All About Scrimshaw

Scrimshaw is one of only a few indigenous American crafts.  Practiced for centuries by the Inuit and other native groups along the Northwest Coast, it was adopted by the Yankee whale men of the 1800′s.  The term itself comes from a Dutch phrase meaning “to waste ones time”.  The long whaling voyages, which often lasted two to five years, left the men with a lot of time on their hands and plenty of whale material to use to create their art.

Nancy Lyon has updated this ancient art with new designs beyond the classic old sailing ships and whaling scenes, but the painstaking process remains the same.  Each design is hand etched into the ivory using a metal scribe.  The piece is then rubbed with black India ink which is absorbed by the ivory where it has been scratched by the scribe.  If the piece has color, each color must be etched and added one at a time to achieve the desired effect.  None of the design is simply “painted” onto the surface, but is all etched into the material and when handled with care will last indefinitely.