Cindy Chinn is an artist and graphite carver, making tiny sculptures out of pencil lead in unbelievable detail.
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Cindy uses an Exacto blade to chisel away the graphite point of a pencil and the smallest needle she can find to carve fine details.
This commission is a dinky little coal truck dumping its load.
Cindy’s first project took the form a train, below.
“I found a pencil in a shop and experimented with different tools,” she said.
“The train took me about 6 hours to carve and the trestle took another 3 or so hours.”
“[The trestle] was actually more difficult than the train itself because the wood of the pencil kept splintering.”
“I was able to get closer to my work with the use of a 5x Diopter magnifying lamp, though it still wasn’t close enough.”
“I would carve then take a micro photo and make changes, then compare the two.”
This is a tiny carpenter’s hammer.
“The magnifying glass is mounted in front for handsfree inspection, or is removable for close inspection.”
Cindy even chiselled the “CH” for “carpenter’s hammer” onto the pencil.
She carves awesomely intricate maple leaves.
And she created quite possibly the world’s smallest Converse All-Star sneaker.
It’s 3/16ths of an inch wide (or 4.7625 mm). Blimey.
You can see more of Cindy’s work on her Facebook page or her website.
Or you can commission your own teeny weeny graphite sculpture via Cindy’s Etsy store.