December 10 works in progress

Why am I working on this little doggie one side at a time? I don't know, that's not how it usually goes, but that's how this one wants to happen. Okay...

December 5 works in progress

There are lots o dots that you can't see yet, because I haven't inked them!

These are obviously not all from today (ha!). Still a LONG way too go on this horse (about 5-6 more layers of color, there are some major deep shadow areas, as the one mostly-finished ear shows you) and a whole 'nother horse next to this one.





I am going to need to pull some late-nighters this coming week!

only because I promised

I'm only posting pics because I promised yesterday that I would. But I'm going to tease you with closeups. Because I'm a tease. And because I only got about an hour or so of studio time today and REALLY want to get past the ugly stage before I show this to you. So tonight, here are some noses for you. Don't pick them.



Today was super busy. I threw some cards and prints and whatnot in the car this morning and headed over to the restaurant, where I then sat at the bar for several hours (no, I didn't even get to drink anything!) and educated people about scrimshaw and enjoyed a chance to chat with friends, some of whom I hadn't seen for a little while, and one of whom I hadn't seen since high school (that was an incredibly pleasant surprise!)

Then I loaded up the car and drove home just in time to get through before the Christmas parade. Actually I wouldn't have minded stopping to see this, but I had to get back because I had too much to do. I grabbed a bite of lunch, threw on my grubby clothes, and headed out to sort the chickens. Yup, sorting chickens, isn't that how every girl wants to spend her Saturday afternoon? It took a while but I found 17 birds to take to auction tomorrow. Yay. The downside is I need to get up at 5am, and I am soooo not a morning person.

I am calling it a night.

November 28 work in progress and other stuff

First and foremost, The Pioneer Woman is right. If you make her cinnamon rolls, all your other achievements in life become obsolete, because suddenly you will be known only for your cinnamon rolls. As a side note though, for you engravers reading this, THIS is my style of scrollwork! It's the only way I like making scrolls! ;-)

Okay, there are two finished pieces to show you but I need their owners to see them first. Stay tuned.

I have two pieces that I've just started, so I'll be dividing my time between these two things in the next while:


"Missy" (Sheltie dog)
scrimshaw engraving on pre-ban elephant ivory
30x40mm
sold (commission)

And I know this doesn't look like anything yet, but there really is a drawing sketched out on that gray paper. :-)

not yet titled
will be colored pencil and graphite
10x10.5 inches
sold (commission)

Oh, and for anyone who's interested, remember three weeks ago when I got stung on the arm by a wasp or yellowjacket or something? There's still a slightly red blotch on my arm. It's not very noticeable unless my arm gets hot (washing dishes or something). Three weeks! Cripes.

another scrimshaw Sheltie dog!

Heeeeere's Trevor! :-)


"Trevor"
scrimshaw on pre-ban elephant ivory
22mm by 30mm

I couldn't do work in progress stuff while I was working on this one, had to keep it secret. So I ended up being pretty lax about taking photos while working on it... I think I took one... I think.

I wish you could all see this stuff in person. The pics are darn good, but they are soooo much cooler in person!

I think I might have to change the business name to "Scrimshaw Shelties by Katherine Plumer." Or maybe just scrimshaw dogs... ha ha. (I'm kidding). However, the next project after my cat is yet another dog! And a cheetah. Not together, that's two separate projects.

I've been busy getting ready for Friday's art show opening. I set up everything on Tuesday and it looks great. I will have small items down there for the reception on Friday, plus I'm responsible for bringing dessert (YAY!) so I need to do a bunch of baking.

Oh and I got a new bench grinder today! It's an early birthday present. It replaces the OLD one that shook so hard it rattled the tools off the wall of the workshop (yes, really, it did). Sweet. I'm not quite done setting it up yet, because I need my brilliant neighbor to help me with something, but soon I will be able to sharpen gravers, woo hoo! I ordered another pack of blanks and one more template, so I'm excited about being able to try out different graver geometries. So far I've been abusing practice plates with a, uh... I think it's a 126° graver. I'm getting a teensy bit better, but definitely want to try some other things to see what different tools produce.

Sheltie dog scrimshaw done!

"Chloe"
Sheltie dog
scrimshaw on pre-ban elephant ivory
30x40 millimeters
sold (commission)



The area you see below is the exact same size as a penny. I like detail. :-D

November 13 work in progress: dog scrim

Pardon the icky lighting, these are photos taken under (but not through!) the scope. It takes less time than scanning them.

November 11 work in progress: dog scrim

I just realized I dated all today's photographs as November 10th. Oops. Sigh, I'll just leave it.

November 10 work in progress: dog scrim

November 2 work in progress: dog scrim

Okay, new project:



"Chloe" (Sheltie dog)
scrimshaw on pre-ban elephant ivory
30x40mm
custom commission (sold)

Molly - Sheltie dog scrimshaw

"Molly" (Sheltie dog)
scrimshaw on pre-ban elephant ivory
30x40mm
sold

This is a closeup. The part shown here is EXACTLY the same size as a penny, just fyi. :-)

March 31 work in progress

See, I told you it would start to make more sense as I progress! One or two more days and I'll be done.

I had the irresistible urge to bake something today, so I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. New recipe. Yum. Probably could have used a little more flour though, they ended up flatter than I wanted. Still yum!

The pageviews on my website were double the average number yesterday. Hmm. I have no idea where the referrals are coming from. Weird.

Hey, I should probably do my taxes! (*SIGH*)

March 30 work in progress

I did a whole bunch of research (aka looking up photos) today for my next scrim project, which will be that beautiful knife I posted a few days (week?) ago. I'd been totally undecided about what to do with it but it hit me day and it's going to be awesome! I have until early May to get that done.

It's actually looking like life is going to be "all scrimshaw all the time" which is, as they say, freakin' awesome. Another project is on its way to me today. I'll talk about it later!

I would like to balance this out with some drawing projects too, but hey, this rocks! :-D

March 29 work in progress

Twenty-one years ago today was the day my first chick hatched. Wow. That was "Pheasant."

I had intended to do a lot of horsey stuff today but it was horribly windy and annoying, so I didn't get done as much as I had planned. But I did do more scrimshaw!

It's on odd place to stop for the day with one ear floating in space, but hey, it'll get there. Since this piece is going to be done with a LOT of lines, I decided to try out a different tool for that, since making lines with the etching needle always makes me grumble and the lines never seemed to hold ink all that well. I'm using an X-acto knife for the lines now and very happy with it. The dots are still done with an etching needle. I ink it with etching ink as I go. There isn't a right or wrong way to use lines or dots, in my opinion. Some people seem to think that one or the other is better, but really I think it just comes down to what the image is. You can make any image entirely out of lines (but it's hard, I'm not really into that). You can make any image entirely out of dots (can also be hard). Some need one or the other. This one uses both! I will post closeups when I'm done.

And I forgot to scan it with the penny yesterday! D'oh!


"Molly"
scrimshaw engraving on pre-ban elephant ivory
30 by 40 mm
sold (commission)

March 28 work in progress

Okay, so I'm working on a new project. This is a portrait of a Sheltie dog named Molly. It's scrimshaw on a 30x40mm piece of pre-ban elephant ivory. It'll have a lot of line-work in it. Today I put in a "base coat" of light gray in some areas. These are the tan patches on the dog (but this is a black and white scrim). This'll all make a lot more sense as I get farther into it!

Here's yesterday's progress (tee hee!):

And what I did today: