Ptychodus04’s Fossil Fish Prepapalooza

[Ptychodus04]

On 10/30/2023 at 9:32 PM, SPrice said:

Maybe something like this one...a recently discovered Cyanogaster.

 

 

Some of the fish I've worked on were so stinking thin that I would swear they were actually translucent.

[trilobites_are_awesome]

I hate thin fish!

[Ptychodus04]

Another Diplomystus prepped and off the bench. This puts me at 31 fish in 2.5 months.

 

[Fossildude19]

10 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Another Diplomystus prepped and off the bench. This puts me at 31 fish in 2.5 months.

 

Oh, to live the life of a professional preparator. 

 

Be careful what you wish for, hunh? 

[Ptychodus04]

3 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

Oh, to live the life of a professional preparator. 

 

Be careful what you wish for, hunh? 

 It gets monotonous at times but it is cool to live vicariously through other collectors.

[daves64]

2 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Another Diplomystus prepped and off the bench. This puts me at 31 fish in 2.5 months.

Well, they do say a diet of fish can help with weight loss. But for some reason I don't think they meant this type of fish.. 

[Ptychodus04]

4 hours ago, daves64 said:

Well, they do say a diet of fish can help with weight loss. But for some reason I don't think they meant this type of fish.. 

 

This kind makes you fatter.

[RJB]

Wow!  Talk about some nice lookin fins!

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, RJB said:

Wow!  Talk about some nice lookin fins!

 

They got a little flaky out at the tips but didn't fall apart too badly. Thankfully, there was a soft micro-layer between the fins and the harder dark layer right on top. as long as I worked slow, I was able to scribe the harder layer off without pulling the fins with it. And, the fish itself was in one of the harder micro-layers.  Makes for easy abrasive work at low pressure.

[Ptychodus04]

Here’s a time lapse of some prep on the skull of the large Diplomystus I’m currently working on. This fish is really flaky so, I have to bounce around a lot while the Paraloid dries in different areas…

 

 

[RJB]

Thats purty cool Kris.  Need to get some of that 'speed dry' paraloid?  Just kidding.  Looks like some of that split fish material that didnt split on the fish?  

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

Thats purty cool Kris.  Need to get some of that 'speed dry' paraloid?  Just kidding.  Looks like some of that split fish material that didnt split on the fish?  

 

RB

 

It's actually a softer bit of 18". The rest of the rock is very traditional 18" preservation. I'll snap a pic of the tail fins for you. I know how much you like them and these are going to make you fall out of your chair!

[Jaybot]

Oh boy…. Hold on to yer armrests folk…

[Maniraptora]

That looks quite nerve wracking, but you're obviously doing a great job. Thanks for sharing these time lapses! It's nice to be more "immersed" in the process and learn a bit by observing it.

[Ptychodus04]

Sometimes it can be stressful but those are rare times these days. After nearly 3 decades of prepping, I’ve made peace with to potential of ruining a specimen in the attempt to prep it. 

 

The time lapse makes it look fast but real time videos would be REALLY boring to watch.

[Ptychodus04]

Here you go @RJB

 

[Randyw]

Amazing!

[RJB]

I've thought since way back in the 90's that the diplo's have the most beautiful tails!  Still do

 

RB

[SPrice]

WOW! I can't decide which amazes me more...the preservation or the preparation.   One without the other and it wouldn't matter. So...Yin and Yang. Both are needed to look so completely freaking amazing!!

[trilobites_are_awesome]

@Ptychodus04 Is the best preper i have ever seen!

[mr.cheese]

Awesome! Yourself and RJB are amazing to watch!

Mind you i have always had a thing for watching other people work! Ha!

 

[Ptychodus04]

21 hours ago, trilobites_are_awesome said:

@Ptychodus04 Is the best preper i have ever seen!

🥰

 

17 hours ago, mr.cheese said:

Awesome! Yourself and RJB are amazing to watch!

Mind you i have always had a thing for watching other people work! Ha!

 

I also prefer watching others work. 

[Ptychodus04]

I wrapped up my large fish prepping project with this cool diplo/knightia. If the Knightia was flipped, it would look like the diplo was chasing it!

 

Now, I’m trying to bang out my queue in order to prep another largish order of fish in time to deliver to Tucson! Fish lot is arriving at my lab today and I have 4 large boxes of fossils from assorted TFF members who have been patiently waiting for me to get their stuff done. 😱

[Nanotyrannus35]

That's a beauty! How long did it take to prep?

 

[Fossildude19]

14 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I wrapped up my large fish prepping project with this cool diplo/knightia. If the Knightia was flipped, it would look like the diplo was chasing it!

 

 

I thought the Diplo was chasing the Knightia,  ... and the Knightia was just performing an evasive barrel roll.