The Toucan Knife

I finished this knife late the night before I left for the FEGA show in Reno, and delivered it back to the William Henry Studio that weekend. I was not able to photograph the knife myself because I never had the assembled knife in hand. I only had parts.

Photo of completed knife courtesy of William Henry Studio:

This is a scan of the scrimshaw, and the color here is more accurate than on the photo of the whole knife:

Interested in purchasing this knife? Contact William Henry Studio.

January 25 work in progress

I might finish these tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then Thursday. At least that's the plan. I just need to finish their beaks and faces and do a little something with the background/border. That's a Keel-billed Toucan on the top, and a Toco Toucan on the bottom. In hindsight I maybe should have switched these around (since the left side is the more traditionally photographed side, but the Keel-billed is more colorful) but I put the Toco on the "front" because it's sort of the classic Toucan look that people are familiar with... I think. At any rate, I'm very happy with how it's coming along.

I will do something with the background. Probably just some shading near the border like I did on the cheetah knife, but I'll see where things stand time-wise when I finish the birds themselves. Full-coverage leafiness would be super awesome, but would go way over budget.

I will eventually get a good photograph of the entire assembled knife. My photos when I finish will be mediocre because I am terrible at photographing metal AND scrimshaw together and trying to get good lighting on both. But I'll try...

January 23 work in progress

January 19 work in progress

My current project is to scrimshaw the scales (that's the knife-people-lingo for "handles") on this sweet little William Henry knife. It's really small. The scales are pre-ban walrus ivory. The subject matter is Toucans. They will be in full color. This is a subject matter I chose (and I had to fight for these guys!) because it's a perfect fit on this knife! It's going to look fabulous.

The knife is disassembled, but here's what the scales and blade looked like before I started. The microscope ring light is making a weird reflection, sorry.

So far...