Ptychodus04’s Fossil Fish Prepapalooza

[Ptychodus04]

3 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

Top class mate as ever. Nice to see you on this thread again.

 

BTW I sent funny little gift so look out for the postie.  
 

cheers Bobby 

Thank you my friend. Check your instagram, I sent you a note. The print is awesome! I’m going to hang in next to my Bobby Rico original Dimetrodon!

[Bobby Rico]

11 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Thank you my friend. Check your instagram, I sent you a note. The print is awesome! I’m going to hang in next to my Bobby Rico original Dimetrodon!

Sorry mate I am rubbish with social media, my bad. You’re welcome and have a lovely weekend. Cheers Bobby 

[Ptychodus04]

17 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

Sorry mate I am rubbish with social media, my bad. You’re welcome and have a lovely weekend. Cheers Bobby 

No worries. I now know not to message you there. 

[Ptychodus04]

On to my next fish. This is a medium sized Diplo from the Sandwich Beds. That comes with its own set of unique challenges. While the matrix is extremely soft, the fish is very flaky. Abrasive work is touchy, so this requires mostly scribe work and regular stops to apply Paraloid to keep the bones and scales in place.

 

 

[Randyw]

I just realized that's a 1" cube in the picture! And you call that a medium?

just what do you consider a large? LOL!

[Ptychodus04]

4 hours ago, Randyw said:

I just realized that's a 1" cube in the picture! And you call that a medium?

just what do you consider a large? LOL!

Much bigger than this one.  I’ve worked on a few monsters before.

[Ptychodus04]

Diplo is making slow progress but it’s coming out nicely. I am dreading the fins! They are going to be tough at the ends!

 

[Ptychodus04]

Have I mentioned that Sandwich Bed fish are a pain to prep? Soft matrix comes off easily but the fish are flaky and the fins are a nightmare to prep. Sometimes, there’s no way to keep them on the slab. Here’s the finished fish in all its flaky glory…

 

 

I started a nice 18” Layer double that has a Diplo and a yet to be identified smaller fish yesterday. Much better rock.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by Ptychodus04

[Alex S.]

 @Ptychodus04 I dont know how I just saw this, but I binged the whole thread and then detored a vacation with my wife to stop in Kemmerer and visit your clients to buy some unprepared fish. I also got to see your bird prep in person and was drooling. Thank you I look forward to seeing more of your stunning work.

[RJB]

Nice job Kris.  Turned out purty dang nice.

 

RB

[Bobby Rico]

Again lovely work pal. 

[FossilNerd]

Flaky fish from the Sandwich Bed you say? Now I’m just hungry! 

 

Well done, Kris. Great prep as always! 

[Randyw]

Great looking prep job as always!

 

[Ptychodus04]

21 hours ago, Alex S. said:

 @Ptychodus04 I dont know how I just saw this, but I binged the whole thread and then detored a vacation with my wife to stop in Kemmerer and visit your clients to buy some unprepared fish. I also got to see your bird prep in person and was drooling. Thank you I look forward to seeing more of your stunning work.

 

I talked to them a couple days ago and they mentioned that you had stopped by the shop. I'm glad you found the thread and enjoyed the fish prep pictures. I should have my current project to a point where photos will be interesting this week and my next project is a very large gar. More cool stuff to come. 

 

That bird was AWESOME to prep. 

[Ptychodus04]

I’m 6 hours into the next project. Time for a progress photo. This one is tricky. There’s a really hard micro-layer right on top of the fish. Preservation is awesome but it’s easy to burn through the scales.

 

[Ptychodus04]

Man, the fins are awesome on this fish! 19 hours in so far.

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

'Twas great catching up with this thread.

That paddlefish in particular was an amazing piece of work.

Denticles! 

[Denis Arcand]

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Man, the fins are awesome on this fish! 19 hours in so far.

 

Look like he die only days ago, very nice work  @Ptychodus04

Edited May 22, 2023 by Denis Arcand

[Ptychodus04]

Done with the Diplo. On to the smaller fish next to it. From the test excavation, it looks like it’s a big Knightia but we shall see.

 

[rocket]

well done, Kris, great Job with the Diplo!

[Ptychodus04]

Well, the other fish is a medium sized Diplo. Unfortunately, it’s very deep in the rock and the tail was cut off when the slab was removed from the quarry. 

[Sjfriend]

On 5/25/2023 at 3:17 AM, Ptychodus04 said:

Well, the other fish is a medium sized Diplo. Unfortunately, it’s very deep in the rock and the tail was cut off when the slab was removed from the quarry. 

That is ALWAYS  my fear when cutting slabs  Love watching your work!

[Ptychodus04]

The amputee Diplo is finished and I got started on a large GRF gar yesterday evening. It’s in Sandwich Bed matrix, so I’m nervous about the fins. The skull is looking promising though.

 

[Walt]

[Ptychodus04]

Gar progress! This thing is going to be awesome.