Drawing The Initial Ship for Scrimshaw

First attempt at filming the process of scrimshawing. Time lapse of a freehand drawing of a ship on a piano key made from alternative ivory, the lighting still needs work. Using an aquarelle pencil (also known as a “marks-all“) gets the design on the material without scratching it.

4 thoughts on “Drawing The Initial Ship for Scrimshaw

  1. Have your dentist save you his broken tools. You can re-sharpen them to a point, and they make great scrimshaw tools.

    1. Hi Troubador, thanks for the tip! I’d bought some dental pics awhile back with the curved tips and found them a bit to springy, but as you said. sharpening them to a point closer to the handle makes them nice and stiff.

  2. very nice , please more about the tool do you press hard or soft I cant tell where do I buy this tool

    1. Hi Richard, and thanks for writing! The tool I think you’re talking about is part of a low-power microscope (also known as an inspection microscope). It comes in handy since you can spin the piece around. Beyond that, I’m using an “aquarelle” pencil. You can write on just about anything with these, including glass. You only need to press hard enough to draw a line. If it’s too light you can press a little harder. It wipes off very easily, so you do need to take care while you scrimshaw.

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