Rat lines are the rope ladders the sailors use to climb up the masts to tie down, release and maintain the sails and rigging of a ship. On the hapless ship in this illustration, all of the sails were tied, showing many of the ropes and the arms (legs?) of the Kraken.  Used the straight edge of a postcard to steady many of the lines and went freehand with the horizontals. While not in the original picture, the rat lines on our scrimshaw are being squeezed more firmly above the central crow’s nest. Filled in a bit more of “squidward” but I don’t want to further shade the head since the ocean has not been touched yet.  Next step will most likely be completing the rat lines, then the ocean.  Still unsure about the background – I had put the mountain horizon on the upper right, so either the mountains will be there or some clouds.

Last updated by Andrew at May 5, 2012.