Category: How-To

Learn how to scrimshaw with easy step-by-step instructions right here on scrimshaw.com!

Perennial Scrimshaw Requests

Posted on by Andrew Perkins

37450005There are many things you can scrimshaw that your customers would cherish but the three perennial patterns in the world of scrimshaw: the ship, the lighthouse and the whale will be asked for again and again. For some like me, the lighthouse can be the greatest challenge with it’s symmetry and straight lines, while others find the clouds or the ocean with it’s many moods the most daunting. Still others find themselves caught up in the rigging like a shanghaied landlubber, overwhelmed by the many tenuous supports that keep the masts and sails aloft. Inevitably a request will come for your most challenging subject, so what can you do?

tall-ships-2-22-07_1 Practice, practice, practice. Not obsessively, but consistently – a drawing or a sketch every day – even a doodle-a-day, then move on to other things.  By incorporating this into your day you will be creating a small habit, a commitment to taking the time, how ever short to practicing and enhancing your art. I’m reticent to say “perfect” since that is not achievable as my inner critic is always quick to point out, but you also never reach the sun when you walk to the sunset.

 

FinYour subconscious will pick up subtle nuances and techniques that will allow you to master your subject if you keep at it and find at least one good point in every sketch you make. Keep them in a scrapbook if you can, not to look at this week or this month, but perhaps next month over a morning coffee to see how you’ve progressed. You will be surprised I’m sure at the difference five or more weeks of small consistent efforts will make.

I’m setting aside fifteen minutes to draw one lighthouse per day for the next thirty days. By day 15 I’ll be cursing the small landlocked lighthouse I see on my way to work and by day 30 I’m sure I’ll be rejoicing in triumph, choosing another subject several times during this small challenge.

 

(Along with the great images from the talented photographers above, I’m including this link to an excellent book about habits. I’d listened to it via Audible and it helped me understand habits to the point where I could “break” a couple of persistent ones. I’m going through it again to now instill some better habits like the one above.  It’s not so much a “how to” book but a history of habits and many of their disasterous shortcomings. Worth the read/listen.  You can find it at your local library or pick it up on Amazon or Audible)

Scrimshaw for Young People

Posted on by Andrew Perkins

Picachu scrimshaw on acrylic teardropMy daughter wanted a Pokemon scrimshaw necklace. Figuring she would be wearing it onto the water, taking it off and leaving it someplace by accident, etc., I made it on a piece of white acrylic. This material has its challenges when it comes to coloring. Being a plastic, inks other than black tend to wash away very easily and don’t adhere in the scribed lines. So how do you make the pigment stay? My first solution was to let the ink dry completely then rub off the ink on the polished surface, which left very little ink on the body (the transparent yellow ink does not work well on acrylic, but works great on ivory, bone and tagau nut). The second solution worked, though: using a high quality artist’s colored pencil, I filled in the scribed lines again and wiped away the excess. The color stayed quite well, though just for safe measure I have since given it three coats of clear gloss spray varnish.
Since it’s acrylic, acrylic paint may work as well. Since she’d like another one, complete with each of it’s evolved variations (what have I gotten myself into?!), we’ll try some acrylic paint on the next one to see how that holds up. Oh yes… her friend’s birthday is coming up too…

Lighthouse Point Scrimshaw Patterns / Template

Lighthouse Point Scrimshaw Patterns / Template

Posted on by Andrew



If you have been looking for scrimshaw patterns, we will be hosting several of them at scrimshaw.com.  It can be especially daunting for the beginner to find a pattern or template to scrimshaw, and a great place to start is the iconic lighthouse.

Lighthouse-template

The lighthouse is an historic part of the maritime landscape from as far back as 260 B.C. with the lighthouse of Alexandria.  Warning sailors of rocky shores, guiding them through fog as well as a beacon of civilization, lighthouses served the maritime community throughout history.  Most modern lighthouses operate automatically.  Some lighthouses are also run as bed and breakfasts or vacation houses (see http://lighthouse.cc/links/overnight.html).  The only time a lighthouse can be less than romantic is when the fog rolls in, and the foghorn starts to blow.  Those who used to run lighthouses say they would get used to it, talking in between the soundings, and even sleeping through a foggy night!

There is a non-profit organization, the Beacon Preservation, Inc. which is dedicated to the preservation of lighthouses and their environments for educational, cultural, recreational, and historical preservation purposes. Their mission is to ensure that communities, civic organizations, and educational and research institutions are able to enjoy access to these important icons of nautical history.  You can find out more about them at http://www.beaconpreservation.org/content/publish/default.shtml.

The lighthouse pictured is in New Haven, CT – Lighthouse Point Beach – January, 2007(photo credit: Chris Amelung –
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelungc/355355109/sizes/l/in/photostream/(link) CC Creative Commons Attribution License. Chris’ site is
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amelungc/

Clicking on the Lighthouse-Template will bring up a pdf which you can download and print out.  There will be several sizes of the traced template varying from 1/4″ high to a 2″x3″ with the background.  You can use these templates on anything from piano key ivory (often used as bookmarks) to lightswitch plates or other materials.

Cut out the size that fits your material and secure it in place with tape.

Using a sharp tool, you can pierce the paper and make a dot on your ivory, making dots every 16th of an inch or so, creating a “dot-to-dot” (kids will sometimes use the school’s compasses – the type used to make circles, not to find true north) to do this.

Once you have gotten most of the template pierced, remove the paper.

You can see the dots easier if you fill them in by wiping oil paint across the surface then wiping it away, this will leave the paint in the impressions you created.

From here, you can continue putting stippled dots between the dots already there, or scribe from dot-to-dot to get the initial picture.  Fill in a small area with dots or scribed lines, then coat and wipe the area with oil paint (or India ink). Using the large original picture as a guide you can then create the shadows, or get creative and add a different shoreline, add a ship in the harbor, or anything else you desire.

Here’s a link to another picture of the lighthouse from Tony Fischer Photography

Write to us at “questions@scrimshaw.com” and let us know what you are looking for, we’ll be glad to get you started.

How-To Scrimshaw a Dragon – Videos

How-To Scrimshaw a Dragon – Videos

Posted on by Andrew



Awhile back, I had made some videos of creating a scrimshaw based on a dragon tattoo.  This step by step video is broken into three parts.

How to Scrimshaw a Dragon – This is one of many ways of transferring your art to ivory. Here, we use a variation of the “graphite paper” technique.

Transferring Your Art to the Ivory – This is the technique taught by my teacher when we were using pre-embargo elephant ivory.  I’ve kept this here because it is a starting point but recommend NOT slathering on the ink like it was peanut butter, and NOT rubbing off the ink with the folded cardboard! Instead, I recommend using a 000 brush to go over the lines if you are using ink, and a slightly dampened cotton ball once the ink is dry to remove the excess ink.  Better yet is using oil paint, which we hope to switch to completely in our kits real soon.

Adding Color to Your Scrimshaw – The final step is adding color to your scrimshaw.