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I am amazed at the talent of Dalton Ghetti, a 49-year old carpenter from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Dalton 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.
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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.
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“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.”
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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!