Mini Pencil Art

Miniature art has been around for a while now. The word miniature actually comes from the Latin verb miniare, which means to color with red lead paint. Medieval scribes used red lead to decorate capital letters of manuscripts with small, detailed, miniature scenes. This art took a lot of concentration, endurance, and a careful hand. Dalton Ghetti also works with miniature art. Ghetti carves the tips of graphite pencils into detailed sculptures of people, animals, and objects. Ghetti uses just three tools, a razor blade, a sewing needle, and a sculpting knife. (Surprisingly, no magnifying glass!) Because Dalton Ghetti grew up in Brazil, he learned to sharpen pencils by hand, and his mother (who was a seamstress) taught him how to use a needle. Ghetti finds most of his pencils on the streets or in the trash, but some of his friends lend him pencils. Most of his creations take at least months to finish. Ghetti has to have concentration to carve these miniature sculptures. When asked the question, why do you carve pencils, Ghetti answers that his motivation comes from all of the other miniature worlds of nature like insects and plants. After more than 20 years, his collection of miniature pencil art shows his hard working nature.