scrimshaw

I have been quoted anywhere from $70 - 500 per inch depending on the person doing the work and depending on the detail. I got a few pionters from Shick and have been trying to learn it in my nonexsistant spare time. If you can wait 10-20 years I may be able to do it for you. LOL
 
isn't true scrimshaw just pointillism style art? More like tattoo work than being scratched in correct?
 
Can it be repeated? For the most part yes. How well depends on who is doing it.
How much? Depends on size, who is doing it, does it have color or just black and white, what it is being scrimmed onto and who knows what else. The person that can tell you is Howard Thomas of SailorsDream.com

Bob Danielson
www.bdcuesandcomix.com
 
Can scrimshaw be CNC'd? Like If I scan in a picture, convert it to black/white, is there a device that can "print" out the picture by etchin marks into the material?
 
schrim

I used to make quite a few ivory poker chips. I would take them to an engraving shop that had a lazer engraver and they would lazer engrave my design on them and it looked like old time schrimshaw.
Something to think about.
Knifemaker
 
Portraits

Hi,
I work with Bob Hergert on these special projects for Az'ers.
We're doing another special project now.

Here's Bob's site for others to visit..
http://www.scrimshander.com/

Portraits must be the hardest to replicate..
You know it is excellent work if you can recognize the person.
Alton
 

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patrickcues said:
It is scribed in with a point!
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That may be how some try doing it but actually, that is engraving. In scrimshaw. a very sharp pointed tool or needle is used to poke very small holes into the material and then this is filled with carbon black or such. The darker the image,the more holes that are poked.

Dick
 
Actually, the "poke very small holes" method is called stippling or dot technique. It is the most difficult style to master. The "scribed in with a point" more accurately defines how the majority of scrimshaw is done and India ink the most common fill.
The best older books on scrimshaw are the "Scrimshaw Connection" series put out by, now deceased, Bob Engnath who spent many years making knives in CA after leaving WA state.
 
greyghost said:
isn't true scrimshaw just pointillism style art? More like tattoo work than being scratched in correct?
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No definitely not. Pointillism and scrimshaw are two distinctly different techniques.

Some see what they believe is scrimshaw but its actually Pointillism and is done using a needle similar to how a tattoo is done. The needle on a tattoo gun can be modified to do this type of art work.

True Scrimshaw is carved or etched depending on the substrate. The etchings can be filled with color or left raw.

With most photos you cannot tell which is the real deal but under a magnifier the Pointillism will show up as tiny dots. The Scrimshaw will show as etchings or scratches.
 
Pointillism is a painting technique and does not apply to scrimshaw. What you are referring to as pointillism is stippling and is a valid type of scrimshaw just as carving and enscribing are. The difference between tattooing and scrimshaw is that in tattooing the ink is applied at the time the needle goes in. In scrimshaw any coloring is applied after the surface it worked.
 
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