August 8 work in progress

Geez, where does the time go?  I was gone for a few days.  Life in a suitcase...

I'm really happy with how this is coming along!  I have to finish the sidewalk/steps, put in the tree and shrubbery, and then do a little something with the background.  In real life this cottage is surrounded by trees.  I am not planning to put all those trees in the background.  I LIKE this clean composition, I really don't want to clutter it up with a bunch of stuff behind it.  Unless I get to that point and think it needs it... but I don't think that'll happen.  That's not the plan.  But I'll do a little something to get the border to "pop."  Just you wait and see.

sebright chicken scrimshaw

I did this a thank-you for someone who recently gave me a lot of scrimshaw supplies.  He and his wife have a small and much-loved flock of Sebright bantams, and when I was deciding what to do for them I thought "yay finally a chance to scrimshaw some chickens!!!"  :-)

Two Sebrights

multicolor scrimshaw engraving on pre-ban elephant ivory

1-7/16 by 1-9/16 inches

July 31 work in progress

July 29 work in progress

Brown Red Japanese Bantams

"Brown Red Japanese Bantams"

colored pencil and graphite on cream Stonehenge paper

10 by 12 inches

by Katherine Plumer, © 2013

This was a custom piece, and it is now in Canada!  :-)

July 26 work in progress

The little chicken scrimshaw is finished, and I will post it as soon as its new owner sees it!

Next on the list is the cottage scrimshaw.  This is an illustration of the "Hansel Cottage" in Carmel, CA.  This is a custom piece, and it's just over 2 inches in diameter.  It'll be in full color.  This pic was taken right after I transferred my drawing onto the ivory, so it's a bunch of dots.  I've been working on all the outlines so far, and although there is a lot more done than there was when I took this photo, I haven't added any more ink so it doesn't look like much yet.  This is an extremely complex image and I need to think very carefully how I'm going to do this...

July 19 work in progress

I transferred two images to two pieces of ivory today.  They are both projects I "should have finished yesterday" if you know what I mean... clock's a-tickin'.  The other, which I will show you later, is larger and EXTREMELY complicated and detailed, so I'm going to try to bust this one out pretty quickly (ha ha, "quickly" being a very relative term when it comes to working on a microscopic level).

This is going to be a portrait of two Sebright Bantam chickens.  And to all my fancier/poultry exhibitor/chicken snob friends, I KNOW you're going to jump all over and say they don't look like good sebrights.  I KNOW.  They aren't!  These are "hatchery grade" birds, and that's deliberate.  So don't get all uppity about it.  ;-)

Cape Buffalo knife now REALLY done!

Drum roll please...

And now featuring engraving and inlay on the bolsters and rivets by one of my absolute favorite people, Michael Dubber!  I had to jump up and down and do the happy dance when I saw how COOL this turned out.  YOWZA!!!  Click on the pics to see these a little bit bigger!

engraved Cape Buffalo floorplate

This is a floorplate for a Winchester Model 70 rifle.  This part, in very simple terms, goes underneath behind the trigger.  The scrollwork and gold inlay was done by John Barraclough.  I engraved the Cape Buffalo in what is known as "bulino" style.  This is NOT scrimshaw (it's NOT ivory).  This is on steel. Yeah, I engraved metal.  ;-)  And I'm gonna do it again!

big shoutout to a little horse

Happy 10th Birthday to Shylah! My my how the years have flown since I got that scrappy scrawny little horse from Canada. She's really blossomed a lot this last year, and seems to enjoy not only her horsey friends but also her new role as a trail and cow horse. And we've come a long way learning to trust each other. That's a great feeling when it's just me and her by ourselves way out in the boonies.

Is it REALLY her birthday? Well who knows, but when I got her she had two little cardboard tags taped to her butt with the number "4" on them. She seemed so tiny compared to her "born in early spring" trailer-mates, so I decided June 4 would be her birthday. She's not really all that little any more. Just a smidge under 14.3. She just looks like a waif compared to the chunky fuzzy Gypsy horses she lives around!