Scrimshaw Art
Scrimshaw refers to objects carved by whalers on the byproducts of marine mammals like sperm whale teeth, whale bones, and walrus tusks. Scrimshandering or making scrimshaw helped whalers pass the time on long voyages. Try creating your own scrimshaw designs on homemade scratch-art paper.
Materials
- Cardstock paper, black crayon, off white acrylic craft paint, dawn dish soap, sponge brush, pointed tool (toothpick, skewer stick), scissors
Objective
- Gain an understanding of how sailors used the resources around them when out at sea.
- Create your own scrimshaw art
Guiding Questions
- How does access to resources determine what we can create?
- What other resources on a ship (or in your home) are available for you to express your creative talents?
- Many scrimshaw designs were often inspirations of what whalers saw in their daily lives (ships, whales, open ocean). What in your daily life will you use as inspiration for your scrimshaw art piece?
Procedure
- Color the cardstock paper all over with the black crayon.
- Mix some acrylic paint and Dawn soap (2 to 1 ratio).
- Sponge brush mixture over blackened paper.
- Let dry. You may need a second coat.
- Cut out the shape of the whale's tooth from the paper (depending how big, you could get at least 4-6 teeth from an 8x11 paper).
- Use pointed tools to draw on the tooth.
- Optional: punch a hole to make a bookmark (add yarn or ribbon through the hole).
