Pencil and crayon carvings

I first saw Pete Goldlust's (is that a great name or what?) carved crayons several months ago. Some of these are really intricate. He must use heated implements of some kind to get them so smooth. I'd love to see him sculpt one some time. I've kept his site bookmarked for a while, knowing I'd post about his carvings eventually.

Then I ran across these great carved pencils. The photos are from a 1990’s Japanese exhibition by Kato Jado and Mizuta Tasogare, titled “The JAD Project”. Even though it's by far the simplest of the pencils, I think my favorite is this pencil inside the pencil.

I wonder if either artist was inspired by the other.