Tagua Jesus

I wear him, and a few others, everywhere I go….

tagua nut carving of jesus

Beginning the journey

I discovered my passion for carving on my second trip to Iquitos Peru. After seeing some of the fine work that the local artisans were producing from a wide variety of materials, such as tropical hardwoods, palm seeds and horn. It was the tagua nut carvings made from the seed of the Yarina palm that captured my interest the most.

Tagua nuts, also called vegetable ivory due to its similarities to ivory tusk were being carved into almost anything imaginable. Tagua nuts are on average less than 2 inches long and somewhat oval.

At first it was a horrible failure, but I poured all of my energy and patience into the task and eventually reached a point where I did not throw them down in disgust. That is pretty much the point where this blog starts.

I plan to provide some interesting content on this blog with photo’s of my carvings and a few tutorials where I will shed some light on my carving process. I will also talk about my carving, philosophy.

If anyone has any tips or carving stories to share, you are most welcome to do so here at my blog.

tagua critters