Artisan Spotlight – Haylee Explores Scrimshaw Look

Throughout the year, I work one-on-one with each member of the Nunn Design Team.  It is an opportunity for the team members to explore their own design aesthetics and to explore new techniques for Nunn Design.

Haylee was really attracted to the scrimshaw look.  After doing some research and exploring she found a way to create the look that she wanted.  I’d love to talk about how she created the final results she was looking for…but you will just have to hang tight.  It is on the schedule for one of our upcoming Buy & Try Techniques.   Here is an account of Haylee’s exploration.

Haylee’s first attempt took her a full day to create.  She filled a bezel with Crystal Clay and let the clay harden.  She then put her line drawing down over the clay and traced the image of the line drawing, leaving an imprint into the clay.  Haylee then carved away with an engraving tool the areas that you now see as black (she painted the recessed areas with acrylic paint).  This was super labor intensive…so we looked into easier ways to create the look she wanted.  Not to say her time didn’t produce a fantastic piece.  This is really fantastic!

Next Haylee explored transferring her image directly onto moist Crystal Clay.  This is a process where you lay a toner based image (like from a copier-not your laser printer or inkjet printer) face down onto your wet clay.  Then you wet the back of your paper and slowly start to rub away the paper.  The toner image stays on the clay.  This technique was tried over and over and the results just weren’t coming out consistently for Haylee…so back to the drawing board we went.  I still think this pieces looks amazing.  I love her chipped away vintage look that she did with the clay inside the bezel.  Makes it look even more “old world”.

And then the clouds broke and rays of sun filled the room upon Haylee’s creations!  We found a way in which she could transfer the image onto the clay and get the results that she wanted.  The coolest thing is that when she put the Nunn Design Sealant over the image to give it a protective coat, the image changed.  These images are black and white, but for some reason, they have tints of color.  I’m not sure what the heck happened, but it is super cool!

Thank you Haylee for such great work!

Stay tuned with our upcoming Buy & Try Technique to learn just how to do this.  Sorry to tease you so…but it will be well worth waiting for!  Don’t miss a single post by subscribing to our blog!

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