COIN CARVER BLANCA DE LA HOZ
The E-Sylum (9/5/2021)
Book Content
COIN CARVER BLANCA DE LA HOZ
With permission we're publishing this excerpt from Carol Bastable's article in the Fall 2021 issue of Bo Tales from the Original Hobo Nickel Society, Inc. Thanks! It's a profile of carver Blanca de la Hoz of Spain.-Editor
In 2012 Blanca de la Hoz found her way to hobonickels through her husband, Pedro Villarrubia.Some members may remember meeting Pedro at the2013 FUN show or reading about him in thefollowing Spring issue. Blanca and Pedro reside inSpain, not too far from the capitol city of Madrid butfar enough away that it would be termed countryliving. Seeing Pedro make his hobo nickels piquedBlanca's curiosity and within a few months she wasbehind the graver herself. Pedro has been her sole instructor inlearning how to carve and engrave.
The couple has two daughters that also have someinterest in the art form. The daughters have onoccasion tried to engrave hobo nickels and enjoyed it.At the moment they are busy with studies andfocused on their schooling. Blanca said that in thefuture they will probably want to get more involvedwith hobo nickels. It is truly a family affair.
Art has always been of interest to Blanca. Sinceshe was little she has always liked drawing andpainting. She has worked with watercolor, acrylic,and pastel painting and enjoyed learning thetechniques specific to each medium. Blanca has alsoenjoyed working within different craft mediums suchas ceramic and embossed tin. Now her work with coin carving has taken center stage.
One of the things Blanca likes about hobo nickelsis that she can work from home and help provide forher family while still being there to take care of them.It also gives her a good deal of flexibility with workhours. Working side by side with her husband, Pedro,has also been a perk. A year after Pedro's trip to theUnited States in 2013, he returned again to buy aLindsay graver system for his wife Blanca. For overa year they were sharing one system and scheduledwork hours around each other. Now they do not haveto rotate their studio time. They also each have theirown microscopes to work under.
Blanca engraves a variety of subjects but likesmythological entities best. Fairies, mermaids, andundersea worlds are favorites. She also likes subjectsfrom fanciful stories and draws subjects from Disneyand Star Wars. Blanca's work has gotten veryelaborate through the years with current work oftenusing many metal inlays. The different colors seemto add a fantasy or storybook world to the engravingsmuch like the colored cells used in Disney movies.
For more information on the Original Hobo Nickel Society, see:
http://www.hobonickels.org/
