Sculptor creates models worth thousands... made out of PENCILS

Sculptor creates models worth thousands... made out of PENCILS

Mangalore Today News Network

Having experimented with a number of materials over the years, sculptor Jennifer Maestre’s unusual creations are finally starting to draw attention.

And it is no surprise they are putting her other models in the shade - having been made entirely out of pencils.

With her graphite creations taking up to two months to make, her painstaking efforts are starting to pay dividends with the sculptures fetching anywhere between £600 and £5,000.

Jennifer, from Massachusetts, drills a hole through each one of the 1,000 pencils it takes to create her pieces, before she sets about sharpening each and every one of them to craft the spectacular models.

Once this is done, each section is then sewn together using a technique called a peyote stitch, which helps to give the structure its shape.

The artist has experimented with nails and other materials, but eventually settled with pencils as her favourite medium after starting 13 years ago.

The 48-year-old said: ’The sculptures can take anywhere from one day to two months to create, and for a really big sculpture, I might use 1,000 pencils.

’I use the whole pencil, I cut them up, so nothing goes to waste.

’I treat the pencils as beads and sew them together with a heavy duty beading thread.

’If it is done in a circular or tubular manner it becomes three dimensional, if I make a row wider, and then narrower, the form becomes somewhat rigid.

’The flatter the piece, the more flexible it will be.

’I start with a circle, and work my way up and in and out.

’Once I saw a gorgeous amulet bag made of seed beads, it was out of my budget, but I loved it, so I taught myself how to do off loom beading in order to make one of my own.

’This same technique is what I employ to make my pencil sculptures.

’I started making the pencil sculptures in 1999, I just wanted to see what would happen

’I like greens a lot but I think all colours will be great as long as they are put with colours they get along with.

’I sometimes wish I had a passion for work that was not so time consuming and picky, but it just seems to be in my nature to be attracted by this type of work.

’I sell them and they range from $1,000 to $8,000, depending upon how complicated they are.’