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Jim's interest in scrimshaw started when he was a boy with native art sent to him from Alaska by his father. Early art work included pen and ink, water colors and wood work. After moving to Bellingham, WA, he was hired by Alaska Silver and Ivory Company, and was trained by the many fine artists doing scrimshaw at that time. He worked there for six years until the company went out of business, and then worked on his own doing custom scrimshaw for eleven more years. Needing a break, Jim went back to doing custom woodworking for a cabinet shop in Mount Vernon, and did water colors painting in his spare time. Jim recently took an early retirement from the cabinet shop and looking for something to do, returned to scrimshaw. With his background in woodworking, he also makes his own mounts as well.
Jim likes to work on Mastodon and Mammoth ivory, but will work with any of the other ivorys such as whale teeth and walrus tusks. For mounts, he has used Lilac and Manzaneta, and is looking to use more exotic woods as he finds them. He is partial to traditional black and white scrimshaw, but will do color or sepia depending on the customers preferences.
Jim particularly enjoys doing scrims with humans as the main subject, but can do most any subject and enjoys the challenge of a custom request. |
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