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
BODYBUILDER SQUIRREL
FLEXING his muscles and staring straight at his opponent, this bodybuilding squirrel is the nuts .
HOUNDTON TABBY
FROM MRS Patmore to Lady Sybil, these barking mad illustrations show the WOOF-er side of some of our most loved Downton characters .
AMAZING LANDSCAPES
From giant mountains to vast deserts, an American photographer spent a year capturing the diverse and beautiful landscape of the United States .
I LOST HALF MY WEIGHT AND BECAME A WOMAN
Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror .
TOO FAT FOR HUGS BUT NOW I'VE LOST 9 STONE
Aged 27, I was swept off my feet by my gorgeous husband, Lee, now 42 .
EYE-CATCHING TRIBAL HAIRSTYLES
BRAIDED, sculpted and beaded, these are the eye-catching hairstyles worn by the tribal women of Angola .
CHILD SHEPHERDS OF THE SIMIEN MOUNTAINS
CARRYING a fully grown goat on his back, this five-year-old boy is a child shepherd in the mountains of northern Ethiopia .
BOY SURVIVES NEAR-FATAL ALLERGIC REACTION TO EPILEPSY MEDICATION
A little boy was left fighting for his life in hospital after a horrific allergic reaction to epilepsy medication made his skin fall off in chunks .
SHOOTING IN WALSALL, TWO DEAD
Two people have been arrested after a man and woman were shot dead at a house in the Midlands in the early hours of this morning .
BOY AGE 5 IS MIDWIFE TO BROTHER, THEN SAVES HIS LIFE
A little boy aged FIVE bravely delivered his newborn brother - then promptly saved his life .
ADORABLE YOUNG FALLOW DEER IN LONDON'S BUSHY PARK
An adorable young fallow deer peers over its shoulder and is greeted by a cheeky jackdaw crow sitting on its back .
