A brief message from Lloyd arrived a few days ago: “The Gibbons panel. Carved in my style as a tribute to GG. Scale 1:12. Pics if you like.”
Hmmmm. “Scale 1:12 …?”
Yes, one-twelfth actual size! The carving shown here is only 9 inches wide and 12 inches tall, representing a panel 9 feet wide by 12 feet tall. For scale, note the pencil intruding on the lower right side.
Go ahead, click on the image, and then click again to enlarge it yet more. Then, wonder how McCaffery creates such miniatures.
It is an amazing miniature that includes a very wide range of Gibbons’ design elements. If you have browsed many Gibbons photos here, you will recognize things such as the Acanthus leaf coils, borrowed from St. James Piccadilly, the doves also from St. James, the Cravat from the V&A museum, and all sorts of vegetation and fruit drops from many places. Where did the dragon fly come from?
It truly is a tribute piece.
Lloyd McCaffery is an American artist specializing in miniatures. He began serious creative activity in 1963, going full time as a starving artist in 1969. He works at scales from 1:12 down to 1:768 (64’=1″), occasionally coming up for air to carve violin heads in Carpathian maple. He has been making things full time for over a half century.
He has a particular love of old wooden sailing ships, making replicas of them using old wood.
Many of his works are in museums, including the US naval academy museum, Mystic Seaport, and the Miniature museum in Kansas City.
Since Lloyd does not publish his own web page, he suggested I include his email address. However, I never publish email addresses here for security reasons. Should you want to contact Lloyd, search the internet for his name, or submit a comment on this article.