more intricate pencil art

As promised in my first post on Dalton Ghetti's pencil tip art here, am sharing more of his miniature masterpieces.

I was already in awe of the intricate details of his pencil graphite sculptures.

Then, he goes beyond carving just the pencil lead and uses even the pencil's wood for his elaborate art. He actually hollowed out the center of the wood, then carved the central column of graphite to create the hanging, linked heart below! I love the saw with the three little screw details where the wood meets the graphite blade.

Imagine the frustration he felt when a piece broke before it was finished, after he had spent months working on it. At first, it drove him mad, but eventually, he decided to change the way he thought about his work: "well, this will break eventually but let's see how far I get." He still breaks them, but not as often. And those that did break, he would glue on pins and stick on his styrofoam box which he affectionately calls "the cemetery collection".

"People might think it's weird I keep them, but they're still interesting. I worked on them for months so they might be dead now, but at one point, I gave them life." I don't blame him. Imagine working on one sculpture for months and it ends up breaking... Several months! That's how long it takes to finish a standard figure. But turns out, Dalton spent two and a half years, the longest he has taken on one piece, on a pencil with interlinking chains. "The interlinking chains took the most effort and I was really pleased with it because it's so intricate, people think it must be two pencils." Indeed! I cannot fathom how these magnificent graphite tip sculptures could have come from just one pencil...

Currently, Dalton is working on an epic piece in honor of the people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Since 2002, he has been carving one teardrop a day and will continue to do this until he has carved 3,000 pencil tip teardrops for each person who died that day. "When I'm done, they will form one big teardrop." He estimates it will take him 10 years to accomplish the project, but says, "It will be worth it."

Photos are copyright of Dalton Ghetti via Telegraph.co.uk