I had a bit of spare time today so I thought I'd prep a trilobite or two from my trip around the Confusion and House Ranges of Utah. (See trip report here)
I had found this guy in someone else's throwaway pile probably after it came out chipped and subsequently scraped. I didn't think it was worth leaving out in the elements so I brought it home. Here's a before picture.
After 4 hours of swapping between dental picks, wire brushes, toothpicks, and various Dremel attachments here is my final product.
It's not perfect at all but I think it deserves to be admired for a time because it has not been on this earth for over 490 million years just to be chucked aside when it finally reached the surface. I even gave it a polish using a piece of newspaper. I don't think it came out too badly. The scrape is still visible on the thoracic segments but there's not much more I can do for that. What do you guys think?