"Sailing the Seven Seas - Faux Scrimshaw" by Leigh Snaith-Brunton
The Sharpie Domino Queen, Design Team Leader

The art of Scrimshaw was first practiced by sailors working on whaling ships out of New England and most popular in the early 1800's. The most famous Scrimshaw pieces where ivory whales teeth with pictures of sailing ships and sea life scratched on to them. I decided to try and replicate Scrimshaw by scratching into the surface of ivory dominoes. I have spent the last two weeks doing a major studio clean-up and, of course, I couldn't find my sharp pointy metal scratching tool I intended to use for this project! So I tried an engraving tool I bought from Stampington & Company. It worked and did what I thought it would do but unfortunately the marks made by the engraving point were too thick. So I played around and came up with two variations of faux Scrimshaw for you to try!

The first project uses dye inks and the second uses an air drying clay to replicate the look of old scratched bone.

For the first project I used a shiny ivory standard sized domino with a necklace hole drilled all they way through from side to side. I use a vice and a Dremel to drill my holes and always wear a mask and goggles for protection! Stain the domino by smearing it directly onto the surface of a
Chocolate brown dye ink pad (Ancient Page by ClearSnap) and rub in the ink with a piece of scrunched up kitchen towel. Rub areas more than others for an uneven spread of colour and heat set with a heat gun. Then dab the kitchen towel onto the ink pad and randomly swipe it over the domino - you're aiming at getting a streaked/lined effect on the surface of the domino that looks like its scratched and heat set when you're happy with the results. Then dab on more brown around the edges and sides and heat set. Ink up a small sailing ship stamp (Sunday International) with coal black dye ink and then randomly dab over the black with the chocolate ink pad (Ancient Page) then stamp the domino and heat set. I deliberately applied uneven pressure to the stamp so it wouldn't stamp perfectly. I think this gives the image a worn look and the variation in the stamped colour makes some of the lines look 'deeper' than others. Seal the domino with a light coat of Krylon Artist's Workable Fixative and then a light coat of Krylon Gloss spray sealer. Finish off by threading a length of black suede cord through the domino and tying knots on either side. For a more authentic 1800's look just tie the ends of the cord in a knot for a necklace instead of using a metal closure. But a 'tarnished' metal closure would look good too.

For the second example of faux Scrimshaw I wanted a domino that looked like the lines of the image were really scratched into the surface. So I decided to cover the surface of the domino with a thin layer of white air drying clay. I used a product called Hearty Clay: Super Lightweight Modeling Clay by Venture Craft. I recently participated in a make and take at my local craft store with demonstrator Judy Ross. It's a wonderful clay to play with! This project is also a great way to reuse any of your stamped dominoes that ended up in your recycle stash.

Roll a small amount of the clay in your hands and stain it by dabbing the clay directly onto a chocolate dye ink pad (Ancient Page). Knead the colour into the clay but not too much, the more streaks you see the better. I then stained two 'recycled' dominoes with the chocolate brown dye ink and heat set. One domino has the holes drilled through from side to side and the other has a hole drilled front to back. I then spread a thin layer of Aleene's Fast Grab glue onto the dominoes to make sure the clay doesn't peel off once dry. Then press the clay onto the domino surfaces and spread it around with your fingers. The domino on the left has a smooth surface and the domino on the right has a rougher uneven surface (see photo). For the left domino I inked the image with chocolate and black dye ink and pressed the stamp into the clay, applying gentle pressure. The right domino was inked with just the chocolate dye ink and I pressed the stamp into the clay with barely any pressure. The amount of pressure and the uneven surface resulted in a more worn looking image. Stain the edges of the clay with chocolate brown dye ink by using a scrunched up piece of kitchen towel. Seal the dominoes with a light coat of Krylon Artist's Workable Fixative and then a light coat of either matte or gloss sealer. To make an authentic looking 1800's necklace I threaded the one domino with tan suede cord and knotted it.

These dominoes would also make great key chains or bookmarks for Father's Day!

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