Care and cleaning

Treat your scrimshawed ivory as you would any fine jewelry. Do not get it wet unnecessarily, because the inks, especially colors, may fade. Keep your scrimshaw out of bright sun; this dries and cracks the ivory and may fade certain colored inks. Detergents, shampoo, heavily chlorinated water, and jewelry cleaning solutions should be avoided, as they turn the ivory surface dull and remove the etched lines. Dirt and oils may be removed with a cotton swab moistened in rubbing alcohol and wiped gently over the surface. Do not scrub, as this will remove some ink from the fine lines. I use a light coat of warm beeswax rubbed into the ivory to preserve the scrimshaw and keep the ivory from drying and aging too fast. Waxing should be repeated when the ivory is cleaned, because the alcohol removes it. If you treat your scrimshaw with care, it will give you many years of pleasure and may become a treasured heirloom.

What is scrimshaw?

Scrimshaw -- Painstaking etching on ivory or bone -- is one of only a few indigenous American crafts. Practiced for centuries by the Inuit and other native groups along the Northwest Coast, it was adopted by the Yankee whalemen of the early 1800's. Two- to five-year voyages quickly became monotonous, so the whalemen 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 to shopkeepers in port for goods or services. Common subjects included whaling scenes, ships, women, and scenes copied from magazines of the day. 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 whalemen's work was carved rather than etched.

History & Materials

Scrimshaw is derived from the shipboard practice of sailors creating common tools, and on whaling ships the byproducts of whales were readily available. The term originally referred to the making of these tools, only later referring to works of art created by whalers in their spare time. Whale bone is ideally suited for the task, as it is easy to work and was very plentiful.

The development of scrimshaw took off after the market for whale teeth, which was sought by Chinese traders for use in the Pacific Islands (for example the Fijian market for tabua), was flooded with teeth after a narrative by an American sailor, Captain David Porter, revealed both the market and the source of the teeth. Around this time is the earliest authenticated pictorial piece of scrimshaw (1817). The tooth was inscribed with the following This is the tooth of a sperm whale that was caught near the Galapagos islands by the crew of the ship Adam [of London], and made 100 barrels of oil in the year 1817.[2]

Other sea animal ivories were also used as alternatives for rarer whale teeth. Walrus tusks, for example, may have been acquired in trade from indigenous walrus hunters.

Scrimshaw essentially was a leisure activity for whalers. Because the work of whaling was very dangerous at the best of times, whalers were unable to work at night. This gave them a great deal more free time than other sailors. A lot of scrimshaw was never signed and a great many of the pieces are anonymous. Early scrimshaw was done with crude sailing needles, and the movement of the ship, as well as the skill of the artist, produced drawings of varying levels of detail and artistry. Originally, candle black, soot or tobacco juice would have been used to bring the etched design into view. Today's artists use finer tools in various sizes, mostly borrowed from the dental industry. Some scrimshanders ink their work with more than one color, and restrained polychromed examples of this art are now popular.

Originating in an era when sperm whales were initially plentiful only to be hunted to near collapse, scrimshaw no longer is an artform utilizing an easily renewable animal resource, but one that is susceptible to contraband. Now, the Endangered Species Act and international conventions restrict the harvest and sale of ivory to try to reverse the scarcity of ivory-bearing animals.

  • Though there are sources of ivory that are sanctioned and legal, poachers in Africa and other continents where elephants are an endangered species still kill for their ivory, Elephant ivory has been regulated since 1976 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and selling African ivory has been prohibited since 1989.
  • 19th and 20th century scrimshaw, scrimshaw crafted before 1989 (elephant) or before 1973 (sperm whale ivory, walrus ivory etc.) is legal. It is prohibited after that year for commercial import in the U.S. under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
  • Additionally, walrus tusks bearing the Alaska State walrus ivory registration tag, and post-law walrus ivory that has been carved or scrimshawed by a native Alaskan Indian (Eskimo), is legally available.
  • Finally, any ivory considered ancient, such as 10,000 to 40,000 year old mammoth ivory, is completely unrestricted in its sale or possession.

Scrimshanders and collectors acquire legal whale teeth and marine tusks through estate sales, auctions and antiqure dealers. To avoid illegal ivory, collectors and artists check provenance and deal only with other established and reputable dealers. Scrimshaw that is found to have been illegally sourced may be seized by customs officials worldwide, dramatically loses value and is very hard to re-sell, as the limited channels through which collectible scrimshaw passes serves as a check on unscrupulous persons. As with any other fine art form, it is usually possible for experienced museums, auction houses or other experts to perceive a fake.

Saturday 27 October 2012

Scrimshaw

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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