Cindy Chinn is represented by Post-American Fine Arts. For pricing, availability, and sales enquiries, please contact the gallery. info@postamericanfinearts.com
My first pencil carving at this scale was of a train – and in December of 2015, it went viral across Facebook and the Internet! I was featured on sites such as SteampunkTendencies.com, BoredPanda.com, ThisIsColossal.com (even Spanish TV!) and many others. Since then, I’ve been busy taking orders, answering questions, and doing interviews – this is FUN! 😀
Pencil Carving Gallery
Here is my viral post that made me ‘a world-wide sensation’ 😉
Spring 2026: I’ve been busy carving again, and here are a few new pieces.
January 2024: Here is an epic pencil carving – the “Big Top” Train! I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for this one, and it’s by far my most detailed and whimsical pencil train yet! This one is available.
The Great Wall Zephyr: Here is one of my latest train carvings – The “Great Wall Zephyr” is a classic old steam engine pulling a coal car behind it, and other cars which you can see on the trestle. SOLD
My “Bison Herd” pencil carving is currently available.
2023 Pencil Carvings
I have been busy this past winter, starting on a new series of pencil carvings. Here is the first collection featuring a “Hand” theme (and a Christmas tree! 🙂 )
December 2024: Joshua Tree Park Pencil Carving – This was one of the trickiest pieces I’ve done! Those Joshua trees are SMALL! The sign alone took me almost 8 hours. This was commissioned for a client in California.
“The White Line Express” Pencil Carving by Cindy Chinn
After that first train went viral, I received orders for more trains other pencil carving projects and started 2016 busily looking through a magnifying glass! Here is a gallery of my pencil lead trains that I have carved so far. It’s been fun coming up with some different designs.
I hope that the photos are able to convey the small scale of these pencil carvings. I use carpenter’s pencils as the lead is a little bigger, and the shape of the pencil itself is more interesting.
The trains are constructed, rather than carved from a single piece of lead (graphite). The trestle and cars under are carved in place, while I use mechanical pencil lead for the rails and carve the engine (and other cars if needed) from some graphite I have cut from the pencil. I then glue the rails and the engine to the pencil.
Disney Rapunzel Pencil
In 2019, I was invited to Disney Studios in Los Angeles to film this short feature about carving pencils. I had a great time, and everyone loved the results! The video was viewed over 2 million times on Instagram!
Other Pencil Carving Designs
I also carve other designs and like to see how much detail I can find. Some designs are VERY tricky and I haven’t mastered them all yet. Some break at critical places and cannot be fixed by gluing or re-carving.
I have been coming up with new designs, some destined for galleries and some for commissions. Keep checking back as I plan to have more designs and more photos of pencil carvings in the future!
Check out the blog post, which shows the progress of my Epiphany Elephant pencil – and another one which shows the carving of my Giraffe Pencil.
Crayon Carving
Lately, I’ve also been working with crayons. I like the options I have with the colors and combinations of colors. I never realized how much room for experiment there was in this art form.
Adopt-a-Pet Series
Here’s a series I hope to expand on – they were so much fun! (and they all went to good homes) 😉
I would like to thank Art Whitton Photography for his great photos of these tiny works!