Shells, who else has a thing for them? Shell art?

[shockponie]

That's so pretty, Pinkamena! It'd look nice in my mermaid bathroom. 

[Loona]

Loona yay another invertebrate person!!! I've always been really heavily into my entomology too

Me too!  I'm a big fan of invertebrates.  Mainly sea creatures of all invert types but I also like slugs, snails, mantids, beetles, and moths.  I'm nuts about sea urchins, nudibranchs, corals, anemones, and jellyfish in particular. 

it is cool that some of us in here share the same love.   

yay! it indeed is nice to know we're not alone ^^
I was always considered a little odd for a girl because of my interest in bugs and invertebrates in general. snails and silverfish were always among my top favourite animals, but I'm into loads more invertebrates (like jellifish, squids, crabs - especially horseshoe crabs; woodlouses, book scorpions (these I'm lucky to be able to encounter every now and then in our bathroom, I simply love the way they move), jumping spiders (they live on our window ledges, so I "have" these too), neuropterids and so on, I doubt I could ever finish the list
and when it comes to paleo, I really like ammonites and I'm simply all over trilobites I wrote my thesis on the paleobiology of the latter, it was a lovely task to do ^^

[Marigold]

Love trilobites!   I have a few of them although I keep giving them to my sister as birthday gifts because she loves the as much as me and I can't think of better gifts. 

Pink that is awesome you have a live collection. I'd love a hissing cockroach. They are so cute. And mantids are so beautiful.

[Loona]

Love trilobites!   I have a few of them although I keep giving them to my sister as birthday gifts because she loves the as much as me and I can't think of better gifts. 

aww, lucky you and your sister! :3
I unfortunately have none :/ Hungary is really poor in paleozoic rocks, and the few we have are quite young too (carboniferous and permian), which means trilobites hardly appear in them. as far as I'm concerned it has been years since the last one was found (and if you find one it's usually incomplete. you can count the complete specimens found on your hands). I always say I'm going to be the one who finds the next one but that didn't happen yet unfortunately
and I have never visited a place abroad where they could be found either. I want to go to the Czech Republic sometime soon, they have lots of paleozoic rocks.
of course I could just go and buy one too, but knowing I can also go and collect them (okay, not that much with these for the above stated reasons) I don't fancy buying one, let alone for such high prices they tend to sell for sometimes...

[Marigold]

Aw Loona, I wish you could find more of them or that they were not so expensive for you.  The ones I have are all store bought but we have a fossil shop in my home town that sells them for around $6 a piece.  So it is not too expensive.  I think there are a lot of local specimens and so they get a lot of them in.  The next time I am home I could stop in and see if they have some cheap ones if you want them. 

[Gingerbread]

I'm really lucky, most of my fossils I have found myself

[Marigold]

I've found a lot of shell fossils and brachiopods.  TONS of horn coral.  I kind of love horn coral.  But never have I found a trilobite.  They do have them in my home town and a few of the other places I have lived, but they seem to be hard to find.

[Calico_Star]

I don't really collect shells, but I do check them out when I see them because I own hermit crabs But now I've learned that the picky little buggers will always choose tapestry turbo shells over any other shells I provide, so I don't spend as much time sifting through shells anymore.

Tapestry turbo shells are lovely though
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[Gingerbread]

They are beautiful! I used to have hermit crabs too - so cute but bloomin' fussy with their shells sometimes!!!

[Loona]

I'm really lucky, most of my fossils I have found myself

the same for me that's one main thing that distracts me from buying them
but if I found some cheap and lovely ones (and there was a proof they were real - unfortunately fakie fossils are sneaking into the industry quite fast and in vast amounts ) I think I'd buy some. but yeah, only such I can't really find myself.

my fossil collection mainly consists of shells and ammonites. we are crowded with these two ^^ I love them pretty much, but well, I'd happily switch some for some paleozoic rocks

Marigold: oh, so kind of you! ^^ I will have to think it over (and it depends on postal fees as well ) here they usually start at around $10, and those are the crappy (and I'm sure fakie) ones I'm not really interested in - if it's a question of making, I can also make me some

talking about making... this video came to my mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZP5YinwK5Y&feature=player_embedded#!
did you see it? I was stunned when I first did! of course it doesn't actually look real to the learned eye, but for polymer clay it's kind of stunning! something I as an "only the originals"-girl would love to have too ^^ so far I was lazy to try it out...

aww, hermit crabs! just a couple of months ago I was so tempted to get one! I was working as a volunteer with the University museum at a terraristic expo held at the uni, and during free times I got to walk around the sellers, and one of them had them! I don't remember ever seeing them as pets before, but I always loved them, so I sure got excited about them however, they were pricey, and my boyfriend would have kicked us both out of the house if I bring a little companion home well, maybe someday ^^

[Marigold]

Oh that video is crazy!!!  I am very impressed.   And I didn't know fake fossils were around.  The only places I see fossils are rock/fossil science type shops.  The place I like best is a science and museum supply shop.  They actually have their own in shop museum with a really big beautiful collection.  They are personable and friendly and I know they would tell me if something was fake.   I will have to ask them about fake ones.

They have the big rusty colored ones that are not too pretty but are really cheap, then there are the smaller thin ones which are nice, cheap, and prettier (these are the ones I have), and then they have the expensive really cool display pieces which are usually out of my price range. 

[Binny]

I do! I have a small collection and this totally makes me want to pick up some art.

[Diamond]

Lovely art, we have a great found shell collection and some awesome beach glass.  Need to do something fun with all of it now that we organized it.

[DonkeyGrl2002]

What do you use to get them to stick? Love the mirror!!

[Gingerbread]

Thankyou

I use either No More Nails or a hot glue gun, depending on the size and position of the shells