Matthew figurehead

I'm still working on the figurehead, just waiting for a few last vital measurements before starting carving. Last week the timbers were cut and planed smooth so that they can be glued into a block to be carved.

'Wood miner'

Well, it's been a while but I've just made another metainsect for the series that I've been working on for the last few years. These sculptures are all inspired by the US defence department's 'HI-MEMS' project, which seeks to implant electronic and mechanical devices into insects so that they can be used for military purposes.
 I'm imagining that eventually, instead of implanting complete devices, tiny 'nanofactories' would be put into the insects. These could produce the devices from within the creature and would also be able to self-replicate into succeeding generations, meaning that the insects could be released and then left to reproduce themselves with their synthetic systems being passed on as well.
With the possibility of reproduction comes the chance for variation and evolution, both of the insect and the synthetic system. So what would the evolved descendants of these creatures look like and what other creatures would prey on them?

The 'wood miner' is like a super-woodworm, which has a tri-cone mining drill bit as mouthparts, so can chew through almost anything. A woodcarver's nightmare!

This image shows all the individually carved pieces that make up the sculpture