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Create a Variety of Exhibits
Your Display Case Project
What can I put in my own exhibit?
Display any fossils, minerals, crystals, gemstones, lapidary specimens and gemstone jewelry. Stone art, artifacts, tools to name a few other ideas. It could be purchased or collected yourself. You can just have it as a couple small things or as a large collection. As long as it’s relevant to the Club, have fun and be creative with your theme! It‘s your artistic expression.
Do it as a Solo or Group Project
- Exhibits are perfect for novices & professionals.
- You can make it an individual or group project
- Club members can get together as a team and combine their contributions for their display case. This is a great idea for those who may own just a few specimens, and makes a great excuse to have fun with fellow club members.
Tips for Building Your Display
- Your display is your artistic expression! You can be minimalist or get very elaborate with it.
- If you want to change the background - play with different material, mediums, raisers, colors, props, arrangements, etc that will accentuate and add dimension.
- Make sure your background & props help make your specimens stand out & be the star of the show, and to not distract from your specimens.
- Make sure any writing or typography is clear and legible.
Label all Your Specimens
Labeling is the only real crucial component in the exhibit. The reason is because a label serves to identify the specimen via Name & Locality. Scroll further down to learn more about how to do labeling.
Labeling: How to’s
Format for Labeling Minerals
The basic format requires just 2 pieces of info:
- NAME: the accurate name for your specimen
- LOCALITY: The accurate location of which it was found.
Format for Labeling Fossils
Fossils require a couple extra pieces of info:
- NAME: An accurate name for your specimen
- LOCALITY: The accurate location of which it was found.
- TIME PERIOD (ex. Cretaceous, Jurassic)
- FORMATION it came from *if possible
Why Include Locality?
Sharing its location gives some useful information for a collector or even for a novice viewing it. They’ll like to learn that you found this in the Adirondacks, or in Pennsylvania, or a mine in Utah, for example.
The basic format required for labels is just Name & Locality
An expanded format looks like this:
TITLE: Mineral (or Fossil) Specimen
NAME:
LOCALITY:
TIME PERIOD (fossil only)
FORMATION (fossil only)
COLLECTED BY:
DATE:
Writing the Labels
- Handwritten: Make sure lettering is large enough, clean, legible and in print
- Avoid writing cursive or being too fancy
- Make sure it catches the eye & you can easily read it.
Using Software
- You can also make a label sheet of all your specimens using a publishing software, then print it out If your handwriting can’t be redeemable.
- Printed labels will be crisp & consistent.
- Use clean typefaces like Arial, Helvetica and avoid anything fancy or cursive.
Always keep Labels to your Purchased Specimen
Always keep the label that comes with your purchased specimen, so you can carry that label either as your display label, or choose to make your own labels with the information from it.