About Scrimshaw.com
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Illustration from "The Scrimshander's Secret Scrapbook of Whaling Era Images"
Welcome to Scrimshaw.com – on the net since 1998!
We’re in the middle of redoing our about page to tell more about and less news. The news can be found above.
We have an excellent picture of a lighthouse for beginning scrimshaw artists as well as a basis for more accomplished scrimshanders. We’ve created a pdf so you can print it out then choose your size, plus at the bottom there is a large size image for reference. See http://www.scrimshaw.com/lighthouse-point-scrimshaw-patterns-template/ for more information and a link to the pdf. I want to thank Chris Amelung again for putting this up as a creative commons photo, and his gracious email when I asked him if I could use it in my beginner’s scrimshaw book
Mystery Artist Found (actually the Mystery Artist found us!) See Mystery Artist #3 for more!
Scrimshaw.com shows scrimshaw on eco-friendly and other materials. We hope you find your visit enjoyable and educational.
The origin of the word Scrimshaw is uncertain, but we know that this art has been practiced since revolutionary times. It did not, however, receive wide spread recognition until President John F. Kennedy, an enthusiastic collector, brought scrimshaw to the public eye. The American Whaling Fleet has ceased to exist. However, this art is being carried on by a few American artisans. Scrimshaw is the indigenous art form of the American Whaleman. In his idle hours of cruising for whale, he devoted himself to fashioning articles and jewelry of whale ivory. Today, the ivory trade in the United States has been reduced to “pre-embargo ivory” - ivory that was brought into the states before sanctions were set in place; hippo ivory – which is taken from
animals that have been culled from the herds or that have killed human population; and fossilized ivory – ivory from ancient walrus and mastodons.
Here at scrimshaw.com, we are utilizing this and other alternatives. One of which is a nut palm (also called “vegetable ivory”) which polishes to an incredible likeness of ivory, and whose hardness and durability rivals that of ivory as well. There are also other resources, such as fossilized ivory, antler (which drop off every year – if you can get them before the raccoons do!), and more.
Calling scrimshaw done on powder horns scrimshaw is sometimes debated, since it was not done on whale bone by sailors. The technique is the same, and a lot of the artwork created ranges from stunningly photo-realistic to old world “folk art”. Some artists like to scrimshaw maps or quarry on their powderhorns, while others like to create personalized lettering or portraits. To us, it is still scrimshaw: painstakingly scribing images on any material and filling in the lines with some type of pigment is an artform that is not for the impatient.
If you are a Scrimshander and would like to show your work here, I’d be more than happy to provide links to your site for free. Simply contact me at aperkins@scrimshaw.com
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I love the concept & your beliefs on material sourcing. Iv`e seen some beautiful EXAMPLES adorning beautiful people in the form of jewelry pieces.I would love to own a piece ,how do I browse your (if indeed you produce in quantity) collections & any available catalogues?
I do hope you recieved my comment it dissapeared & the page with it .Beautifull Iconic pieces of timeless art one can wear please help me view anything you may sell in jewery form & in meantime I`ll carry on the journey into History that makes the name “Scrimshaw”.
Hi Sara, and thanks for inquiring! Currently I don’t have many pieces in quantity, and I am slowly rebuilding my site after we outgrew our previous host. I can recommend Mark Thogerson very highly, as he is a prolific creator of many fine pieces of jewelry. Also one of my favorite artists would have to be Katherine Plumer, Sandra Brady, and there are many others – if you’d like to get overwhelmed, go to etsy.com and type in “scrimshaw” – you will find many fine artists there who work on mammoth, antler, paper micarta, corian and other materials. My initial site had many artists featured, and I hope to bring them back soon. Hope this helps, and please let me know if there is anything in particular you are looking for, since I am always up to a challenge when it comes to scrimshaw. One other artist you should see is Scot Kimel – the list goes on… Sincerely, Andrew Perkins
Hi Andrew,
I really enjoyed looking through your site. I was wondering if you could add me to your Artists page? You can find examples of my work at:
http://michaelcohenscrimshaw.wordpress.com/
Thanks,
Michael
Sure thing, Michael! Glad to have you aboard! Picked one of your ships as an example, you may choose a different one if you’d like. You have quite a variety of designs – we should do an interview at some point so my viewers can get to know you better.
thank you for the opportunity to leave my question. I have two pieces of very nice scrimshaw,they are large ships one is the constitution and the other is the Bonhomme Richard and Serapis. I have had these for somr time and in all my searching I can not find the artists mark or any name or initials. my question is how can I post pictures of these on your site under mystery artist. CRL Scrimshander.
Dear Charles,
Thanks for inquiring. You may send the pictures to aperkins@scrimshaw.com, with “mystery artist” in the subject line. If you would, please indicate the state in which you purchased them, if you can remember, or the general whereabouts you acquired them, as this may help us track down the artist. We’ll be happy to add your pics to the “Mystery Artist” page! In fact, one of my favorite haunts, the engravers forum has a stunning example (http://engravingcafe.com/showthread.php?t=8158) by Darrel Morris.
I have started doing research to get immersed into Scrimshaw. Lining up books and videos to buy and locating material suppliers and so on. I do have one question. Evcerything I see is almost entirely a white base material (ivory, walrus tusk, mastadon, bone, antler, etc.) I would like to also explore the idea of scrimshaw onto things like black buffalo horn with a white pigment but haven’t seen anything like it yet. Is this possible or have folks found there are problems with this type of medium? Thanks for any information you may provide to someone looking to start into this fascinating, almost lost art form.
Chuck Parham
Hi Chuck, that’s a good question, and the answer is YES – you can (and people do) work on buffalo horn, as well as dark mammoth ivory and other dark materials, using light or white pigments. Popular with not only the blade forums (see http://scrimshaw.com/knife-forum-buffalo-horn-scrimshaw ), but on many other artistic items as well. Want a little creative brain candy? Click on this search on google (or other search engine – my link goes directly to the images) reverse scrimshaw. Many different ideas and a wellspring of creativity shows up. As I recall, some of the artists on the artists page have also done reverse scrimshaw, but I can’t bring one to mind at the moment, and it’s bed time for my little one. Hope this helps, and if I run into any step-by-steps, or if anyone knows of one, please comment it and I’ll check it and put it up for all interested parties.
HI Andrew , Nice job on the site. you give a good overview, and this makes a great place for people to learn more about scrimshaw. BTW I love your iPhone cases! great idea.
Sandy
Thanks Sandy! I have been a fan of your work for many years. I am wondering how you are dealing with the recent California ban on ivory? I am thinking of retooling my kits to use some more eco-friendly alternatives. Also – is there an image you would like me to use on my Artists page for the link to your site?
Hi,
My father was an engineer on whaling ships in the late 50s / early 60s and I have a few tooth relics from his time at sea, one of which I believe to be absolutely unique – it is a hand carved figurine of a British character, Andy Capp. This character featured in the daily mirror for many years, first appearing around 1957. How would I go about getting a valuation on the little guy ?
Wow. I remember Andy Capp. Can you send several pics? I can contact some collectors, but they will want some high res. pics. Thanks for writing!
I have 3 whale teeth given to me by my g. grandfather. the smaller one is raw 6 inches long and 4 inches wide. The middle one was scrimshawed with a ship on it and the large one is raw has “sandpaper scratches on it” but is 9 1/2 inches long and 4 1/2 inches wide. It weighs about 2 1/2 lbs. I would like to get the smaller and larger scrimshawed so I am interested in artist in the Florida area. It would be great to have ships or whaling scenes done on these. Any help would be appreciated.
I’ve just “approved” your inquiry, so hopefully an artist in your area would be able to help. You can also contact maritime museums in your state to see if they know of any reputable artists.
Hope this helps,
Andrew
i have been teaching scrimshaw at the jc campbell folk school and the wooden boat school for several years now. i am scheduled to teach at the wooden boat school in july but because of health problems its looking like i may not be able to follow thru. the people at wooden boat are great and i very much enjoyed teaching there. if anyone is interested in teaching please contact me and i will do what i can to make it happen for you and the school. tomorrow 3/1/13 i go under the knife so give me time to reply.
thanks
ron
Hope things went well, Ron. Anyone interested in helping the Wooden Boat School and teaching scrimshaw, please contact Ron at his email address.