Comments on: Rook! I Carve Pensu!

Rook! I Carve Pensu!

jonson — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 15:49:57 -0800

Pencil Carving For Experts. A mere four months after I posted this, I ran across this latest site of pencil carving wizardry, this time from Japan. Be sure to check out the gallery. The bar has been raised.

By: Witty

Witty — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 15:53:37 -0800

Whoa

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 15:55:14 -0800

SUUPER-PERFORMANCE! Are you a legend?

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 16:01:56 -0800

Wow

By: cadastral

cadastral — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 16:04:34 -0800

this is the best thing ever. beautiful

By: jonson

jonson — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 16:10:50 -0800

What I suspect they aren't showing us is that these pencils are GIGANTIC, car sized things, and that the carving is accomplished using mining drills. That, or that they have some sort of Fantastic Voyage style miniaturization tool, which they used to shrink the worlds greatest sculptors down to pencil size. Either way, I suspect malfeasance of some sort.

By: small_ruminant

small_ruminant — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 16:11:35 -0800

Wow! Why do off the wall things that require amazing patience always seem to come from Japan? ( e.g.: Oolong) Can Oolong be metafilter's patron saint now that he's gone to the great Clover Field? I figured he's sort of a mascot but maybe he could graduate?

By: tayknight

tayknight — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 16:58:27 -0800

what kind of tools do you need to make these? gotta be somthing more than just an x-acto knife.

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 17:03:02 -0800

I bet they fucking suck for playing pencil break.

By: MUD

MUD — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 17:24:26 -0800

Some days you fancy a nice hearty sandwich. On others nothing but the finest of cinematic entertainements will do. And then there are the days when anything other than ridiculously, outrageously, stupendously amazing pencil carvings is just a waste of time. I'd hate to be around someone carving one of these when they take the tiniest nick out of the lead and the whole thing snaps in two. The agony!

By: mischief

mischief — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 18:25:05 -0800

My first reaction to Winter's Big Triangle was "Holy shit!" This guy takes wanking at work to new levels.

By: FormlessOne

FormlessOne — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 18:35:52 -0800

I am in awe - the sheer workmanship and patience involved in taking a basic, useful object and turning it into a complex, useless object d'art is both amusing and stunning at the same time.

By: aladfar

aladfar — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 19:04:44 -0800

Why pencils do you think?

By: Hildago

Hildago — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 19:09:27 -0800

Why Everest, aladfar? Why Everest?

By: harja

harja — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 19:13:45 -0800

cadastral, that was my favorite as well. all stunning. thanks, jonson!

By: milnak

milnak — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 00:14:51 -0800

wow. I looked at those pictures over and over, hoping that they were some type of Photoshop mockup. I'd love to see those in person. just incredible.

By: Opus Dark

Opus Dark — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 01:05:35 -0800

seized fondled violated disemboweled it's only a pencil

By: hama7

hama7 — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 02:05:51 -0800

sociopathically lovely!

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 04:39:06 -0800

great post, thanks jonson!

By: Frasermoo

Frasermoo — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 05:24:50 -0800

this sort of things sends me into turmoil about whether I am or am not wasting my life

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 07:01:15 -0800

I wonder if they freeze (heat?) them or something to make them easier to carve.

By: zaelic

zaelic — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 07:41:20 -0800

Why pencils do you think? My girlfriend is Japanese, and she decided in high school that she wasn't going to university, and chose art school instead. During the grueling university entrance exams the art school kids would make a great show of how expertly they sharpened their pencils, as if to say "Don't worry about us, we don't care about exams." She tells me that later on, in art school, every class had at least one person who would carve pencils like this during class. She wasn't the least bit bit surprised at the bunny with pancakes on its head.

By: grum@work

grum@work — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 09:29:49 -0800

These things make me want to cry. It is absolutely humbling to me that someone can have the skill, concentration and determination to make these carvings. My puny university-educated brain can't even begin to comprehend how it is done. I'd like to think I'm a pretty smart fellow, but then I see this and realize there is a whole other level of genius that I can't even hope to achieve. I could study something like this for hours and not even know how you would start to carve it. I would rather own one of these pencil carvings than almost any other piece of painted or sculpted art.

By: alms

alms — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 09:46:15 -0800

:: head explodes ::

By: Dick Paris

Dick Paris — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 10:04:24 -0800

Fan-freakin-tastic. I am going to try this someday. A very sharp X-acto is the first tool that jumped to my mind Tayknight although I am not certain it would do the job. ::checking:: Okay, I just spent about three minutes on a "golf-sized" pencil, starting something like this with the somewhat dull N^o 11 blade that I keep on my desk. A razor sharp fine knife is likely all that is needed. I'll see where this takes me. (Upon preview, I broke the lead due to not paying enough attention and working while only holding the thing in my hand. Probably best to keep the workpiece on my bench when most of the wood is removed.

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 10:19:15 -0800

Humans do the darndest things.... what do Americans have to show for their time? - laser-guided cruise missiles, i guess.