Pachydiscus gulocus Ammonite

The Pachydiscus gulocus ammonite fossil from the Late Cretaceous (68-65 million years ago). Found in South Dakota. On display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Hoploscaphites nicolleti Ammonite

The Hoploscaphites nicoletti ammonite fossil from the Late Cretaceous (68-65 million years ago). Found in South Dakota. On display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Parkinsonia dorsetensis Ammonite

The Parkinsonia dorsetensis ammonite fossil from the Middle Jurassic (174-164 million years ago). Found in England. On display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Pyritized Horn Coral - Amplexus fragilis

This is an interesting fossil in that it is pyritized and a horn coral. The identification appears to be Amplexus fragilis (White & St. John) of the Coral Ridge fauna, New Providence Shale of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Time period for this specimen is Middle Mississippian (Osagean).

Thanks to Alan for trading for this fossil.

Productus wortheni Brachiopod

This brachiopod fossil appears to be an Productus wortheni found in the Keokuk formation of Floyd County, Indiana.  The fossil is from the Mississippian Period. Thanks to Kenny for letting me photograph it.

Dalmanites Trilobite Drawing

Here is my first version of a Silurian Period trilobite Dalmanites.  My ultimate goal is to print it on a t-shirt with other Silurian Period fossils.

This image is from a vector based Adobe Illustrator project.

Potamides cordieri Gastropod

Potamides cordieri gastropod fossil found in Oise, France. Fossil is dated to the Eocene Epoch (Bartonian) of the Paleogene Period. Thanks to Herb for the fossil.

Batillaria sowerby Gastropod

Batillaria sowerby gastropod fossil found in Oise, France. Time period for this fossil is Paleogene, Eocene Epoch (Bartonian). So fossil is about 40-37 million years old. Thanks to Herb for the fossil.

Orthotetes keokuk Brachiopod

This brachiopod imprint is about the size of a child's hand. It appears to be an Orthotetes keokuk found in the Keokuk formation of Floyd County, Indiana.  The fossil is from the Mississippian Period. It measures about 10 cm wide and 7 cm tall.

Thanks to Kenny for letting me photograph it.

Golden Foraminifera

Here is a gold coated foraminifera fossil. It was prepared to be imaged under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). I believe it was prepared back in 2008. It reminds me of a Peneroplis planatus similar to the one found at foraminifera.eu

These gold coated fossils remind me of the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) where Goldfinger has the person killed by covering her in gold paint.

Thanks to Michael Hesemann at www.foraminifera.eu for the samples and they are very nice to look at.

Pleuroceras Ammonite - Germany

This fossil is a species of the genus Pleuroceras found in the clay pits at Buttenheim located in the state of Bayern (Bavaria), Germany. I think it is located in the Lias lithostratigraphic unit which would date to the Jurassic. Fossil is about 3 cm wide.

One can learn more at the German fossil site steinkern.de. The site is in German but use a translate.google.com to help figure out what is being said if you do not understand the language. I did learn that der steinkern apparently means "the stone core".

Thanks to Dieter Ketelsen of Hamburg, Germany for the fossils/matrix. Also I appreciate Michael at foraminifera.eu for bringing the matrix the fossil was in and paper guide to the fossil collection area. 

I tried to prep this with an engraver to remove large matrix sections and then a needle for the finer parts. The matrix is soft and easy to remove but as I found out must be done with a delicate touch. As a result I knocked the center whirl out. It retrospect, more care should have been taken and I should have consulted the Preparation and Recovery section of steinkern.de.

Geological T-Shirts

After some thought, I came up with this tagline for the blog, "4.5 Billion Years in the Making... Unearth Its Past louisvillefossils.com" So I began exploring different graphic designs that one could put on a t-shirt with that phrase. It seemed like an interesting creative exercise to see what type of geological or paleontological graphics one could create. After some research, I was amazed at all the different types of t-shirts in a wide variety colors and styles.

The web site to visit is ooshirts.com which creates cheap custom sweatshirts. The site is very easy to use and has a clean layout. They have staff that can help you Monday thru Friday 8 am to 5:30 pm PST either on the phone, live chat, or by e-mail.

I decided on using an image of planet Earth with text around it 

It seemed easy enough so once a graphic was created (shown in the above), it was time to browse to ooshirts.com. The site showed 30 different styles of t-shirts to choose from. The most popular is the Gildan cotton t-shirt which is what I went with available in 33 colors and 9 sizes (XXS-4XL). They also had clothing brands to choose from: Canvas, Hanes, Jerzees, Champion, and Anvil.

Using the ooshirts.com Design Lab option in the browser, a shirt and color were chosen, the art tab was selected, and graphic design uploaded. While the image used already had text embedded, there is a Design Lab text tool that has loads of fonts in 11 different styles. Next step was to switch to the other side of the shirt and add the fluor de lis logo and blog name. Added a message using the add notes icon to tell the staff the graphics should centered on the shirt and contact me if the images needed a higher resolution. Saved the design using my e-mail address and unique name, which gave me a web address to look at the design later. Pressed the quote and checkout icon and finished my order. Nice thing is the shirt order is given in an All-Inclusive Price with shipping.

Here is another design I considered using a vector image of a Dracorex hogwartsia dinosaur in the Journey to a World of Creatures Frozen in Stone.

ooshirts.com shipped the shirt and it arrived quickly days later. Looks great and I would recommend them to all to create cheap custom sweatshirts in a hassle free environment for quick turn around. Everyone I showed it to likes it. I washed it cold water and then air dried it and it looks good.  So check out www.ooshirts.com for your cheap custom sweatshirt needs, I am glad I did!  

 Here is picture of the actual shirt I received.

Thanks to ooshirts.com for the complimentary shirt used to create this posting.

Athleta spinosa Gastropod Fossil

This French fossil is called Athleta spinosa from the Eocene Epoch (Paleogene Period). Named by Linnaeus in 1758 (Conus spinosus). Specimen was found in Oise, France.  Learn more at Paleobiology Database.

Thanks to Herb for the fossil.

Echinocorys sulcatus Echinoid Fossil

This fossil might be the first one I ever posted from Denmark. The label that came with it listed Dalbyover, Denmark. It appears be an Echinocorys sulcatus from the Paleocene (Danian). See the Fossils of NJ web site for more information: fossilsofnj.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid=39

Thank you to Dieter Ketelsen of Hamburg, Germany for this specimen. Much appreciated! Thanks to Michael at foraminifera.eu for transporting the specimen and the identification link.

Pentremites obesus Blastoid

Pentremites obesus blastoid found in Grayson County, Kentucky, USA. Fossil was picked up in the Glen Dean Formation which dates to the Upper Mississippian Period (Carboniferous). For blastoids, this one is large measuring about 3 cm across. Thanks to Herb for letting me photograph it.

Prepped Calymene breviceps Molts

Probably the most commonly found trilobite in the Waldron Shale of Indiana, the Calymene breviceps. These two fossils appear to be molts which were shed during the Middle Silurian Period (about 425-420 million years ago). See some more outstanding prepared trilobites like this one at the Weeks Trilobite web site.

Thanks to Mark for letting me photograph these.