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Almost 10 years ago, during a trip through the United States, Marcus Dienst saw a cue with a him unknown ornament technique. The owner of the cue couldn´t give him further information about the ornaments, and internet wasn´t really helpful at that time. Finally in 2003 \'Scrimshaw\' was mentioned in a TV-documentation about John F. Kennedy. And Marcus watched intimately! At this point of time there was still no kind of information about scrimshaws in Germany, so it again took Marcus 2 years of investigation to find out a way to get these fine ormanents on to his Arthur Cues, to fullfill his and his customers conceivabilities.
What is 'Scrimshaw'?
It´s not easy to find a definition in the dictionary. We are not sure of the original meaning of the word. \'Scrim\' means dungeree and \'shaw\' has no definition. Scrimshaw is kind of like tattooing on ivory or other natural materials - cavities made by dotting and scribing are filled up with tusche.
Eva Halat, THE German Scrimshander
Scrimshaw is an old traditional art. It has its roots in primitive folks – they scribed motive - ornaments or ritual illustrations into bones, tusks or horns of animals. About 200 years ago this technique was used and populated by whalers in North America. Thereby scrimshaw reached Hawaii, where you can find a center of scrimshaw arts today. John F. Kennedy as scrimshaw – collector made this art popular.
The process in keywords
The to be treated surface is polished as smooth as glass. Then the before drawn motive is carved or scored with needle-like sharp tools. This work is done with a magnifier. The color adheres to the points where the material has been treated by rubbing. Some proscedures are to be done (scoring, rubbing), depending on hardness of the material and experience of the artist. Nowadays it is not usual any more to use walrus tusks, walrus teeth or ivory. An often used material is fossil ivory of mammoth of the ice-age, found in Sibiria and available in international trade, such as antlers, bones or Micarta (synthetic material). Many requests are made by manufacturers of valuable handmade collectors-knives. Here the handles are made of one of the above mentioned materials and garnished with motives of the animal kingdom. Other possiblities of decoration with scrimshaws are used for belt buckles, pistol handles and piece of jewellery. In the USA good scrimshaw works of popular scrimhanders are meanwhile treasured collector items. Unfortunaltly there are often misdirections, because, for example, cheap knives with printed or glued motives are sold as „scrimshaw“. If you are not sure of the authenticity of the scrimshaw – please keep your hands off and look for a specialist to help you. This can save you of losing a lot of money.
Find more and detailed information in the new scrimshaw book
'Modernes Scrimshaw' by Eva Halat.
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