Terry Dactyll Posted June 26, 2009 Author Share Posted June 26, 2009 fossilshk....Thanks..... Heres my latest prep job... its a Metophioceras conybeari (J.Sowerby, 1816).... this comes from the North Somerset Coast in the uk..... To find a 3d ammonite on this coast is pretty rare, usually they are crushed but I noticed a couple of spots that do 3d ones, but the limestone is so hard, i had to rethink from normal methods how to prep it... If you sumply pushed with the pen and a sharp point, the rock had a mind of its own and fractured where it chose, so i had to litterally shave every mm off.... this took a long time.... but a very rare fossil.... and worth the effort.... Hope you like it..... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 You're killing me; that is too beautiful! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa dino Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 I'll drink to one find prep job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted June 27, 2009 Author Share Posted June 27, 2009 Thanks Guys.... I'm Glad you like em..... I didnt know when i came on this forum if you had any ammonite guys on here...... but I was sure you'd have people who can appreciate whats gone into them prep wise.........my house is sinking slowly..........heres the next rock to land on the prep bench, im presuming its the same species, although they are rare i have found three this year if this one is all there......I used to find one thing a year on this stretch of coast, but Ive had a 'good run' so far since xmas.... (fingers crossed) may it continue..... although you learn something everytime you go out collecting.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 Those look heavy. How do you carry them out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted June 27, 2009 Author Share Posted June 27, 2009 N.AL.hunter.... Hi and thanks for your intrest.... mostly in a rucksack, its worth spending a few hours with a sledge hammer, lump hammer and chisel to get the ammonite down to a manageable size, although whilst doing this, im thinking about how it will stand up, what way the ammonite is running inside the rock, what way it would look best, visulising what i have in front of me.... so i try and leave enough rock for a base.... Once we used a stretcher to get a few rocks off in a day..... although after a few hundred yards your arms begin to go dead and become weak..... we then found some old fishermans rope that had washed in, and by looping the ends and sliding them on the stretcher handles so it was just long enough to go across your shoulders and take some of the strain, when your arms go dead, you can take the weight on your shoulders why your arms recover.... Heres me backlog of prep, and the ammonite guard dog.... I took this photo a while back, theres a few been done and replaced, but pretty much like this all the time... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 Finished the last Somerset one in the previous photo unprepped.... a little brown calcite on the right hand side, but its mainly a dark grey....I need to get out there and find another.... Do you think the buldge above the mouth border in the rock needs 'blending'... and smoothing in more..... for the asthetics?.... Metophioceras conybeari (J.Sowerby, 1816).... Max Dimension of ammonite 9" Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 "Do you think the buldge above the mouth border in the rock needs 'blending'... and smoothing in more..... for the asthetics?...." nooo...there's something about it, though, aesthetics is such a variable proposition... what i'm thinking is that it really depends on the environment. the only way for it to be perfect is to be displayed much closer to me, like there. <pointing to a spot on his desk> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicranurus Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Wow. Nice prep. Do you have any small ammonites? "It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." -Sir David Attenborough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 It sure doesn't take you long to prep. All your ammonites are gorgeous! Glad you included the pic of the place you hunt. That's one of my favorite things to see, the fossils and where they came from. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Finished the last Somerset one in the previous photo unprepped.... a little brown calcite on the right hand side, but its mainly a dark grey....I need to get out there and find another.... Do you think the buldge above the mouth border in the rock needs 'blending'... and smoothing in more..... for the asthetics?....Metophioceras conybeari (J.Sowerby, 1816).... Max Dimension of ammonite 9" That is just beautiful, great job, great specimen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 There is a powerful Feng Shui in the 1/.618 ratio of the natural spiral; your prepping releases that without artificial distraction. Well done! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 tracer.... yeah... I see what you mean the buldge is growing on me to.... Dicranurus.... I have plenty small ones, its just I've concentrated on the big Corniceras ammonites for the last few years...If you only look where they are, thats all you find.... lol Roz.... If I think on I will try and remember to take the odd photo of locations... and thanks....and thats me looking in said location to .... It doesnt get too much attention as its very hard to find decent stuff there.... mommabetts... glad you like it..... and thanks... Auspex.... Thanks... I think.... lol... kidding aside.... is that the mathematical ratio for ammonite growth... I did see a formula once for an ammonite for calculating the graduated gains in dimension.... although it was for one particular type... they are all obviously different..... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 tracer.... yeah... I see what you mean the buldge is growing on me to.... Don't feel bad, we're all getting older. Auspex.... is that the mathematical ratio for ammonite growth... Practically any organic spiral; even the arrangement of seeds in a sunflower. It's the way life works. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fig rocks Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Terry D your work is amazing, your patience is out of this world, you are an inspiration to fossil hunters, thank you and keep sharing your work.!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Fig.... Thanks for the compliments and I will keep sharing my finds ..... Im just back from collecting..... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted July 12, 2009 Author Share Posted July 12, 2009 Heres my latest...... I found this last weekend along with 4 other specimens.... Ones no good, the rest look like they will come out.... When you find something rare, sometimes what you learned gets you another... in this case another 2..... so Im pretty much buzzing with this beauty.... It has some wonderful yellow calcite in it as well as dark green and black and the sediment infil that has filled the body chamber has revealed some crinoid stem fragments that must have washed in before it was buried.... If you notice I have included a photo of a fracture across the shell, presumably at the junction between the body chamber and the start of the suture walls... I was told sometimes they crush here as there was once an air bubble that diddnt allow sediment to completely fill the shell, and under compaction at a later date its a weak spot.... The suture chamber walls running tranversely across the shell act as stiffeners and give strength to resist this crushing further into the shell.... rarther than blend this in as i could of, i left it '' as is''... as it ran into a tiny chamber of 'dogtooth calcite' in the ammonite and running into the matrix.... Hope you like it.... Sulciferites cf. greenoughi (Sowerby)......15" Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 Love the infill crinoid stem; it evokes the infinite heavens while being a fossil-within-a-fossil, and one that turns in upon itself at that! How metaphysical can one rock get?! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 Auspex.... and there was I just happy with the nice colour lol..... Thanks for taking the time to reply and showing an interest in my labours as theres a lot of work gone into that.... the rocks full of crinoid bits.... it made it very tough going.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicranurus Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Amazing ammonite again and beautiful prep like always. "It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." -Sir David Attenborough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I actually like that calcite in there and the crinoid star, doesn't get much better that that! Gives it real character and ups the level on the unique scale... Excellent job there, Terry.. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Steve, I have to echo the others...beautiful work. Please indulge my laziness, what time frame and how rare is this ammonite? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fig rocks Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Once again Terry, absolutely beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 JohnJ...... Lower Sinemurian from the Blue lias of Lyme Regis in Dorset (190MYO approx), rarity difficult to fully ascertain but from experience I will say from Lyme Regis this is a .... '''''''Rare''''''''ammonite...... and id be very supprised if there are any more than 5 complete Lyme specimens held in collections anywhere, including museums.... This '' quality and completeness'' having an intact body chamber... I know of only my own two.... Id like to be proved wrong.... Dicranurus,Roz & fig rocks.... Thanks for your kind words..... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Everyone who wants a field trip to the UK and a visit with our buddy Terry Dactyll raise their hands. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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