DECADES ago I met a Scrimshaw artist, Norwood Marlow. I got him to teach me how to scrimshaw. He gave me a couple of pieces of staghorn to work on...DECADES ago I met a Scrimshaw artist, Norwood Marlow. I got him to teach me how to scrimshaw. He gave me a couple of pieces of staghorn to work on. Proper scrimshaw is on whale or elephant ivory - both of which are illegal - rightfully so.

So I had to learn how to polish the surface, and etch an image, and then ink it. This is one of the few pieces I did at that time (around 1975 or so). Show more