Artist Makes Tiny Sculptures Inside the Eye of a Needle

Great Big Story spoke with British artist Willard Wigan about his amazingly detailed yet lilliputian sculptures that fit into the eye of a needle. Wigan explained that he needed to craft homemade tools in order to make these tiny works of art.

The artist Willard Wigan has been making sculptures for six decades, and yet his entire body of work could fit in the palm of your hand. …And if you think the statues are small, imagine the tools used to make them. Willard has to craft them all himself, from hypodermic needles, shards of diamond and human eyelashes. Measured in micrometers, and almost invisible to the human eye,

Willard has also set two Guinness World Records, the first for the world’s smallest sculpture of the Statue of Liberty in 2010 and for the Smallest Hand-made Sculpture in 2017.

He also holds the world record for the smallest sculpture ever made which is the size of a single human blood cell. It’s a sculpture of a fetus carved from Kevlar, and placed within the hollowed hole of a single hair.

Eye of Needle Sculptures

Wigan appeared on CONAN in 2012 to showcase his incredible work.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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