What is Scrimshaw?Written by by: Elly Kendall
American scrimshaw dates back to at least 100-200 AD in North America, practiced for centuries by native groups along Northwest Coast. Not wanting to simply discard teeth and bones of animals hunted for food, native cultures invented a new style of art that would later be known as Scrimshaw, one of only a few indigenous American crafts. While other cultures around world, such as Orient artists, certainly worked in ivory and bone, style of North American cultures and that of Yankee sailors who followed were uniquely their own, making scrimshaw a traditionally American art form. It was adopted by Yankee whale men of early 1800's. Two- to five-year voyages quickly became monotonous, so whale men turned to working with baleen, whale teeth, and jawbones, all of which were in abundant supply. In fact, on many ships, whale teeth were part of pay and were often traded in port for goods or services. The origin of word is obscure; one interesting etymology is a Dutch phrase meaning "to waste one's time!" The term "scrimshaw" also applies to carved or pierced bone or ivory, since much of whale men’s work was carved rather than etched. Scrimshaw art is a slow and tedious process where one mistake can ruin an entire piece. Creating ivory sculpture or carving is equally unforgiving work. Scrimshaw is not an art form for impatient. Each piece can take from 30 to over 900 hours to complete. Scrimshaw is usually defined as carving or embellishment of ivory or bone. Today's definition would more likely be thought of as intricate incising of ivory to produce images of unbelievable detail. Incising and engraving could both describe scrimshaw method. Extremely sharp scribes scratch surface of ivory, and then paint or ink is rubbed into incisions. Stippling is a technique of employing thousands of tiny holes that are then carefully filled with pigment to reveal a beautiful work of art and to create fine shading.
| | Making Piano Habits That HelpWritten by Emily Sigers
The ability to play well is founded upon habit and habit, in turn, is formed upon your daily work. Therefore, how necessary it is to see that pupils form only best of habits. There are seven characteristics, or habits, of good practice that every student of music, at any age, should strictly observe: 1. Start Slowly. Practice slowly at first, gradually working up to required tempo. 2. Keep Time Always. Pay best of attention to keeping time, and from very beginning try to play rhythmically. 3. Listen Constantly. Listen to every note played. 4. Keep Your Eyes on Music. Form habit of keeping your eyes on music. Nothing is so distracting as seeing a pianist bobbing his head up and down like a duck in a mud puddle - result of keeping his glance swinging between his music and keys.
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