fish Kris.  The tails on these fish are my favorite of any of the GRF fishes.  This fish prooves that.

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

No new completed fish preps yet, so here’s a little time-lapse of some rough prep on a big Notogoneus I’m working on. If the preservation continues as I’m seeing to date, this will be a spectacular fish.

 

There’s a thin hard layer above the fish with a soft micro-layer right on top of the specimen. Easy abrasive work once I get it roughed out!

 

[Ptychodus04]

Just in case you can’t view the video from your computer (apparently, I’m one of those people. Here’s a Link

[Ludwigia]

@Ptychodus04 Too bad that there's no direct possibility to control my cookies with Instagram like it is with most other websites. Otherwise I'd be happy to see the video. Talk about monopolizing the internet. Any chance of posting it to your website?

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

@Ptychodus04 Too bad that there's no direct possibility to control my cookies with Instagram like it is with most other websites. Otherwise I'd be happy to see the video. Talk about monopolizing the internet. Any chance of posting it to your website?

Grrrrr. This is exactly why I'm a troglodyte. So much for freedom of information.

 

I'll see if I can upload it to my site.

[Ptychodus04]

OK @Ludwigia Try this link to my new prep video page.

[Ludwigia]

20 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

OK @Ludwigia Try this link to my new prep video page.

Excellent! And you don't even eat cookies

[fossilhunter21]

Looking good! Can't wait to see it finished!

[Ptychodus04]

7 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Excellent! And you don't even eat cookies

Yah, cookies are evil. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.  

[daves64]

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Yah, cookies are evil. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.  

Try telling that to @minnbuckeye 

[RJB]

I just realized your left handed.   Rock coming off that fish purty good though. 

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

7 hours ago, RJB said:

I just realized your left handed.   Rock coming off that fish purty good though. 

 

RB

Yep, I’m a southpaw.

 

The rock on this one is amazingly cooperative.