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Old 11-26-2008, 09:47 PM
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KatherinePlumer KatherinePlumer is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Oak Run, California
Posts: 233
Default Re: Katherine's Scrimshaw Tutorial: experimenting with mammoth ivory

Gosh darn it, there were a couple photos I was going to post here that I can't. Either my camera card or the card reader (the reader, I think) isn't working right and I can only find the USB cable that goes to the OTHER camera. Sigh. Sorry. If it ain't one thing it's another.

I was going to explain that at this point I did the "final inking" and the pictures were just going to show the little piece of ivory all covered with ink, and the excess ink being wiped off.

The last stage is something I would only do on a piece like this that's going to be framed under glass, I'd never do this on something that's going to be handled, because what I'll do is scrim lines into it, and then NOT ink them (which of course is asking for trouble if you plan to handle it a lot, since those lines could pick up ink). So in the foreground I actually added quite a lot of un-inked lines. It really kinda sparkles in person, and now Mr. Bison is walking in a field of pale grass.


American Bison
scrimshaw on mammoth ivory, inked with dark brown etching ink
approx. 1 x 1.5 inches

So... what do I think of mammoth ivory? Well, I'll have to do another piece to give you an honest answer on that, because this one was a real pain in the you know what, this was not a good piece. That said, it turned out fine, but really kinda had a mind of its own with cracks and soft areas. I do kinda like how soft it is though, sure makes the dark areas easier! I'll be looking forward to trying another unrelated piece!

I had in mind to do a really big full color piece for this tutorial session, but that's obviously not going to happen at this point! So, this will conclude my tutorials for this time around, but you know if it's offered again I'm all over it, this is fun. :whoo:

If you have any questions please ask and I'll try to know what I'm talking about. And keep your fingers crossed that I have some luck in my endeavors at learning to engrave on metal. :whoo:

Thanks for reading.

-Katherine