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
PORTRAITS IN PAKISTAN
A photographer from the United Arab Emirates travelled to Pakistan where he captured the lives of local people in a series of expressive portraits .
FLORESCENT PLANKTON LIGHT UP AUSTRALIAN SEA
An Australian beach is illuminated by an enticing neon blue glow as a rare phenomenon lights up the water .
MONKEY LOVE
PUCKERING up and enjoying some quality time, these are the most lovable monkeys on the planet .
HUMAN CCTV COP BUSTS 130 CRIMINALS
Meet the human CCTV: a PCSO with a memory for faces so sharp he has apprehended more than 130 suspects in the last year alone with his eagle eyed talents .
ROAD KILL ON THE MENU
A ROAD KILL munching Scot has chewed on everything from a dead squirrel to an unlucky crow – all in the name of art .
SLEEP DISORDER WOMAN COLLAPSES EVERY TIME SHE LAUGHS
A woman with a rare condition that means she collapses every time she laughs fears she may have passed the rare illness onto her young son .
SNOWCAP SQUIRREL
WITH A LITTLE cap of fresh snow resting on his head, this squirrel tries his best to pull off his new look .
CHEEKY WHITE TIGER CUB
WITH HIS PAW covering his mouth, this cheeky cub looks amused by something .
KINGFISHERS DIVE FOR THEIR DINNER
THESE kingfishers prove no rod is needed as they go fishing for their dinner .
FREEZING MANATEES STRUGGLE TO STAY WARM
Swimming side by side with divers, these manatees will do anything they can to stay warm .
AN ABANDONED HOUSE IN THE WOODS
INTIMATELY showcasing personal artefacts from a family's life, this abandoned bungalow has been left to rot for almost a decade .
BOSTON MARATHON PICTURES
T least three people have been killed and more than 100 injured, some seriously, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon .