There better not be a shortage of pencils for this artist. Jennifer Maestre makes beautiful sculptures out of pencils.



To make these sculptures, she takes hundreds of pencils, cuts them into 1-inch sections and drills a hole in each section to turn them into beads. She then sharpens them all and sews them together.



Her sculptures were originally inspired by the form and function of the sea urchin. “The spines of the urchin, so dangerous yet beautiful, serve as an explicit warning against contact. The alluring texture of the spines draws the touch in spite of the possible consequences.”

Maestre is also inspired by animals, plants, other art, Ernst Haeckel, Odilon Redon and mythology. Sometimes she’ll make a mistake with one of her sculptures which will inspire her to do another one in a whole new direction.

Maestre was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and attended the Massachusetts College of Art. She has been teaching her techniques for years.

I love these sculptures and to me they look like they could be quite dangerous. Who needs to carry a gun when you can keep one of these around in your house in case a robber breaks in.

Source: linkspedia

Check out these cool pencil carvings to see more things you can do with pencils.