A tiny plaster jacket for a Trachemys (pond turtle) skull discovered yesterday by Jeri Merritt!  

Plaster of Paris

Plaster cloth

Strips of burlap and a bucket of water

Small plaster jacket created for a Trachemys skull using plaster cloth

We create plaster jackets around the most fragile fossil specimens using either plaster cloth and water or by dipping strips of burlap into a mixture of water and Plaster of Paris. The method we use mostly depends on the size and weight of the fossil specimen. For this small turtle skull, we used the plaster cloth, while for almost all of the gomphothere (elephant relative) fossils we use the burlap method.