I was helping out at the Caskets Arts “Speakeasy” Fundraiser and found myself in the studio of Trina Uttley. Her studio mate, Julie ??? had three stunning stalks of long whiskered wheat in a vase. I did not know wheat whiskers could grow that long. When Julie gave me one of the wheat stalks, I knew immediately that I had my next project.

Wheat is one of those essential elements that advanced the evolution of humanity. Here is a photo of the long whiskered wheat Julie gave me.

I found the whisker color transition quite fascination. They start out almost black as the come out of the seedpod, the slowly fad to the tan color of the stalk and pod.

Creating the form in Fusion 360 wasn’t easy but I was determined and after a couple weeks I nailed it.

In the prototype below the seedpod is 13″ x 2.5″ in diameter. The whiskers are made of 1/16″ stainless steel wire approximately 3′ long.