Scrimshaw Workshop (Fall 2023 Handworks Festival)

Sunday, November 5th
1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Special Festival Registration Fee: 
$30 (includes all materials)

Join scrimshaw artist Chris Cambridge as he introduces you to the craft of Scrimshaw. This workshop will having you drawing tinier that you ever thought possible.  All tools and materials are included in the class.  Please bring a variety of sea-related (traditionally) images to create on your own scrimshaw piece.  Final works from this class will be smaller than 1" x 2"; exactly the size of a very old piano key.

Chris will also bring some of his own artwork for demonstrations and for sale.

Meet the Artist

Cambridge, 68, grew up in Harvard, Mass. He started scrimshawing during his final year at Colby College in 1972, when his father was dabbling in the art.

The art of scrimshaw began on whaling ships in the late 1700s, but it became more common in the early 1800s. Sailors would make common tools from whale bone and teeth, which were abundant, and carve them with intricate designs. The craft can include works made on pieces of ivory, bone or even mother of pearl.

Cambridge, who lives in Ellsworth, said some customers have wrong ideas about the art, often associating it with illegal elephant tusk ivory. Cambridge said he decided 45 years ago that he would never source any ivory that harmed living animals.   “I made up my mind 45 years ago that I would never sell a piece of elephant ivory,” he said. “I’m proud of that.”

Most ivory he uses in his work is fossil woolly mammoth or fossil walrus ivory that is approximately 500 to 2,000 years old. It’s mainly sourced from Alaskan Inuit village sites.

- from the article: Scrimshander has closed up shop. Samuel Shepherd Apr 26, 2018 Mount Desert Islander.