Welcome!
Ξ July 25th, 2009 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Introduction |
The author at work.
Since the early ’80′s I had involved myself in practicing the native American art form known as scrimshaw. It all came about from my intense interest in collecting custom hand-made knives from a few individuals whose acquaintance I had made throughout my travels as a professional forester (former life). I had sort of decided that I wanted to become a knife-maker. Once I found out how much it would cost to acquire/build up the necessary tools and equipment, not to mention the inventory of raw materials to engage in this fascinating area, my comment was, “Oh well, guess I’ll never get to do that.”. To which my friend replied, “Well, you ever thought about doing scrimshaw?”
“Nope, what the heck is that?”
And he proceeded to show me some knives he had that he hadn’t sent out to his customers yet with the art work on them. I asked how it was done, and it went from there. I started researching and reading, and acquiring books, and even some raw material like ivory scraps and micarta to practice on, and it became fascinating and addictive. It was something that I alone had total creative control over what came from my desk. Of course, since I was not trained as an artist, I had to rely on the work of others for subject matter. This is the reason that I have not tried to sell any of my early efforts; they were copyrighted works of art, and that is just something one just doesn’t do. I could reproduce them for my own personal use and pleasure, or even give them to family, but monetary compensation never entered into the equation.
Until now.
