Nothing too notable in the last few months, but some local digging around and some prep work of trilobites found or acquired this year. Let's bang on with it, then. First up is a Quebec City area Flexicalymene senaria, which appeared among rocks that weather away exposed material quickly, so it is best to find those that are still mostly buried. A full prone flanked by what appear to be two cephalons. The result was fairly nice with a surprise "buddy" taking up the rear (sadly missing a pygidium and an eye). I prepped out the solo cephalon as well to make a nice association. Not clearly shown in this image is that rear Flexi's orientation, which is at a relatively steep angle, and its anterior cephalic process is effectively suspended in air. Next up is a very recent find and prep that took about 10 hours. Yes, it is just a typical Eldredgeops rana, but any complete example of these found in my city of London is significant. This was found among glacial erratics, and I am hard-pressed to find any outcrops of the differing Devonian lithologies found in them. Case in point would be this brutally hard, Moroccan-like matrix that has no bedding planes and has a tendency to shatter, not split. It is roughly the same age as Penn Dixie material, but with some key differences. The shalier layers of this material will contain a relative abundance of nautiloids, bivalves, brachiopods, and smaller trilo-parts in a muddy, turbid mix. The harder, blanker horizons of this tough-to-source material is almost entirely blank save for mostly complete trilobites. Unlike Penn Dixie, these are much larger and robust, so no compression damage. The rock I took home here is quite thick, and it is not a good idea to trim these in the field because inevitably this will likely shatter through the trilobite, which is softer than the surrounding material, or else leave a bit of "skin" on the broken side. I've seen huge prones in this material that are real heartbreakers on account of the way these rocks split. The process is a slow one on account of the rock's toughness. It is also sticky in a lot of places, and so largely resistant to dolomite abrasion. This will be the slow process of scribing off a flake at a time. At a certain stage of the prep, it was getting a bit awkward to shift this slab around in the box to get the angles I needed, so I used an angle grinder to trim off excess matrix. The thickness meant a lot of scoring and making relief cuts for my relief cuts until it was reduced to palm-size. Much easier to manipulate for prep. My big ME-9100 still struggled to remove bulk matrix. As I was nearing the end of this prep, I had a decision to make: pop it out to be matrix-free, or opt for pedestaling it. Aesthetically, I opted for the latter, but that also comes with more time to carefully scribe in some very cramped spots. I was pleased with the result. It measures just shy of 3 inches (~7.5 cm) on the roll. The eyes are perfect, too.
I have a few other ongoing projects, including an enrolled Asaphus kowalewskii which is nearly done, but that will be for a future post. Some other Russian trilobites to work on as well. I hope to be posting a bit more often as the season winds down. Stay tuned. Comments are closed.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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