Beginner's first prep experience; a small Brachipod preparation!

[Jaybot]

Hello y'all,

 

   I recently got my Dremel 290, and I haven't actually prepped anything with it yet, as I have just played around with it on a scrap fossil to get a feel for it.  I decided to start my first actual prep, and I figured I'd bring y'all along with me as I thought it might help others just starting out by learning from my mistakes (hopefully not too many).  Well, here goes.

 

   This is a small brachipod I found, and is not very impressive, so I'm not afraid of ruining it.  Then again, if this turns out the way I hope, it will be a very attractive desk display piece.  Found in Kansas City area, in a roadcut that has the best mineralization I've seen yet here.  Some of the shells will be black, and I have found a few that have nice blues and reds.  This one is mainly grey.

 

Before leaving town this past week, I was able to get about 30 min in.  Started with leveling the matrix around the fossil a bit, then started work on removing matrix from this fossil.  Hurts to scribe right through these spines, maybe someday I'll learn how to air abrasion, and be able to save the spines similarly to those spectacular trilobites we've all seen.

Leveling the matrix:

 

And getting to work on the shell:

 

 

Hopefully y'all enjoyed this.  I will be posting here as progress is made.  Won't be able to work on it until next Monday, see y'all then!

 

Have a great weekend.

[Neanderthal Shaman]

Looks good!

 

The dremel is a very versatile tool that can handle many different prep situations, but prepping small shrimp claws with one for several years has taught me that slip ups are COSTLY when using it. I've had great success when prepping large snails, but fine detail seems to be where it becomes too destructive a tool for the job. I'm sitting on some small crab concretions I collected in the fall, and have decided to upgrade to a scribe, I just need to get an air compressor. 

 

But for a tool that is not explicitly designed for fossil prep, I've managed to do some pieces I'm very proud of with it! Patience was important for me, because it's easy to flake off too much with the Dremel. 

[Ludwigia]

So far so good, but it really is a pity that you have to take out the spines.

[Jaybot]

Alrighty, as promised I was able to get some in this morning, about 40 min.  Unfortunately rock is getting stickier, do y’all think I should try putting some acetone around the shell?  Will that actually soften and loosen the matrix?

Thanks in advance.

 

Anyways, as I was leveling the surface, came across this TINY little shell:

 

 

Nice pleasant surprise.  It eventually popped off, which allowed me to clean it up separately, level the matrix underneath it, and then glue back in place.

 

 

And here is an overall pic of the fossil(s).

Tomorrow I will attempt to slowly remove that sticky matrix by the base of the main shell.  
Have a great day everyone!

 

 

[trilobites_are_awesome]

Nice brachiopod and prep thanks for sharing!

[Danielb]

Looking good!

[Jaybot]

Well, last night I was able to get close to 50 minutes in.  Rock is somewhat sticky, and I am finding areas that weren’t as well preserved.  40 min in, disaster struck.  The shell peeled off suddenly!  I should have been consolidating as I went.  

 

 

After about 10 min, I was able to get the majority of the ‘flakes’ put back on and consolidated.  I should mention that this shell is thinner than a sheet of paper, and incredibly fragile!  The large piece broke into 3 smaller pieces before I got them back on.

 

Crisis somewhat averted, I realized that this section on the other side has no shell material at all!  Either I scribed right through it on day 2, or it was never mineralized.  Bummer.

 

 

 

 

I did a little bit more work around the shell, but it’s getting thinner and stickier as I go.  Considering doing just a few millimeters down, then leveling the rock and finishing this project.  Here it is now.

 

 

:

 

 

 

Any tips or especially suggestions as to how I should finish this would be greatly appreciated.  I will probably attempt to ‘3d’ the matrix like @RJB does with his crabs, but we’ll see.  Thanks everyone, hope you are enjoying this thread.  Have a great day!

 

 

[Jaybot]

Hello y’all,

 

   I was able to get about 50 min on this learning journey of a prep today.  I decided that the tiny shell was detracting from the main specimen, so I leveled the matrix.  Looks a lot better in my opinion.

 

I then did more work around the shell.  Still sticky, I now understand how annoying/difficult it is😀.

 

 I then soaked the whole thing in vinegar for 4 minutes, the same in water.  After dry, I consolidated the shell with B-72.  Tomorrow if I have time I will 3d the fossil a bit more by exposing more on the side that the shell slants into.

 

Here it is now:

 

 

 

Any tips are greatly appreciated.  Hope you all are enjoying this, and if enough people are, I will post a thread of my next brachipod prep.  Have a great day everyone!

 

[RJB]

Hi Jay.  I gotta say, thats a lot of work for a brach, but if your enjoying it, thats what counts and more power to ya.  and yes, I did enjoy your post

 

RB

[Jaybot]

Thanks RB.  I agree, it is a lot of work for a brach, but really I’m just trying to learn how to prep, so I figured I’d start with these.  I really enjoy your videos by the way, they are what got me interested in learning how to prep myself.

[Jaybot]

Alright, got about 1 1/2 hours in today.

 Focused on reveling more of the sunken in side of the fossil, not as well preserved there as well.  

 

 

I decided that I had revealed enough of the fossil, so I spent what felt like ages smoothing the rock with the scribe.  
After some paraloid, I am pretty much done.  I just need to cut some of the bottom of the rock to serve as a base, then I can move on to a different project.  I won’t bother to post any pictures of it once I cut the bottom, as that isn’t very interesting and I don’t want to bore y’all.  Thank you everyone for following along with this, I definitely learned a lot. 
Here it is:

 

Have a great day everyone!

[FossilNerd]

I enjoyed reading through your posts and seeing your progress. I too started my prepping journey with a brachiopod. Nice first attempt. 

[Jaybot]

1 hour ago, FossilNerd said:

I enjoyed reading through your posts and seeing your progress. I too started my prepping journey with a brachiopod. Nice first attempt. 

I appreciate it!  Will start another thread with a better, bigger brachipod prep.  I have higher hopes for this one