August 3, 2010 at 9:05 am

The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]

by twistedsifter

elvis carved onto tip of pencil The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

Dalton Ghetti is a 49-year old carpenter from Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he has been carving the most incredible miniature sculptures for over 25 years without the aid of a magnifying glass. His canvas? The tiny tip of a lead pencil.

 

smallest saw ever The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

incredible pencil art The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

Dalton started carving tree bark when he was a child and experimented with everything from soap to chalk before settling on graphite. It’s second nature now, and for 90 percent of his work, all he needs is a sewing needle, a razor blade, a sculpting knife and a carpenter’s or No. 2 pencil.

 

carving a lead pencil tip The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

smallest hammer ever The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

“The pencil tip is great; it’s like a pure, very homogenous material,” he said. “It cuts in the same direction, not like wood, which has a grain. But when I tell people how long it takes, that’s when they don’t believe it. That’s what amazes people more, the patience. Because everything nowadays has to be fast, fast, fast.”

 

tiniest key ever dalton ghetti The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

screw carved into lead of a pencil The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

Mr. Ghetti often takes years to complete pieces, especially since pencil carving is only a hobby. A standard figure will take several months however the alphabet carvings below took about 2.5 years!

 

alphabet carved into pencils The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

pencil nnmchucks dalton ghetti The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

Mr. Ghetti has never sold any of his work, and has only given it away to friends. “It’s hard to explain but for me it’s like a sort of meditation. I’m alone with no music on in my studio and in a deep state of concentration, it’s like another mind state I float about in.”

art on tip of a pencil The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

amazing lead carving The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

“I use the sewing needle to make holes or dig into the graphite. I scratch and create lines and turn the graphite around slowly in my hand. Also, I never buy the pencils, my friends are always giving me them to sculpt or sometimes I use ones I find in the street.”

 

mini pencil art carving The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

miniature pencil sculpture The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

Dalton, who is originally from Brazil, has a box full of more than 100 sculptures that have broken while working on them that he affectionately calls ‘the cemetery collection’. Some of them he displays on a Styrofoam bed to remind him of the time spent on this almost finished works (below):

 

miniature art The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

Mr Ghetti has made about 100 carvings, and is currently on an epic piece inspired by the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

“When September 11 happened I was in tears all day and couldn’t do much for a while. I decided to make a teardrop pencil carving for each of the people who died in the attack, about 3,000. Since 2002 I have carved one every day, it takes me under an hour. When I’m done they will form one big tear drop. It will take me about 10 years but it will be worth it.”

 

art carving on tip of lead pencil The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

miniature carving dalton ghetti The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

SOURCES

The New York Times
The Telegraph
The Daily Mail

 

pencil tip sculptures The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

amazing miniature sculptures on tip of pencil The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

miniature sculptures using pencil lead The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News

 

dalton ghetti miniature sculptures carving The Most Incredible Miniature Pencil Art [20 pics]
Photograph by Dalton Ghetti / Solent News