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
SURREAL WILDLIFE
AN EXERCISING turtle and an ice-skating chick are hardly everyday exploits in the animal community .
STUNNING ALICE IN WONDERLAND WEDDING RECEPTION
A couple celebrated tying the knot with a spectacular Alice in Wonderland-themed wedding reception .
ABANDONED FARM HOUSE LEFT TO ROT
With a dust covered coat hung from a wardrobe door and a pair of glasses left on a shelf, a remote farmhouse lies abandoned in the Welsh countryside .
SUNBATHING OTTER
A lazy otter finds the ideal spot to soak up the sun and sleep off his lunch .
NAKED AMBITION: WORLD’S LARGEST SKINNY DIP
Bathers on a New Zealand beach stripped naked and took to the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to shatter the record for the world's largest skinny dip .
TEST COULD HAVE SAVED ME FROM CERVICAL CANCER AT 20
A young woman has told how she has been robbed of her fertility and now faces an uncertain future after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of just 22 .
BRITAIN'S LOST MILITARY HOSPITAL
WELCOME to all that remains of Britain's once state-of-the-art military hospital where plastic surgery was pioneered for injured WW1 troops who survived the SOMME .
HER ROYAL i-NESS - THERE'S AN APP TO STEAL KATE'S STYLE
Have you ever wanted to emulate the Duchess of Cambridge's style? Well, now there's an app for that .
ANCIENT ABANDONED WEBSITES THAT STILL WORK TODAY
A host of websites that are almost twenty years old are collecting a cult following thanks to their retro appeal .
'GRENADE' DIET PILLS PUT AIRPORTS ON ALERT
AIRPORT staff have been put on alert after diet pills that come in grenade shaped containers sparked security alerts .
I FLED TO AUSTRALIA AFTER HOUSE TORCHED BY ONE-NIGHT
A woman has told how she fled to Australia, after a one night stand burned down her house .
GRAVEYARDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
From the tails of fighter planes to black and white checked buildings, graveyards take different and unusual forms around the world .