Scrimshaw Gifts for Men and Women
By Elly Kendall
American scrimshaw dates back to at least 100-200
AD in North America, practiced for centuries by native groups along
the Northwest Coast. Not wanting to simply discard the teeth and bones
of animals hunted for food, native cultures invented a new style of
art that would later be known as Scrimshaw, one of only a few indigenous
American crafts.
While other cultures around the world, such as the
Orient artists, certainly worked in ivory and bone, the style of North
American cultures and that of the Yankee sailors who followed were
uniquely their own, making scrimshaw a traditionally American art
form.
It was adopted by the Yankee whale men of the early
1800's. Two- to five-year voyages quickly became monotonous, so the
whale men turned to working with baleen, whale teeth, and jawbones,
all of which were in abundant supply.
In fact, on many ships, whale teeth were part of the
pay and were often traded in port for goods or services. The origin
of the word is obscure; one interesting etymology is a Dutch phrase
meaning "to waste one's time!"
The term "scrimshaw" also applies to carved or pierced
bone or ivory, since much of the whale men’s work was carved rather
than etched.
Scrimshaw art is a slow and tedious process where
one mistake can ruin an entire piece. Creating ivory sculpture or
carving is equally unforgiving work. Scrimshaw is not an art form
for the impatient. Each piece can take from 30 to over 900 hours to
complete.
Scrimshaw is usually defined as carving or embellishment
of ivory or bone. Today's definition would more likely be thought
of as the intricate incising of ivory to produce images of unbelievable
detail. Incising and engraving could both describe the scrimshaw method.
Extremely sharp scribes scratch the surface of the
ivory, and then paint or ink is rubbed into the incisions. Stippling
is a technique of employing thousands of tiny holes that are then
carefully filled with pigment to reveal a beautiful work of art and
to create the fine shading.
Today, Scrimshaw is still practiced by master scrimshanders
(the scrimshaw artist) and their work is highly sought after and collected.
Perhaps the most noted collector was President John F. Kennedy, who
even displayed many of his most cherished pieces of ivory scrimshaw
in the Oval Office of the White House.
The greatest masters of the craft to have ever picked
up a scribe are working today. Their techniques and the modern-day
masterpieces they create have contributed greatly to the increasing
collector’s value of this significant and historical American art
form. This is the era of the finest masterpieces ever produced in
scrimshaw.
No animals are harmed as the result of work by responsible
scrimshanders. Most srimshaw is done on shed antler, bone, horn, legal
elephant, antique piano keys and fossil ivories.
The fossil ivory is from the ice age giant, the Wooly
Mammoth, or ancient fossil mastodon or walrus tusk, making it ecologically
ideal for the traditional 14th wedding anniversary gift of ivory.
Horn scrimshaw is most often seen on black powder
hunting horns. The rare and beautiful woods used by the artist are
primarily black Ebony from harvest farms near Makassar on the island
of Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia, and equally magnificent Ironwoods
from the African continent.
Scrimshaw combines the allure of history, fine art,
and heritage making it not only a potentially valuable investment
but an investment in our heritage. It links us with cave art to modern
pieces and with extinct creatures. Maybe the value scrimshaw collectors
see far surpasses the dollar.
Elly Kendall writes articles for Log Cabin Fever
Gifts & Decor
For Scrimshaw Gifts & Decor please visit http://cabinfevergifts.com.
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