Going against the grain: Artist’s intricate wood carvings with moveable limbs made without any nails

These incredible articulated statues are all carved from a single block of wood – without any nails.

Creative Daniel Webb spends up to 80 days turning a simple block of wood into an intricate carving that has moveable limbs.

He turns roughly-hewn blocks of maple, pine and fir into beautiful pieces of art by painstakingly crafting arms and legs from the solid wood.

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'Runner', a sculpture carved from a single piece of maple wood by Daniel Webb — ‘Runner’, a sculpture carved from a single piece of maple wood by Daniel Webb

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'Loud', another of Daniel's wood sculptures that features moving limbs — ‘Loud’, another of Daniel’s wood sculptures that features moving limbs

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The incredible detail down to the shoelaces on Daniel's 'runner' sculpture. Each piece sells for thousands of pounds — The incredible detail down to the shoelaces on Daniel’s ‘runner’ sculpture. Each piece sells for thousands of pounds

The 47-year-old artist, from Seattle, Washington, says trial and error has resulted in him creating a large amount of firewood, but now his statues sell for thousands of pounds.

Daniel, who has carved an ice skater, a sculptor and a singer out of solid blocks of wood, reckons he does not become inspired to make specific pieces, they just happen.

He said: “As the painter Chuck Close said, ‘Inspiration is for amateurs. Pros just go to work.’

“The unsexy fact of the matter is that I just show up every day and keep working.

“As I do, things occur to me, and I move towards them.

“After a while, momentum builds towards an idea that just kind of feels like it’s always been there – the trick is just to keep working.

“I have made a lot of firewood, but I’m slowly getting better.”

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'Destroyer' a sculpture carved from a single piece of fir tree wood by Daniel — ‘Destroyer’ a sculpture carved from a single piece of fir tree wood by Daniel

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'Rock', which has an extending arm and was carved from a single piece fir tree — ‘Rock’, which has an extending arm and was carved from a single piece fir tree

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The intricate carvings are almost lifelike, and Daniel’s latest piece, entitled Destroyer, is a block of fir, with arms holding sculpting tools coming out of the sides.

Daniel reckons his latest piece is always his favourite, and Destroyer took him about 80 days to finish.

He said: “My favourite piece is usually the last thing I made, but that fades after a while.

“The truth is that the analogy comparing an artist’s work to their children is pretty accurate – picking one over the others seems impossible.

“I know about wood and carving as a result of pursuing a line of inquiry with my work that took me down a lot of blind alleys, and finally led me to this.

“The work seems to be about change, and how hard won it is.

“It also seems to be about trying to ride a wave of serendipity as the chips and the dust fall all around us.

“It seems to be about conscious choice, and unintended consequences. It seems to be funny, even when it’s serious.”

Comments 1

Mo says:

9 years ago

Love your work it’s fantastic. I carve as well but my carvings completely different to yours but we have same thing in common! We love working with wood. Check my site out would love to hear what you think.
http://www.insculptart.com

All the best
Mo

Birmingham England