Ludwigia Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I think I mentioned in another thread recently that I'd managed to find the block with half of the ammonite in it which had promptly tumbled down the hill after I'd just pried out of the cliff in the Wutach valley. It took a good hour, but I was determined to find it, since the half which had stayed put was telling me that this could very well be a good 'un. The block was pretty large and heavy, so in my attempt to reduce weight and size, I managed to also make 2 smaller blocks out of one. Nothing went missing, so it was ok in the end and a lot lighter to tote. Here's how they looked after I got them home. The first pic shows the exposed ammo bits and the second how they looked when pieced together. I decided to glue the 2 smaller pieces together and have a go at that side first with the air pen and a bit of abrading just to ascertain the position of the outward ends of the ammonite and to clean up the broken edges without losing anything. I placed them together again for the next photo. The procedure was then similar with the larger block. Again placed side by side for the photo. The next step was to work separately on each piece mainly with the abrader, although I used the pen a lot in order to get the inner whorls free. Then I chopped away a lot of matrix from the left hand side in order to give it a more balanced form, gave it another once-over with the abrader and only then glued the 2 halves together. Not quite finished, since I still had to fill in the gaps and cracks with stonemeal. You can see it in the final result, but I think I'll leave it this way this time instead of trying to camouflage it. The ammonite is a Staufenia staufensis from the local staufensis Bank of the upper Aalenian. It has a circumference of 20cm., although it's not quite complete and would probably have been at least 5 or 10 cm. larger. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 WOW- that must have been quite a task-- and another prep that is well done. The end result looks amazing!! Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkinhead Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Awesome job. I find myself scrolling from the top to the bottom- looking at the "before" and "after." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiggieCie Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 A great fossil and a great Photo essay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Beautiful work Ludwigia - you would definitely need experience to see the potential in this piece and coax out its beauty. How long have you been prepping ammos ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 WOW- that must have been quite a task-- and another prep that is well done. The end result looks amazing!! Tony Awesome job. I find myself scrolling from the top to the bottom- looking at the "before" and "after." A great fossil and a great Photo essay. Thanks guys Beautiful work Ludwigia - you would definitely need experience to see the potential in this piece and coax out its beauty. How long have you been prepping ammos ? I guess you could compare it with feeling your way through a crab concretion. A knowledge of the anatomy of each species is a must. I've been prepping for about 15 years, although I just aquired my "heavy equipment" 5 years ago. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 What sort of heavy equipment do you use? Do you mean pneumatic chisels like a mighty or super jack? Thanks for sharing the 15 years of hard earned experience with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 I was just sorta kidding. I just meant my air pens and the air abrader. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welsh Wizard Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Hi Roger Very nice. Did you prepare the halves separately because of the weight? By the way, I was in Germany the other day and wanted to do some fossil sites but didn't have time. I did manage to go to the Berlin Museum of Natural History and saw the dinosaurs collected as part of the Tendaguru expedition which was fascinating. All the best Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Super cool to see all the pictures from start to finish. Nice work. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Wow Roger! I don't know how you do it. You some how brought that thing back from extinction. From your first picture, it didn't look doable. Brilliant prep, sir. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 Hi Roger Very nice. Did you prepare the halves separately because of the weight? All the best Nick Well, partially I would say. The pieces are a lot more handy when they're smaller, but I also like to see exactly where they're sitting in the stone before i join them all together. The Berlin museum is great, isn't it? Pity you didn't get around to some collecting. Maybe next time around. Super cool to see all the pictures from start to finish. Nice work. RB Wow Roger! I don't know how you do it. You some how brought that thing back from extinction. From your first picture, it didn't look doable. Brilliant prep, sir. Thank you both for the positive feedback. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 I think you dun real good Roger........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 Aw shucks, Malcolm..... Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 As always another disgusting display of expert preparation. Well done. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 I'm just revolting, aren't I ? Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I'm just revolting, aren't I ? Completely. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 Carrying along on that note, here are a couple more that I've just finished prepping. Ludwigia bradfordensis deleta. 7cm. Ludwigia haugi. The large one measures 12cm. It's complete and almost all of the shell is intact. I really love this one. It took about 12 hours to get it out of the matrix, but it was well worth it. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Looks like that should be in a museum display, that is really a professional job on those!! Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Thanks Tony, but to be quite honest, many of the ammonites that I've seen in museums could do with a good prepover. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantguy Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) Hey Roger, appreciate seeing the steps to put a great find back together and skillfully prep it... I need some real tools!! Regards, Chris Edited May 19, 2015 by Plantguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Thanks Tony, but to be quite honest, many of the ammonites that I've seen in museums could do with a good prepover. I wholeheartedly agree. My experience has been that museums have to rely on volunteer labor for the most part. Many of the volunteers don't have anywhere near the requisite skills or experience. But, the museums can't afford to hire professional preparators. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) OK already ... that is the quality that We would like to see and should be standard for specimens in a museum! I was just trying to say I think it is a very good prep! Edited May 19, 2015 by ynot Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Hey Roger, appreciate seeing the steps to put a great find back together and skillfully prep it... I need some real tools!! Regards, Chris Thanks Chris. It's true. A whole new world opens up once you get this equipment and if you're serious enough about collecting, then it's well worth the investment. I wholeheartedly agree. My experience has been that museums have to rely on volunteer labor for the most part. Many of the volunteers don't have anywhere near the requisite skills or experience. But, the museums can't afford to hire professional preparators. Sad but true in many cases. OK already ... that is the quality that We would like to see and should be standard for specimens in a museum! I was just trying to say I think it is a very good prep! Hey Tony, no offense meant. That was just my strange Canadian humor shining through. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 (edited) Hey Tony, no offense meant. That was just my strange Canadian humor shining through. None taken, that was just My strange American humor leaking out. Edited May 20, 2015 by ynot Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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