When I was younger, I had first taken an interest if fossil collection when I was collecting fossils from an old abandoned quarry.

As I grew older, and time became more limited, I thought had to give up on collecting. Now, I am in a more stable position. I am trying to make time for the things I like to do. Which lead me to rediscovered my passion for fossils.

To start anew, I ordered these ammonite fossil rocks from Brittan. As I learned that you could prepare your own fossils and it sounded fun.

The above shows how these two specimens arrived.

I used a variety of preparation methods to get these specimens from the rocks they were before into pieces I am happy to have in my collection.

Starting with an air scribe, I removed the matrix rock on one side and around the edges. I tried to avoid nicking the fossil within though I did make a few mistakes here and there.

Then I consolidated the exposed portions with B-72 (paraloid). Areas that had remnants of matrix were brushed with a brash brush to thin it out and a sand blaster was used to remove what was left.

For the areas the matrix was still to thick, I used a sharpened high carbon nail in a pin vice to chip away what I could. What remained was weakened again with the air scribe on its lowest setting.

Then, I repeated the cleaning and coated what remained in B-72 to protect it and give a slight sheen.