Sergei met his wife Lisa in Kharkov, Ukraine, where she was a student studying Russian language & culture. Lisa is American of Finnish decent. When they moved to Maine, Sergei became involved with the local native Passamaquoddy Nation of Northeastern Maine, whose traditional coastal lands and hunting grounds include the Canadian waters of Passamaquoddy Bay and the Bay of Fundy. Eventually, he was adopted into the Bear Clan, and given the name of "Putep" (meaning whale).
Sergei's scrimshaw artwork is now on display in the Passamaquoddy tribal museum. He also fashions bone and walrus tusk heads for decorative native harpoons, as the tribe is allowed to ceremoniously pursue seals, walrus, and whales by traditional methods (canoe, kayak, and sealskin sailboat). He is also skilled in traditional crafts of beading, birch bark basketry, bone flutes, whistles, porcupine quilling and leather work.
You will note from the examples of his scrimshaw, that Sergei prefers "stipple" technique. Stippling takes up to four times longer than line scrimmed scrimshaw, but allows greater detail and shading. Sergei does not hurry his work. As with any scrimshander, e-mail exchange (Bachkov87@aol.com ) and Instant Messaging (IM ID: Bachkov87) discussions of sketches & ideas will expedite a project. Sergei is very good at providing progress photos during scrimwork.
