CRUISING WITH CULTURE

Topkok, 49, sits at a table up on the Lido deck poolside. The scenery competes for my attention, but I am curious about the scrimshaw master as he huddles over what appears to be a piece of ivory and tools scattered around him.

Topkok uses his tools efficiently, but there is one that is particularly intriguing when he’s in action. It’s a traditional tool that was his grandfather’s, one that is used to cut the walrus tusk into pieces for the jewelry he designs. The strap is made from sealskin and the drill bit is made from a metal file. Thousands of years ago Topkok’s ancestors used flint or jade. “My grandfather made the mouthpiece,” says Topkok, as he draws my attention to the two polar bear heads on each end. “My bit sits in the center,” he says, as he clenches the mouthpiece between his teeth in order to control the drill bit.

Topkok grew up in Teller, but he likes to say he comes from Wales (70 miles away) because he goes there every summer to get his “material” – walrus ivory. Wales is his mother’s village and he speaks the Wales dialect.

“I was forced to learn how to carve ivory when I was a little boy, and thanks to my father I am still doing it today,” says Topkok. Like his best friends, the seven-year-old craved candy and pop, but his family was poor and could not afford the treats. Instead of giving him money his father gave him ivory and taught him how to carve.

“You have to carve to try to do the same things your best friends do,” Topkok’s father would say to him. He also learned how to draw when he was little, encouraged by his father who saw him as a promising scrimshaw artist.

By age 20, Topkok was a recognized ivory scrimshaw artist. He’d come a long way from his very first attempt at scrimshaw. For two days he labored over a carving he now completes in an hour. To get started he has to buy the whole tusk and then he must saw and slice it. He prefers to create scrimshaw because it is more economically viable. “Figures take up too much ivory, I get more product doing scrimshaw,” he says.

The artist uses a format he has mastered for the past 36 years. He begins by drawing the outline in pencil and then he scratches it in with his etcher. “To get the color I have to use a chisel, then the color can set in the ivory, then I use Indian Ink which is waterproof,” he quietly explains as I watch him executing the step-by-step process. Once the inking is completed he sprays it with a plastic coating to give a clear finish to the texture, as well as to seal the drawing. Finally, he drills a hole in the pendant with an Eskimo bow drill.” The customer then takes the pendant to a jeweler to put a jump ring and tag it on to the necklace,” Topkok says. At $50 Topkok’s pendants are some of the finest Alaskan souvenirs visitors can take home. He also designs necklaces that cost $250.

Topkok’s talents extend beyond scrimshaw to watercolor paintings. These, he says, are influenced by his ivory etchings. Later he makes prints from the originals, as well as notecards. As a child he listened to stories his grandmother told and that is the origin of his ideas. “My favorite story is the Wolf Dance,” he says quietly. The Shaman is a half-man, half-walrus and he dances for the Cheeseone Spirit.” He proudly wears a parka he made, decorated with the traditional white patterns on each side of the chest that represents walrus tusks.

Topkok is a craftsman whose creations also include bracelets, watchbands, cribbage boards, baby mukluks, dolls, yo-yos, parkas, booties, note cards and wall hangings.

Thanks to Willy Topkok, passengers on the ms Ryndam got more than a glimpse of his heritage, culture and traditional crafts.