It was just a few weeks ago we were marveling over the whimsy and beauty of crayon sculptures, and the pop culture mini-majesty that artist Bryan Edmiston was able to achieve with them. But these graphite carvings by Bosnian sculptor Jasenko Đorđević are taking tiny sculpting to even more minute levels. Pencil lead carvings are not a new medium for detailed sculptors, and in fact Jasenko draws much inspiration from his idol Dalton Ghetti for these remarkable graphite art pieces.

ĐorÄ‘ević, who is based in the Bosnia and Herzegovinian city of Tuzla, is experienced in other art media, but work in miniatures has always been a point of intense interest. The subjects of his pencil lead pieces vary from the realistic to the fantastic, from the incredible bullet train featured above to the Easter Island-esque Batman bust in the gallery below. Using an exacto knife, a tiny chisel and we assume a seriously intense magnifying glass, ĐorÄ‘ević is able to achieve a stunning level of detail on these tiny graphite tubes. The limited width of the pencil lead also dictates the scale at which he must compose his sculptures, because there is no “adding on” when it comes to pencil lead. As mediums go, there is very little room for error.

The bullet train piece — again, featured above — is one that I particularly love because he manages to use the wood encasing the lead as a secondary medium to create a tunnel through which the train is traveling. Another impressive piece is the one in which ĐorÄ‘ević has created a seemingly functional nesting doll. He also went on to create a near-perfect scaled-down version of a flat-head screw, which appears to be wound into the tip of the pencil. On pieces with wide enough swaths of negative space, ĐorÄ‘ević even manages to carve his signature “TOLDART” and sometimes the date or year.

Peruse the gallery below and let us know what you think? Or if you feel like giving it a try with your own tiny tools and steady hands, tweet us pictures!

HT Laughing Squid

Images TOLDart