初试“植物象牙”刻：蘑菇

被誉为有“植物象牙”之城的象牙果实际上是出产于南美洲的一种棕榈树的果实，其硬度和质地与象牙接近，目前被广泛用于各种小件的雕刻材料。

去年圣诞左右买了些象牙果，初步尝试了一下雕刻的手感，做了两个蘑菇，这个用象牙果做的最简单的东西了，这两个小件可以作为钥匙挂件或家中的摆件装饰。








The Facts about Tagua nut:

Tagua nut, also know as vegetable ivory, is the seed of a tree similar to a palm but botanically not belonging to the palmaceus but to the ciclantaceus. Its scientific name is Phytelephas Aequatorialis Macrocarpa.

Tagua grows in the tropical rainforests of some South American countries, mainly Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, being Ecuador the country that fulfills most of the world’s demand.

The fruit of the tagua tree is almost completely round measuring 20 to 50 cm in diameter with a blackish exterior. This fruit, also known as “mococha”, has many locular cavities each containing two or more seeds.

The content of the immature fruit is a tasteless crystalline liquid. When it starts to ripen this turns into a sweet and pleasant milky substance, transforming later to a gelatinous viscous consistency and finally becoming an extraordinarily hard product similar in color, appearance and feel to natural ivory.

Tagua will take approximately 15 years to produce its first harvest and will not stop bearing fruit for all of the years and even a century to come. A 35 to 40 year old plant measures about 6 feet and produces, in the 3 yearly harvests, between 15 to 16 heads or “mocochas”.