Salavat Fidai’s Lead Sculptures

WORDS Michaela Stehr IMAGES salavatfidai.com VIDEO Colossal on Vimeo

Russian artist Salavat Fidai carves minuscule sculptures out of pencil lead.

The delicate and complicated process takes immense concentration and precision, as the lead is easily breakable under pressure.

Salavat uses an X-ACTO knife to create tiny replicas of buildings, people and cartoons.

Featured recently on Instagram, he has over 350 000 followers and his work is available for purchase through his website.

The video below shows the process of creating one of these intricate works of art:

Salavat is also known for his small paintings on matchboxes, as well as his “regular-size” work.