COIN CARVER BLANCA DE LA HOZ

In 2012 Blanca de la Hoz found her way to hobo nickels through her husband, Pedro Villarrubia. Some members may remember meeting Pedro at the 2013 FUN show or reading about him in the following Spring issue. Blanca and Pedro reside in Spain, not too far from the capitol city of Madrid but far enough away that it would be termed country living. Seeing Pedro make his hobo nickels piqued Blanca’s curiosity and within a few months she was behind the graver herself. Pedro has been her sole instructor in learning how to carve and engrave.

The couple has two daughters that also have some interest in the art form. The daughters have on occasion tried to engrave hobo nickels and enjoyed it. At the moment they are busy with studies and focused on their schooling. Blanca said that in the future they will probably want to get more involved with hobo nickels. It is truly a family affair.

Art has always been of interest to Blanca. Since she was little she has always liked drawing and painting. She has worked with watercolor, acrylic, and pastel painting and enjoyed learning the techniques specific to each medium. Blanca has also enjoyed working within different craft mediums such as ceramic and embossed tin. Now her work with coin carving has taken center stage.

One of the things Blanca likes about hobo nickels is that she can work from home and help provide for her family while still being there to take care of them. It also gives her a good deal of flexibility with work hours. Working side by side with her husband, Pedro, has also been a perk. A year after Pedro’s trip to the United States in 2013, he returned again to buy a Lindsay graver system for his wife Blanca. For over a year they were sharing one system and scheduled work hours around each other. Now they do not have to rotate their studio time. They also each have their own microscopes to work under.

Blanca engraves a variety of subjects but likes mythological entities best. Fairies, mermaids, and undersea worlds are favorites. She also likes subjects from fanciful stories and draws subjects from Disney and Star Wars. Blanca’s work has gotten very elaborate through the years with current work often using many metal inlays. The different colors seem to add a fantasy or storybook world to the engravings much like the colored cells used in Disney movies.

For more information on the Original Hobo Nickel Society, see:
http://www.hobonickels.org/

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