Ron Jr.
Elite Cafe Member
Im very afraid the uninformed and ignorant may win the ivory battle. Almost as troubling is the fact that they are so misinformed/misguided they are trying to ban Mammoth and all other non endangered ivories along with elephant. This has made me decide that its probably prudent to start trying scrimshaw on all the legal ivory alternatives I can find. Please feel free to chime in if you have any experience with scrimming on any ivory imitations I have or have not mentioned. I've seen some impressive scrims on mother of pearl but don’t really consider it an alternative for ivory.
Buffalo Horn (black); It works and I've seen some stunning stuff done with this material but it has the limitations of white on black.
Cow horn (white); Powder horns have been line scrimmed for over a 100 years but for fine detailed stipple scrim it more often than not gets blotchy and randomly absorbs ink. I really like this material and wish it worked better.
Micarta; Hit and miss for me, some is okay and some absorbs ink all over the place and gets blotchy looking. I've even had some soften up with the repeated wetting/wiping off of the ink.
Bone; From camel to cow its porous and ink goes into places I don't want it to. For heavy lined rougher scrim fine, for fine detailed stipple scrim not so much.
Antler; Similar to bone in the results
Plastic spoons; Really? Lol
Corian; Fairly good results, it comes in almost any color/shade, cuts and polishes like a dream and is cheap but it still looks like plastic. TIP; Don’t wax it ever, wax seems to smear the surface of corian making it look blotchy. Each time you apply ink do it at least twice and speaking of ink, corian resists some ink (like Higgins Black Magic) I’ve gotten decent results with Bombay black but haven’t tried any others.
Elforyn; Pricey stuff, smells like coconut when you cut/sand it. It has the right color and feel but is very soft compared to ivory when stippling and for some reason it is a real bugger to wipe the ink off of it (Higgens Black Magic). Is extremely hard to get any kind of polish on this stuff, in fact its finish is so matte its hard to see your dots under a microscope. Is somewhat difficult to get deep blacks with the two inks I tried. In the end I did pull off scrimming on it but can't give it my vote for a substitute.
col.849/TM; Approved by the royal family and several big name museums as an ivory replacement/alternative. Has the right color and the color mix to simulate ivory grain is fairly decent. Very similar to corian but a bit more…. elastic under the scribe. Does not chip like corian tends to when poked with a scribe. Smells like a mixture of citrus and deep woods off when cut/sanded. Is somewhat difficult to get deep blacks with the two inks I tried. The craters created from stippling do make some shiny spots though
Is almost as acceptable as corian for workability with the bonus of looking kinda like ivory. I think it ties with corian.
Tagua Nut; It has a cell structure on the surface under the scope. All those little divots want to hold ink and leave a muddled look. The nut I had was about 8 years old, maybe the newer ones are better. I’ve see scrim on them that looked fairly good but for fine detail scrim I think they aren’t very well suited. That and you are limited by the size of the nut.
Buffalo Horn (black); It works and I've seen some stunning stuff done with this material but it has the limitations of white on black.
Cow horn (white); Powder horns have been line scrimmed for over a 100 years but for fine detailed stipple scrim it more often than not gets blotchy and randomly absorbs ink. I really like this material and wish it worked better.
Micarta; Hit and miss for me, some is okay and some absorbs ink all over the place and gets blotchy looking. I've even had some soften up with the repeated wetting/wiping off of the ink.
Bone; From camel to cow its porous and ink goes into places I don't want it to. For heavy lined rougher scrim fine, for fine detailed stipple scrim not so much.
Antler; Similar to bone in the results
Plastic spoons; Really? Lol
Corian; Fairly good results, it comes in almost any color/shade, cuts and polishes like a dream and is cheap but it still looks like plastic. TIP; Don’t wax it ever, wax seems to smear the surface of corian making it look blotchy. Each time you apply ink do it at least twice and speaking of ink, corian resists some ink (like Higgins Black Magic) I’ve gotten decent results with Bombay black but haven’t tried any others.
Elforyn; Pricey stuff, smells like coconut when you cut/sand it. It has the right color and feel but is very soft compared to ivory when stippling and for some reason it is a real bugger to wipe the ink off of it (Higgens Black Magic). Is extremely hard to get any kind of polish on this stuff, in fact its finish is so matte its hard to see your dots under a microscope. Is somewhat difficult to get deep blacks with the two inks I tried. In the end I did pull off scrimming on it but can't give it my vote for a substitute.
col.849/TM; Approved by the royal family and several big name museums as an ivory replacement/alternative. Has the right color and the color mix to simulate ivory grain is fairly decent. Very similar to corian but a bit more…. elastic under the scribe. Does not chip like corian tends to when poked with a scribe. Smells like a mixture of citrus and deep woods off when cut/sanded. Is somewhat difficult to get deep blacks with the two inks I tried. The craters created from stippling do make some shiny spots though
Is almost as acceptable as corian for workability with the bonus of looking kinda like ivory. I think it ties with corian.Tagua Nut; It has a cell structure on the surface under the scope. All those little divots want to hold ink and leave a muddled look. The nut I had was about 8 years old, maybe the newer ones are better. I’ve see scrim on them that looked fairly good but for fine detail scrim I think they aren’t very well suited. That and you are limited by the size of the nut.
