Indian micro artist makes world’s smallest wooden spoon measuring 1.6 mm

An Indian man, Shashikant Prajapati, has created the “world’s smallest wooden spoon” measuring a mere 1.6mm (0.06 inches) and earned a Guinness World Record title.

The 25-year-old micro artist from the eastern Indian state of Bihar has also broken the world record for the “most chain links carved from pencil lead” twice, according to Guinness World Records.

“Making a spoon from wood is quite easy, but making the world’s smallest wooden spoon is quite a tough job,” Prajapati said. The micro artist shared that he practised a lot to master the technique and carved more than 10 tiny wooden spoons before successfully making the smallest one which could break the record.

Prajapati said it was “difficult to make a spoon smaller than 2mm” but he succeeded after “many attempts”. He carved a spoon measuring 1.6mm and broke the record held by Navratan Prajapati Murtikar from India, who created a 2mm (0.07 inches) wooden spoon in 2022.

Rules for the record

For the record, Prajapati was required to create a spoon that was a to-scale replica of a standard wooden spoon or the one having an evident bowl and handle. As per the rules, one can make a spoon by attaching multiple pieces of wood together. But Prajapati chose to carve the spoon from a single piece of wood using a surgical blade.

Micro art is passion: Prajapati

Prajapati stated that he is “very passionate” about micro art and hopes to gain recognition for his skills by setting world records.

He came across the idea to create the smallest wooden spoon when he was searching for different records to break. According to GWR, the record has been broken at least once per year since 2019.

Prajapati’s other record

Prajapati earlier broke the record for the “most chain links carved from pencil lead” in 2020 with 126 links and bettered his own record a year later, in 2021, by carving a total of 236 links. However, this record was claimed by India’s Kaviyarasan Selvam earlier this year who managed to achieve 617 links.

Prajapati developed an interest in micro art during his first year of college in 2015 when he first carved a chain from a piece of chalk using a drawing compass. He soon started carving pencil lead and devoted himself to his new hobby spending as much as 10 hours a day practising the art.

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“I failed so many times while practising. It also happened that I completed up to 99% of an artwork and then it broke, so I had to start from scratch,” Prajapati shared.

However, this did not deter Prajapati from mastering the skill and eventually breaking the Guinness World Record.

• Offbeat
• India