ABOUT SCRIMSHAW
GALLERY
This site was created
by
Electric Ink, Ltd.
WHAT MATERIALS ARE USED?
The base of any piece of scrimshaw should be a smooth, relatively hard material that is finished (polished) to a high degree. Traditionally, most scrimshaw was produced on teeth, tusks, antler, or bone.
Materials I will scrim
Light-colored materials (for black & white/color scrimshaw)
- Elephant tusk ivory (pre-ban ivory from estates in the US)
- Walrus tusk ivory (fossilized and pre-ban white walrus ivory)
- Hippo tusk ivory (must be specially prepared)
- Fossilized wooly mammoth ivory and mastodon ivory (ancient ivories)
- Light-colored cattle horn
- Deer, elk, moose, caribou, stag antlers (must have the bark polished off in the scrim area)
- Cattle shinbone
- Bonded ivory (pistol grips)
- Mazecraft imitation ivory
- Ivory paper micarta
Dark-colored materials (for "reverse" scrimshaw)
- Natural and reconstituted jet (a semi-precious gemstone related to coal and used for jewelry)
- Water buffalo horn or other black horn
- Dark-colored fossilized/ancient ivories (coffee-colored to black or very dark blue)
- Dark-colored cattle horn
- Black paper micarta
- Pipestone (a semi-soft brick red rock)
Pigments I use
Pigments that I use include quality permanent drawing ink (black), and Windsor-Newton oil paints (all colors, white, and black).