glendikes
Member
WOW! Thank you for your gift of sharing your amazing talents.....
Best Regards for 2010.
Glen
Best Regards for 2010.
Glen
new scrimshaw: "Generations" knife (people portraits!)
- Thread starter KatherinePlumer
- Start date
KatherinePlumer
Elite Cafe Member
Marcus, you ask difficult questions. 
For me, I guess the whole dots vs lines thing is treated the same way I would handle it if I was drawing. Different technique of course, but it depends on what sort of surface I'm trying to render. Are there parts of this image I could have used lines on if I'd had to? I suppose, the background and maybe the clothing. Not the faces. That's not to say someone else couldn't make this entirely out of lines, but I wouldn't do it. At least in my hands it would not produce the right tonality and level of detail if it was made of lines. Some things, like skin tones, just lend themselves to dots, and replicating that smooth softness of an old time image on something of this size... for me, dots all the way!
As for stippling versus engraving (a la bulino?) I'm going to go sort of out on a limb here and say that when it comes to ivory, it's not that much different. It doesn't compare at all to the difference between stippling and picking dots in metal. The ivory is soft enough that whether you simply poke it with a needle or consciously make an effort to pick out a dot, you remove material and leave a place for the ink to go. Picking a dot, I think, would just make a bigger dot (and that could certainly come in handy at times). There is no burr left on there, there is no ink on the surface. I guess to answer your question though, it's more of a stipple, but since that motion removes material and there is no burr to pop off, it is engraved. Ha, how's that for an answer! ;-)
Anyway that's my $0.02 on that, and I realize other scrimshanders might have different opinions, there are certainly lots of people who have been doing this wayyyyy longer than I have!
-Katherine
For me, I guess the whole dots vs lines thing is treated the same way I would handle it if I was drawing. Different technique of course, but it depends on what sort of surface I'm trying to render. Are there parts of this image I could have used lines on if I'd had to? I suppose, the background and maybe the clothing. Not the faces. That's not to say someone else couldn't make this entirely out of lines, but I wouldn't do it. At least in my hands it would not produce the right tonality and level of detail if it was made of lines. Some things, like skin tones, just lend themselves to dots, and replicating that smooth softness of an old time image on something of this size... for me, dots all the way!
As for stippling versus engraving (a la bulino?) I'm going to go sort of out on a limb here and say that when it comes to ivory, it's not that much different. It doesn't compare at all to the difference between stippling and picking dots in metal. The ivory is soft enough that whether you simply poke it with a needle or consciously make an effort to pick out a dot, you remove material and leave a place for the ink to go. Picking a dot, I think, would just make a bigger dot (and that could certainly come in handy at times). There is no burr left on there, there is no ink on the surface. I guess to answer your question though, it's more of a stipple, but since that motion removes material and there is no burr to pop off, it is engraved. Ha, how's that for an answer! ;-)
Anyway that's my $0.02 on that, and I realize other scrimshanders might have different opinions, there are certainly lots of people who have been doing this wayyyyy longer than I have!
-Katherine
pena
Member
Great work Katherine. Congratulations.
Pena
Pena
Marcus Hunt
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Thanks for the information Katherine. Please accept my apologies, I don't mean to ask difficult questions. I find scrimshaw intriguing and, like engraving, seeing how it has developed over the years is fascinating. Again, like engraving, it's gone from a 'folk art/craft' status to a photo-realistic art form. I'm sure others on the forum are just as interested in your replies to my questions as I am. Many thanks once again for taking the time to do so and sharing your art with us.
KatherinePlumer
Elite Cafe Member
Thanks y'all!
Marcus, no need to apologize. I get so used to doing what I do, and then when you asked what I do I really had to stop and think about it! It's totally second nature to me I guess.
Thanks for the comments! Stay tuned for more scrim... in a while!
-Katherine
Marcus, no need to apologize.
I get so used to doing what I do, and then when you asked what I do I really had to stop and think about it! It's totally second nature to me I guess.Thanks for the comments! Stay tuned for more scrim... in a while!
-Katherine
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