h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Grinling Gibbons, the legendry English carver (1648-1721) amazingly carved several life sized cravats from wood, including one that accurately recreated Venetian needlepoint. They were of such exquisite quality that they were reputed to have been worn by gentlemen (including Gibbons himself) in high society without being recognised as having been carved from wood. Now there's some useless information for you!

Bit miffed on this one. If the cravats were carved "as worn" then surely they would be too tight to get over the head?

From the pictures I have seen it looks as though he only carved the bits you can normally see once a cravat has been tied.

It isn't obvious exactly how the final article was then attached to the wearers neck, although it has to be said that the carved cravats are of the more bouffant and ornate variety, so there is quite a lot of room at the back for some sort of strap arrangement.

Gibbons was particularly noted for the lightness of his carvings, which were usually carved both on the front and back, as well as through the wood. This removed as much weight from the blank as possible, making the final carving easier to support. The result, carved from lime wood, would only have weighed a few grammes.

If you are curious, there are pictures of his work and the carved cravats on the web, and these can be found by googling Grinling Gibbons cravats. It's worth a look, if only to see the work of a supreme craftsman showing off!