Pencil Sculpting

Everyone needs pencils to draw, but I never realized that the pencil itself could be a form of artwork. Dalton Ghetti carves artworks from pencils. He does not use a magnifying glass as others may assume, but rather opts for a simple razor blade and needles to create these magnificent and unique pieces of art. He states that he's always known he was the pencil guy, but never knew it would take him to such heights in his art. Gehtti says he just does it because it is fun for him. At 49 years old, he is not married, and works humbly in barn space provided by Sandy Lefkowitz and her husband, Larry, in Connecticut. He lives simply, with about as much material possessions as a nomad or a monk, and solely focuses on his art. However, he also loves to camp and coaches volleyball at his local YMCA, this is why many of his pieces take years to create.

He says, when asked why he works with pencils rather than some sort or other material, such as wood, that graphite is much simpler than wood, and sculpts much more easily. It all goes in one direction, rather than dealing with the grain of wood, and, even though its delicateness, the material is surprisingly easy to sculpt. Dalton is also very humble. He is completely unaware of just how unique his talent is. As a child, he carved bark, soap, chalk, before settling on graphite sometime in high school.It has taken him around 3 years to complete the alphabet, a year to complete an Elvis bust with sunglasses as well as a tiny shoe that looks strikingly realistic.
Dalton does not sell any of his work, but simply gives it away to friends. He says its a gift from the heart. The last gift he's given away was the chain pencil, pictured at the top with him. It was carved out of a single pencil and contains 23 looped chains. It took him 2 years, he has given it to his father for his 80th birthday.
He does not use artificial light to carve his pieces. He states that if it is not  sunny inside, he will work outside, always holding his piece himself. He has made over 100 pieces, but he does not have a favorite he says. His favorite is always the piece that his is working on at the moment. The most frustrating thing about working with this soft, fragile, yet malleable material is that a piece would break months after he had started working on it, and there is no way to fix it, except to start over.
Many would wonder how much he spends on pencils to keep his hobby alive. But the truth is is that over the 25 years he has been doing this, he has not spent a dime on pencils because he uses ones given to him by friends asking him to sculpt for them, or he uses ones that he finds on the streets.

As of today, he is working on a monumental piece to honor those who were killed in the September 11th tragedy. He is carving one rice sized tear drop for the over 3,000 people who lost their lives that day. He has been working on it since 2002 and says it will take him around 10 years to create and finish. He makes one teardrop every day, it takes him under an hour to complete each one. In the end he says, he'd like for them to be displayed in some sort of case in the formation of a large teardrop from afar. Then as people move closer they will see that it is made of individual teardrops, each handcrafted.

It amazes me that one person could do this without any sort of magnifying glass, artificial light, or even using something to hold the pencil steady. He truly takes the art of carving to a new level. To think that he carves this all by hand, and with a sewing needle, razor, and sculpting knife is insane to me. And to think that he actually like to do it! That is pure insanity!
I really like all of the detail he puts into his pieces. Each one unique and each one made for a specific person in mind.  This is such an extraordinary talent!