These are the fascinating pictures of miniature table sculptures molded around bonsai trees that take up to a painstaking 18 months to create. Japanese illustrator Takanori Aiba, 58, has built the intriguing scale models of windmills, lighthouses and even the Michelin Man.He delicately uses craft paper, plaster, acrylic resin, paint and plastic to create the host of sprawling miniature communities that wrap around the tiny trees.Following his work as an illustrator for Japanese fashion magazine POPYE he has spent the last nine years producing the detailed mini worlds.The creations take at least three months to construct with his Ice Cream Package Tower taking an astonishing 18 months work. Since 2003, he has made eight models, with 10 more planned over the next few years.
With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .
BREATHING life back into old photographs, these black and white images are transformed by colour .
From a floating jelly fish to a relaxed seal, Britain’s unappreciated beach life is captured above and below the water .
HOTSPOT MEDIA - FUNKY BUMP: FROM MIRROR bellies to rainbow bumps these pregnancy casts of stone and bronze could be the funkiest way to preserve your bump for posterity .
WONDERS of the world have been transformed into their mini-versions in a seven-year round the world adventure .
AT first glance these images could easily be mistaken for photographs, but they are in-fact real life drawings created using nothing but coloured pencils .
A soap bubble lands on the frosty ground and creates a shimmering snow globe as crystals form around it .
A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .
WITH LUSH GREEN LANDSCAPES stretching out as far as the eye can see, you're in for a treat at these one of a kind treehouses .
THESE LOVE BIRDS can’t keep their beaks off each other as they share a very public display of affection .
MOUTH OPEN wide, this little stoat appears to be in mid-song as he belts out a tune for his onlookers .
A brave praying mantis makes an unusual friend in an Oriental garden lizard .