Scrimshaw very simply is the art of creating a picture on a piece of polished ivory with a needle. After scratching lines and/or stippling the ivory, ink is rubbed onto the surface which fills the scratches and stippled holes. When the excess is wiped off the picture is revealed.
Although variations of this art form go back thousands of years the present day art of scrimshaw is attributed to sailors on the whaling vessels from the 19th century. After harvesting their catch of whales they would spend their free time engaged in carving and etching pictures onto whale teeth. A piece of shark skin acted as sandpaper and a knife or sail darning needle would serve as a stylus to cut the picture in. Carvings were often quite intricate and functional. Pie crimpers with turning wheels or snuff boxes with lids that opened and closed, forks, knifes, and spoons, are several carved items that come to mind.
The early scenes or portraits scratched onto the ivory surface were rudimentary in their execution but they are nonetheless beautiful examples of nautical Folk Art. Sailors back then captured on ivory the events that were most important in their lives which more often then not depicted their everyday life at sea. Today, the art of scrimshaw has been revived and taken to a whole new level and encompasses many styles and subject matter.
I always like to encourage people to try their hand at scrimshaw. You will need these basic items that are common to the art form to get you started:
- A needle or X-acto knife
- A pin vise tool to hold onto the needle (Home Depot or Lowes carries this tool)
- A bench or good work space
- Adjustable Fluorescent light
- India Ink, acrylic, or oil-based printer’s block ink
- A supply of soft cotton cloth rags
- Paper towels
- Some kind of magnification
One thing to keep in mind is that scrimshaw is very time consuming. To design a piece of scrimshaw will generally take anywhere between 2-4 hours on average.
After acquiring a piece of ivory the next step is to cut and shape it to the size you want. Then you will need to go through the various stages of sanding it down until you have eliminated all of the sanding marks. I like to start with 220 grit red carborundum sandpaper and work up to 600 grit. Then I switch to a product called Micro-Mesh. At this point I continue on with 2400 grit and work through 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, and finishing up with 12,000 grit.
If you have access to a buffing wheel as I do you can finish the process by using a light buffing compound to bring out the high gloss luster the ivory requires.
A needle or knife is a scrimshander’s main tool. It’s what he uses to cut into the surface of a polished piece of ivory to create a picture. Some use a needle inserted in a pin vise like I do; others use an X-acto knife – usually with a #11 blade. Still others might use gravers to make their pictures much like a person who engraves metal will do. Although a needle in a pin vise is my preferred method, once in a while I will use an X-acto but only as needed.
Photo by Bruce Zupa
You will need a bench or good work space with an adequate work light. I prefer a fluorescent light on a goose neck so I can reposition it and direct the light as necessary.
I use several kinds of ink depending on the piece I’m scrimshawing. These include Windsor Newton India Ink, Block Printers Ink, and Acrylics both of which the last two come in various colors. All are good to work with. The oil based is easiest of all to work with because it doesn’t dry on the spot so to speak. It will dry eventually so if you use this type of ink, be sure the piece you’re working on won’t be handled a lot. Also, you will find that you have to keep applying several coats to get the complete coverage you’re looking for. For the darkest black I suggest either Windsor Ink or Acrylic Mars Black. Both are excellent products.
Photo by Bruce Zupa
Oil based ink such as Block Printers Ink takes time to dry so don’t use this product unless you know the piece will have time to dry and won’t be handled a lot.
After inking up the piece you simply wipe of the excess ink and the remaining ink stays in the scratched lines and stipple work. This is fairly straight forward when it comes to working with oil based paints but it takes an entirely different course of action when it comes to working with Acrylics and India Ink.
When working with Mars Black or Windsor Newton Ink I have found it best to keep a moist paper towel or cotton rag on hand for cleaning the ink off the ivory. These two types of ink dry very fast and it is relatively difficult to remove the excess residue. So after wiping off as much as possible with a dry, cotton cloth I will then wipe the ivory with the moist paper towel and then again with the dry cotton cloth. I repeat until all the excess is gone.
Some care during this process is needed; you don’t want to apply excessive pressure while wiping because that can cause the scrimshaw to be burnished. That means the ink will no longer adhere to the stipple or line work which means going back over the work you just completed.
When using a needle it is much more difficult to control the direction of the scratched lines. For instance, if I want to make a gentle curve it is easier to do with a blade because you can simply angle, or lay the blade over to the left or right depending on the direction of the curve to achieve the intended results. With a needle I’ve learned to control it by bracing the pin vise against my finger much the same way an oil painter will rest his brush on a stick to give it the needed support. Once in a while I will resort to using a straight edge but I really don’t like to because I don’t want the picture to have a mechanical look to it. A perfect line is not nearly as interesting as the imperfect one. Besides, an artist is not perfect and it’s those imperfections, or artistic signature if you will, that help to define his work.
Let’s talk about shading. When I add shading to a face in a portrait I use the stipple technique. This is a technique sometimes used in pen & ink drawings and makes for a very realistic look that you cannot achieve with the cross-hatching technique. Keep in mind that although the end result is the same both are valid methods but are two completely different styles. The rule of thumb here is do not mix the two styles together. Occasionally though, you might find it in the best interest of your art work to do so; that's an "artistic license" decision only you can make.
The pen & ink artist uses several sizes of pens to place many dots on the surface of a canvas all the while judging how close together they need to be to create the desired shading value. As a scrimshander I use a needle to poke holes in my ivory canvas. The major difference with scrimshaw shading is the depth of the holes. The deeper they are the darker the shading. The closer together the holes are affects the shading, too.