You also can use the bleached beef bone that they sell doe the dogs to chew on. Use all safety precautions when working with bone. What I have done with the Tagua nut slices if they are thicher you can sand them flat and do then again and again. Practicing lines cross hatching and other techniques for shading. I never really put in the time on the scrimshawing and with the lack of talent for drawing I have no work to show. Other than a small carved pedant.
The Tagua nut is great as an accent for pen and general turning work.
Here are a couple of good books on the subject:
Scrimshaw The Whaler's Legacy
by Martha Lawernce
Hardcover
Schiffer Publishing
Copyright©1993
ISBN# 0-88740-455-3
* Introduction
* Dawn of an Industry
* Golden age
* The men who hunted whales
* The raw materials of scrimshaw
* Themes and techniques
* Scrimshaw in the home
* The legacy preserved: Scrimshaw collectors
* The legacy continued: Contemporary scrimshanders
* Bibliography
* Index
* Values reference
Scrimshaw(A traditional folk art, a contemporary craft)
by: Leslie Linsley
Hawthorn Books
copyright©1976 hardcover
ISBN#0-8015-6608-8
- From what to make
- Materials
- thru preserving scrimshaw
The scrimshander(one who does scrimshaw) section is nice in that it gives the artists she is writing about. A chance to show what they do. So a number of different ways of doing the same operation shows up.
The section on Ivory and its impending vanishing from the craft scene, was a little premature. As the fossil ivory and the ivory that the governments confiscated are being sold since it is pre CITIES treaty. Also companies that have ivory stores can sell it with the proper paper work. I know somebody in England worked for a organ,piano company that had over 9 tons in bonded storage.
It ends with a good explanation of the laws that allow the native peoples to continue their cultural heritage with out (to much) interference of the government. Along with the out of date suppliers and suggestions for design references.
Scrimshaw
A Complete Illustrated Manual 2nd ed
By Steve Pazkiewicz and Roger Schroeder
Fox Chapel Publishing
its a mostly woodworking publisher
ISBN# 1-56523-241-0 trade paperback
copyright©1998 and 2005
From the start to the supplier/www list at the end of the book. Very nicely done. Covers more of the materials than just ivory, and has a project that is from beef bone start to finish. Again they don't give much to the rules and regulations of ivory of any kind ownership. Due to the fact most people will want to practice on the more affordable material. From my own experience, New old stock NOS ivory piano key tops $20.00 US each. Also small chunks, cuts offs, and broken pieces of fossil tusk $2.00 to $3.00 each. They go over each item completely. But on the beef bone hit the pet store for the bleached bones used by dogs. Then you can hunt up a source for fresh and boil your own.(it will raise your neighbors eyebrows, unless they are like mine. They no longer ask! no matter what is going on in front of the shop.)
The tools, patterns and transfers shading and coloring are covered in good detail.
The project is covered from start to the end in detail and enough pictures that it should be an easy follow along.
Pattern samples are a nice touch that can be scanned and printed by computer.
The book is filled with nice bright clear color pictures, and dark clean line drawings.
One of the best chapters is the one on fakes,what to look for,etc. Preservation and Museums.
68 pages packed with info and another great buy.
How to Scrimshaw and Carve Ivory
by: Blackie Collins and Michael Collins
copyright©1978 45pp soft covers
ISBN#0-940362-01-5
bonus website for those that didn't know about it
check here first the real price
Scroll down to the list of subject matter then on the next page it is towards the bottom, still under seven dollars.
CONSUMER ALERT
Just to alert you this book is and has been sold for an outragest amount of money at shows and on line at different times. North of $100.00 US at a show I was at and triple the price on some online sites. As an EXTREMELY RARE OUT OF PRINT book. Don't bite, it is available at the above for under $7.00 bucks.
It is a must have for the money(real price)
. It doesn't hardly give a mention to the detailed rules and regulations dealing with the material. But they can be forgiven,because they make up for it with the other material in the book.
- Tools
- Prep of the ivory
- Making a tool
- Making a pendant
- Handgun grips
- Belt buckle
- Ship on a tooth
- To the tips on Schimshaw
With over 100 B&W clear photos and captions to go with them. It is a step by step. Being done with only inks as the coloring media, and acrylic clear as fixative during working. The techniques can be applied to any of the materials that are used to replicate ivory work with little or no modification.
Learning How to Scrimshaw
by: Ron Newton
ISBN#1-4259-3297-5 soft cover
copyright©2006
This one will be of interest to knifer's. And to the just starting into it crowd as well. It has the latest laws regrading the C.I.T.E.S 1973 treaty/convention. Be aware that in the US there are two other federal acts Endangered Species act 1972. The Marine Mammal act of 1972.
Now in addition to those. You would be wise to check on the local state regulations as some states have separate regulations.
Fossil ivories from mammoth, mastodon,walrus are not regulated and can be traded freely.
- Sperm whale,Bowhead are protected and then it gets complicated
- Walrus ivory is another complicated type dealing with Native peoples in Alaska and pre act carvings
- Fossil walrus ivory is ok to have
- Hippopotamus,Water Buffalo, Warthog and Hog once in the US can be traded freely
- With regards to cow horn,bone, buffalo horn and bone alligator, elk teeth, bones and antlers of various animals You should check with the State authorities. As they do love making up news ones. Some have regulations like Alaska on the picking up and selling and transporting it across state lines.
He does show slicing a tagua nut. Which has the same composition as ivory, and grows on palm trees. Cutting the nut to get the largest slice out of it is something that requires a little practice. This causes most people to give up on using them if they don't know how. They are hard to hold and saw at the same time unless you use a lapidarist's trick of a dope stick.
The tools,sharpening and stuff that you could use are covered.
Along with some practice projects and other things to get you going. He doesn't go into to much depth on each area unless it needs it. Shows how he colors and what he uses. Some other books,articles and how to's start to get hazy and vague about this area.
He does have a list of some other books,suppliers,and artist web sites.
People also slice up the modern cue and pool balls, as the are formulated to the same characteristics as the old time ivory cue balls, most only have a top layer of color so other than a rind of color on the outside edge it is a cream white.
:clown:
