Look, Don’t Write: Pencil-Tip Micro-Sculptures by Salavat Fidai

November 30, 2015

I know at this point you must be wondering: Are those tiny sculptures, or just really big pencils? Okay, so maybe you didn’t entertain that theory for long, but believing that Salavat Fidai’s intricately wrought sculptures are actually as small as the tip of a pencil is still a challenge. To be clear, these aren’t your typical school pencils; Fidai uses art or carpentry pencils with thicker and softer lead, but that hardly detracts from the level of detail he has accomplished on such a small scale.

The simplicity of his toolset is even harder to believe; banish from your mind thoughts of tiny chisels and laser guidance systems. Fidai is able to produce these incredibly detailed sculptures with nothing other than a magnifying glass, X-Acto blade and an occasional needle, treating the graphite like any other subtractive sculpting medium. Many of his sculptures (which I have intentionally left out, in order to show you more of his original work) use characters borrowed from loveable universes, such as Star Wars, Rango and The Incredibles. The rest is an eclectic mix, ranging from an elephant on a ball to the Statue of Liberty. Although most of his pieces solely rely on the graphite, some designs cleverly incorporate the wood of the pencil, such as the stock of the AK-47.

Fidai’s work has recently culminated in a book, aptly named The Pencil Book, which he successfully funded via an Indiegogo campaign. You can still donate, however, which will get you a discounted copy of the book, as well as other perks (depending on your donation). The campaign ends on December 3rd, so if you want to donate (think holiday gifts), you better hurry! To learn more about Salavat Fidai or how to purchase one of his pieces, you can visit his website here, and his Indiegogo campaign here.

Below is a video of Fidai carving a pencil-tip skull:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-DU9WYgtQ&ab_channel=%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%A4%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%B8