Homemade Scrimshaw Art

by Andrea Mulder-Slater

Age: Elementary and Middle
Time: 30 minutes or more
Type of Activity: Art

Materials needed:

• Margarine or yogurt container lids
• Pencil
• Nails
• Black or dark blue paint
• Brushes
• An old rag
• White glue

Do you have a few plastic margarine or yogurt container lids hanging around? Would you or your young artists like to try your hands at a modern adaptation of an indigenous North American craft? Simply gather some margarine or yogurt container lids, a pencil, a few nails, black or dark blue paint, brushes, an old rag, and a touch of white glue.

Ready, set, go and get a margarine lid and turn it upside down so you are looking at the inside of the lid. First draw a picture on the lid using a pencil and then fill the picture in using a nail to scratch many lines into the plastic. Next comes the paint. If you have acrylic paint -- great. If you have tempera paint, add a touch of glue to make it sticky. Spread the paint over the picture and wipe it with a dry rag to remove the excess. The paint will fill in the scratches and leave you with modern scrimshaw that you can hang on your wall.

Note to Teachers: Margarine lids have a natural "paint-catching lip" which is wonderful for those with little hands.

SCRIMSHAW FACTS

Scrimshaw is the name given to the craft of scratching, carving, or etching designs into bone or ivory. Many native peoples from along the northwest coast of North America created scrimshaw long before the men on whaling ships began trying their hand at the craft in the early 1800s. Back in those days, scrimshaw designs often included pictures of ships, whales, and birds found along the seacoast.

© Andrea Mulder-Slater | KinderArt | http://www.kinderart.com

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