Lonnie Looper first became interested in making molds and casts in an effort to send elements of his (and wife, Freida's) Ice Age fossil collection to paleontologists for identification. Gradually he became interested in hand-painting them for display in museums and state parks. Visiting a friend who collects Civil War artillery shells, he noticed for the first time that "they weren't all cannonballs" and borrowed a few to make molds. After years of borrowing and buying Civil War artillery projectiles he has fabricated molds for 42 different types and still regularly searches for more. His relentless search for the right colors and methods of applying them has resulted in convincing, museum quality replicas, which are currently displayed in museums, historical parks, and homes throughout the nation. To his knowledge he is still the only producer of these "dug shell" replicas in the world.
He has recently added some of his original fossil replicas
to this website and included 93
images
of their 540 piece Ice Age fossil collection.
Lonnie has plans for making replicas of some of the Native American Indian artifacts from their personal collection available in the near future. These will include spearpoints, atl atl weights, chunky stones, plummets and more.
