Framing a Fossilized Ammonite

Mr. Jimmy and I are HUGE archaeology and geology fans.

Over the years we have picked up quite a few smallish keepsakes to help remind us of our travels.

Here is a very speedy and inexpensive way to show these little treasures off.

You will need:

A dollar store frame big enough to frame your treasure.

A dollar store wooden box, basically the same size as the frame but deep enough to hold the rock you wish to mount.

Acrylic paint to match the frame (and a brush)

Hot glue gun and glue

This is one of the treasures we would like to frame. It's the fossilized resting place of an ammonite. 

I chose a black frame and painted out the sides of my wooden box to match the frame. The dollar store boxes I found just happened to have a hinged lid with a clear plastic insert. I removed the plastic insert but left the hinged lid on.

I removed the back from the frame and put a wee bit of hot glue in the corners of my frame to hold in the glass. I chose a frame that was ever so slightly larger than the wooden box. This frame also has a fairly wide border to cover the edges of the box nicely.

I glued the frame back onto the back of the painted box and put the frame on over the box top. I used hot glue to hold the stones in place. If I ever need to remove the stones I'll just pop them in the freezer and that should release the stone from the glue.

I made two of these frames. Now we'll just have to sift through our finds to see what ones will go in the other frame.