About "Alex Queral" published on Telegraph.co.uk

Alex Queral: Sculptor Alex Queral, 51, from Philadelphia, USA., has hand crafted some of the world's most famous faces including Bob Dylan Photo: BARCROFT

Sculptor Alex Queral, 51, from Philadelphia, US, has hand crafted some of the world's most famous faces including President Obama, Jack Nicholson, Bob Dylan and Spartan Kirk Douglas.

With a deft hand he has even recreated the actor Patrick Swayze and Sharbat Gula, the Afghan woman with amazing eyes who was made famous by National Geographic magazine.

And in an admirable green-fingered move, the artist got his idea and started chipping away when he noticed piles of unused phone books just lying around.

He said: "Every year when the new phone book comes out you see just piles of the old ones lying around waiting for collection.

"I'm sure a lot of hard work goes into recycling them but there are thousands that go unused at all because most people just use the internet to find people these days.

"I was out looking for wood to make a sculpture one day and I noticed a huge pile of them on the pavement. I suddenly thought they would probably make a pretty good material for carving, so I gave it a go."

The resourceful artist now produces up to two new impressions every month and has been crafting his works for 14 years.

He begins by selecting his famous face and copies it by freehand sketching.

His drawing is then placed over the phone book as a template and he uses an artist's scalpel or basic razor blades to patiently slice away at the thousands of pages inside the famous book.

"It can be quite tense work sometimes because it takes a long time to finish and when you cut something away you can't get it back again.

"Nearing the end of the carving and then suddenly having it ruined by a careless cut can be pretty crushing. You have to start all over again."

Out of his huge repertoire of celebrity 'mugs', the part-time natural foods shop worker definitely has his favourites.

"Some celebrities have just got brilliant faces," he said. "People like John Goodman and Jack Nicholson are so instantly recognisable because they have these odd features that really stand out.

"It's those kind of people who work out better in the book."