scrimshaw.com

I thought about this years ago and it’s popped into my head every so often since. I finally tracked down the original art after a few hours of searching. One benefit of being unemployed is more time, if used wisely. I eschewed FB and sought creative inspirations for the last couple of months. After purchasing the image, I found it just didn’t work, so I based this on the artwork instead. Happy to have given some money to the artist (who is on iStock).

I started with the outlines of the leaves readjusted to fit on a full (the high C or low A on the piano keyboard) piano key. Once they were scrimshawed, I carefully scrimmed over the top and (mostly) within the lines using a special tattoo needle that creates extremely fine lines. In case you’re interested in experimenting, it’s a cluster of needles used mainly for shading (see https://amzn.to/3ioq308) I was able to fit the needlecluster from the cartridge into a pen tip that will retract most of the time, so I have avoided unintentional micro-tattoos. Since I’m using a slightly softer material than ivory, it was a good time saver: I’m working full time again and don’t have the hours to spend as I used to, just one or two a night. That being said it still took me several days to scribe the cross-hatching and fill all the leaves with India ink pigment.

Overall I like the way it came out. I may experiment with some smaller piano key “heads” and “tails”, but I think there will be fewer leaves: making them smaller would turn my scrimshaw into “screamshaw”. I guess that would be appropriate for October.