MINI BONZAI MODELS - TREE-MENDOUS
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.
Other great stories
ABANDONED DAIRY FARM'S EERIE PAST
HEARTWARMING belongings lie abandoned in this eerie former dairy farm which has been left to crumble away for decades .
STAG SHOWS OFF IMPRESSIVE HEADDRESS IN LONDON'S BUSHY PARK
A proud stag attempts to impress the females by donning an enormous fern headdress in London's Bushy Park .
LOVE RAT FIANCE CHEATED WITH MY MUM
When Kylie Holgate discovered her fiancé was having an affair, her world came crashing down .
SNEAKY OTTER
A young otter wades through a lake with his eyes set on an older rival’s fish .
SHOCKING CCTV OF WOMEN AND CHILD HIT AND RUN
THIS astonishing film shows the moment a hit-and-run driver ploughed into a woman and a toddler on a Coventry street .
TWO SALVATION ARMY STAFF SUSPENDED OVER RAPE HELP REFUSAL
A good samaritan who came to the aid of a rape victim has told how they were turned away from the Salvation Army because "they only help men" .
CANCER SURVIVOR STARTS STYLE BLOG FOR COLOSTOMY BAG WEARERS
A woman who battled aggressive bowel cancer has started a fashion blog offering style tips for those living with a colostomy bag .
BRAVE TOT ALLERGIC TO SUN
HOTSPOT MEDIA - BRAVE TOT ALLERGIC TO SUN: Leighton Brownrigg, 2 .
WOMAN LOSES 11ST AFTER £11K GASTRIC SLEEVE OP
A woman has shed half her body weight after undergoing a gastric sleeve op to shrink her stomach .
STRANDED POLAR BEAR
Sitting all alone on drift ice in the Arctic Ocean, this lonely little fella looks lost .
RELAXING OTTER
FLOATING effortlessly on his back, this little otter laps up a rare glimmer of English spring sunshine .