Scrimshaw

Scrimshaw is a form of art that is created by the carving and etching into certain firm materials. The most common materials to be carved into are ivory, shells, or bone. However, scrimshaw can also be created using tagua nut (A large nut found in Columbia, Northwestern Brazil, and Peru), Sculpey, or shed antler.













People who create scrimshaw usually create a variety of different things, because if you were to only make one type of art with one type of material than it would be hard to keep that art as your passion. Some people create scrimshaw on knife handles, and it can also be created on the tops of boxes. Some scrimshaw is made using plain bone as the canvas, and other scrimshaw is laid out of as picture frames. There are many different forms of scrimshaw.

One who makes scrimshaw is known as a scrimshander.

In the scrimshaw field, it is most often that the theme of the piece is either sailing or ships. Many of the pieces I found included large ships and almost a pirate-esk feel. I'm not sure why this theme is so popular, but it seems to be very common in scrimshaw works.

Sculpture modeling technique

In sculpture, there are many ways to do things, and one of those ways is an additive process called modeling.
As you can see in the image to the right, a man is sculpting a women out of clay, but he didn't just take a block and begin shaping, he made that piece by adding layers of clay onto her section by section and then he made those sections work together to create a woman. As you can see in the sculptures hair, it looks a little bit rough and layered. That is becaus he hasnt yet softened and shaped it out.

Artists use many different materials to make modeling sculptures. For example, wax and clay are the most common materials that are used, but artists also make model sculptures out of concrete or plaster.

 Another type of art creationg is called theory, when using this method you create the image using the oppisite colors and when that is all dry and set you cover up the oppisite image and cover it in the correct colors as a second layer of paint. This method will add highlights to the piece and bring out the shadows of the image.

This is another method of layering where you take individual pieces of the material and piece them together to create a form. In the image to the left, a bird was created using separate pieces of paper.

These photos above are examples of kinetic art. Kinetic art is a piece that shows motion, even though it is a still image or piece. For example, the photo above and to the left makes the piece look like its moving, but it is completely a still sculpture. You could take of photo of any of these pieces using any angle and you would capture the same effect.

Kinetic art can be made out of many different materials, it is commonly created using metal or cardboard. It can also be created out of paper or wood.

Kinetic art can be any size. Sometimes it is a medium size piece like the photo above shows.

This blog is based on a collection of tape people sculptures.

When I was searching for a specific artist, it was hard to find more than one piece created by the same artist. I think that is because this type of art is pretty uncommon, but luckily, I will be creating one in my class soon.


I like that this piece has a lot of detail while being very simple. I like that the artist also used a prop, instead of just placing the piece in a place where it didn't get too much thought. Also, I this the rain boots are adorable.

 I think that my piece will be similar to this one. I would like it to be off the ground, or standing on one limb. While I was searching, I realised that there were no sculptures that involved a type of balance. I would like to create one that is unique and eye catching.

Brian Hubel


Brian Hubel is an artist who makes wooden sculptures that serve 
helpful functions, while remaining stylish and smooth.

Brian Hudel is inspired by the simple knots and defects in the wood. It's little things like these that give him the drive to make a beautiful piece out of a natural raw piece of the enviroment. 

Brian makes all different types of pieces. For example, these two photos of benches are hand crafted with walnut wood.


It is very common that people look at a piece and only think of the beauty that is clear and right infront of their eyes, but people don't realise how much work and time is invested into these projects.


These pieces were made out of walnut wood, which means that it must be retrieved before you could make anything out of it.

1.Having the Materials

These pieces would be sharp and splinter-y if they were completely natural.

2. Sanding down

In order to create pieces like these, most artists layout a visual image on paper before automatically beginning with wood. Sometimes these images take time and effort to create, 

3. Thought + Time

After many night of hand sanding, shaping, and place work, any artist would be exhausted and have sore muscles.

4. Physical effort

Projects like these take a lot more effort than people think. Along with the list above, these pieces probably took anywhere from 2 months to 5 months.

Driftwood Sculptures

These are pieces of art created by Nagato Iwasaki.
 Not only is it amazing that he creates these figures using only driftwood, but he makes these figures human size, if not larger.

I appreciate his artwork because I see how much thought he must put into these pieces before he creates them, and also I like the locations he chooses to put them in.

↜ I like the way this photo shows not only the piece, but also the place where it is created. For me, it is important to know the thought and location that helped to put the piece together, because it is not only the art that matters but the planning that goes into it.

As seen in the two images below, he also places his work in areas and shapes that they wouldnt usually be expected.

Plaster Pieces

•  This artist is named  Garret R. Odenwelder.

• He creates plaster pieces and other media. 

• However, his plaster pieces were not too common, but those that I happen to come across caught my eye.

• These two photos to the right were the two pieces that caught my eye when I was searching for my artist. 

• I like there pieces because I feel like they show a lot of emotion. It is interesting to see all of them at different angles, I feel like it shows how it is 3Dementional rather than being up against a wall. Because when the pieces bend over, it leaves you to think what the purpose of that action was.

• When I was taking a close look at pieces, I realised that these are the same sculptures in each photo... Am I the only one who realised?