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.
A Canadian woman who is obsessed with all things mythical has had her ears cut and shaped to look like an ELF .
SAT happily on the branch of a tree, this little frog appears unfazed by a surprise visitor .
WONDERS of the world have been transformed into their mini-versions in a seven-year round the world adventure .
BRAIDED, sculpted and beaded, these are the eye-catching hairstyles worn by the tribal women of Angola .
THIS alien-like bug would look more at home in outer-space but it can actually be found wriggling around here on Earth .
A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .
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 .
THESE LOVE BIRDS can’t keep their beaks off each other as they share a very public display of affection .
A deranged dad beat his girlfriend so savagely in a vicious 30 minute attack that the indent of his sovereign ring was left on her face .
STEPFORD wives from the 1950's and 60's are performing history's most sexist exercise programme .
DANCE guru Matt Howes leaves crowds in a spin when he gets behind the decks - as the world's only one-armed professional DJ .
A northern potoo shows it is a master of disguise as it perches on a tree stump and blends into the bark .