New to Tiki Central, invited by 2010 Hukilau vendors

Hello all Tiki lovers, I was invited here by the vendors of the Hukilau in Ft Lauderdale Florida.

I was just checking this site out for the first time this afternoon, sorry if I got off on a bad start.

Scrimshaw was introduced to me in 1986 while working on Mackinac Island Michigan.
That same summer I joined a wooden sailing ship called the Bounty II and sailed around North America. The Bounty is famous for visiting Tahiti resulting in mutiny and I visited Tahiti in 1997 and appreciated the genuine tikis first hand. So began my tiki appreciation.

I will be posting more tiki related work here soon, but here are some samples of Scrimshaw...

This is on Woolly Mammoth Ivory as is much of my work.

Vertical of the English ship "Soveriegn of the Seas."

Mermaid portrait.

Fossil Walrus tusk tip.

At left is my first dedicated work from 1987, the portrait on the right is recent.

I have many different sizes of ivory available.
From $14 pendants to whole tusks illustrated for $4,000.
Provide me a picture to work from, tiki or not, name your desired size and I will get it done for you. Payment via paypal

Thanks to everyone who bought my work at the Hukilau and ordered custom projects!
William

[ Edited by: WJHScrimshaw 2010-06-16 20:47 ]

[ Edited by: Bora Boris - Fixed Typo. - 2010-06-16 20:56 ]

Really great work..........would love to see more posts

Thank you so much, I wish to start a Scrimshaw business of my own and this looks like a great place to start.

I have been doing this work on and off for nearly 25 years, along the way I added sculpting, jewelry and photography to the illustration and inscribing.

Many ideas are cooking now and I'm happy to inscribe any tiki you want into a pendant. More ice age materials on the way. Protecting the living animals.

Upcoming projects include scrimshawed carvings with inlays.

I'm also open to personalizing your bone carving pendants you already have.
Someone had me do this at the Hukilau, they loved it.

Lets keep the tradition of the old crafts going strong.

Your work is very good. Please post some more, the detailed artwork is outstanding.

Wonderful work. Nautical objects are part and parcel of Tiki decor, like any memento that might be found in a South Seas bar, and scrimshaw is certainly a classic sailor's art form from the days of Pacific exploration. Bone is a fascinating medium, immediately conveying a sense of history and authenticity.

There are only a few skilled carvers here that have tried their hands on carving Tikis out of bone. In case you want to get into that, the Marquesans had an interesting bone Tiki tradition:

Hello and thank you again for the positive comments.

Just wanted to point out I do not use bone or carve since bone has little striations and canals for blood that frequently cloud a scrimshaw image, but not all the time. The grain of bone is difficult to engrave or incise too, but I have done a fair number of custom jobs with it. (material supplied by the customer)

My material of choice is Woolly Mammoth ivory.
Another set showing a portraits progress:

The top 4 images are pencil, the bottom 4 are painted/inked lines cut in.

[ Edited by: WJHScrimshaw 2010-06-17 01:09 ]

And another sample of a different media, illustration...

in guache - love to see these dancers!

no deep thoughts but much appreciation...for their hard work on stage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGOt-AlFk_w

Dancer at the Mai Kai...Hukilau location.

[ Edited by: WJHScrimshaw 2010-06-17 11:13 ]

Very interesting, makes sense about that bone-porousness. One of those dancers sure would look nice on a fossil tooth. Aren't those ancient biters expensive?

Hi bigbrotiki,
Yes, they can be expensive but they vary a lot. Prices are effected by overall weight, condition of weathering, color and shape (workability)

I have seen full tusks perfect for over $5,000 each and matched pairs perfect with skull for $18,000. I try to buy scraps with good spots I can use, saves a lot.

Here is one of my early works from 21 years ago. On fossil Walrus.

Another work of a sail boat called the "New Way" that I did from a photo I took while sailing the "Ernestina" under the Mackinac Bridge in 1987.

This is on a 4" oval, which usually go for $1,400 - $1,700 because nice pieces like this are scarce, no cracks or stains.

You mentioned you sold at the Hukilau. I am curious: With that many opportunities to spend one's hard-earned dollar, and the fact that in my estimation the general Tiki folk is not that "up in the chips", did people fork over that kind of dough for precious little heirlooms like the above, or do you also offer lower price range pieces.

Wow! Quite impressive scrimshaw!

Hi bigbrotiki,

Hukilau prices were $12-$50

Pendants, earrings and business card holders, all tiny, but detailed.

All I posted here so far are big gallery works. All of them sold too,
$700-$2500.

The gallery didn't give me their names though, must have been collectors.

here's a portrait progression:

Nice work Mr. Scrimshaw, but since you've joined a tiki board and started a Gallery page, are you going to be doing pieces with actual tikis??? :)

Hi...
yes Tikis are coming soon,

I made 80 tiki works for the Hukilau in a blur and sold them all...
didn't even slow down to do a photo shoot. Someone out there got pics at the event.

The new work will be done again in a couple days and posted.
People wanted to see work by me and mermaids and ships are what I had to start since I just signed up for TC yesterday.

I'll be doing more pendants and a standing mammoth work...watch for them this weekend.

I'm getting a lot of requests to see tiki work...trying to find a Hukilau photographer who has a picture of all the stuff I had there last week.

Only been here 1 day...trying to show some idea of a portfolio in the mean time.

Great! Your portfolio is impressive! I am going to start saving for a piece from you. I bet you are going to be a hit around here! Aloha and welcome again.

Welcome to Tiki Central WHJScrimshaw.....glad you got on board. you should get a thread going in the carving section too!!!

My wife bought one of your tiki mammoth tusk necklaces and loves it. Since you have no photos....here's one of hers you sold her. thanks again and it was great talking to you at the hukilau.

The photographic quality of your work is so impressive. You are an inspiration. I'm going to have to work harder at my craft. Thank you for joining us. Will you go to Tiki Oasis 10? Wendy

my wahini bought me 1 of his credit card/biz holders and it is just a beauttiful thing. it was great to hang out with you at the mai kai for the intoxocator set too.

found this shot in my pics from the hukilau......its the mammoth tusk mermaid you had on your table.