The Smallest Sculptures in the World
He is a very unusual and very talented sculptor. What makes him such an unusual sculptor is not so much what he chooses to create, but how he chooses to create it.
Willard Wigan is the creator of the smallest sculptures in the world.
He uses a very tiny surgical knife to carve his work from such material as a single grain of sand, a grain of sugar, and grains of rice.
Statue of Liberty
The finished sculptures are so small that some of them measure only 0.005mm or 0.0002 inches tall and the only way the artist can see his project is to use a high powered microscope.
Peter Pan
The slightest movement or breeze could cause a sculpture to be lost forever. Willard tells one story of losing one of his sculptures when he sneezed saying he may have accidentally inhaled it.
Lloyds of London
These extraordinary sculptures are mounted on the heads of pins, inside the eye of needles, and on the tip of needles.
Golfer
After being mounted, Willard paints his figures using a hair from a dead fly for a paint brush. He will not kill a fly for his work.
Marilyn Monroe
Because he had trouble learning when he was young, Willard said he was made to feel inferior and small so he began his art as a way to show the world that sometimes, small can be a lot.
Henry the Eighth’s Six Wives
Willard has mastered complete control of his breathing and his heartbeat. He works in between heart beats to keep a steady hand and chooses to work at night when there is less commotion that could cause the loss of his tiny sculptures.
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36 Comments
nobert soloria bermosa, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
i really appreciate these art pieces,just imagine the tremendous amount of labor exerted by the artist,truly amazing
CHAN LEE PENG, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Enjoy reading! Take care!
BC Doan, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
These are just amazing. Image the time, and delicate work going into these sculptures! Fantastic!
Debbie Mann, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Wonderful pictures and topic, Darlene.
valli, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Wonderful article, Darlene.
leannehume, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Wow what really interesting article Darlene. I like this.
MF Raguett, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
These are really cool….great job darlene, as always
Paula Mitchell Bentley, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
These are just amazing! Great text too. I didn’t know any of those facts about the artist.
eddiego65, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
These are awesome. Excellent article. Thanks, enjoyed it very much!
papaleng, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Great article and nice pictures. thanks for sharing.
Darla Smith, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
These are amazing and beautiful sculptures! Thanks for sharing them with us.
Lauren Axelrod, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
How amazing! How in the world do they do this?
Eagle Eye, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Amazing work and interesting article and photos. It’s mind-boggling to think of how they are made.
chessgolf, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Very interesting article! The things people do with their lives.
Alexa Gates, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
those are pretty sweet 
and small
Joie Schmidt, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
What a fun, unique article – another nice piece Darlene!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
Ruby Hawk, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
That is so amaxing, it is hard to believe anyone could do such tiny works of art. Very interesting, Ruby
LP Jardine, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
wow great article how interesting.
Darlene McFarlane, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Hello, everyone. Thank you all for your comments. This was a fun article to put together and the more I read about Willard Wigan, the more amazing his work became. I think he astonishes anyone who is lucky enough to view his work. How he manages to create a sculpture from one grain of sand seems impossible.
C Jordan, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Wonderful article. I hadn’t heard of this guy before. Breathtaking. Thanks
Judy Sheldon, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
I’m glad he was pushed to success and not defeat by the discouraging words he heard. Thanks for sharing this inspiring piece with us.
Balzac, posted this comment on Nov 9th, 2008
This is truly amazing. Yes I believe with the artist that sometimes small is great. This works speak wonders about patience and dedication. Thank you Darlene.
tilted, posted this comment on Nov 9th, 2008
wow very interesting and cool
vtpoetmom2004, posted this comment on Nov 9th, 2008
I was truly amazed couldn’t wait to show my 13 year old daughter who is a budding artist. This is an art form in itself. thanks
Joanna Besteiro Barnett, posted this comment on Nov 9th, 2008
WOW, I need a high-powered microscope just to see it. These are truly amazing.
thestickman, posted this comment on Nov 9th, 2008
I wonder now what the ’surgical instrument’ really is… A surgeon’s scalpel has a sharpness edge of around 8-microns width. Certain types of quartz/flint (like as used in arrowheads, etc) can have a sharpness edge of around 1-2 microns width. -Obsideon blades notably are what are used for scalpels in very specific heart/heart-valve operations due to their extreme sharpness which has been shown to also heal better due to, believe it or not, ‘less trauma’ at the incision site!
Lost in Arizona, posted this comment on Nov 9th, 2008
That is ridiculously nuts! I wonder how many years it took him to master this skill. The precision and meticulous work behind these pieces is absolutely mind boggling. I’m loving this article. I’ll have to come back again so I can check this out with a magnifying glass…lol. Truly wonderful article Darlene. Fantastic!
R J Evans, posted this comment on Nov 10th, 2008
These are astounding! Great stuff!
Melody Arcamo Lagrimas, posted this comment on Nov 10th, 2008
Very interesting, thanks!
joystick7, posted this comment on Nov 14th, 2008
Wow!! Really Cool.
Suzanne Fey Lastorino, posted this comment on May 14th, 2009
Wow! That is totally amazing! What a delicate and beautiful art.
Sound and Lights, posted this comment on Nov 12th, 2009
Thats great…
J. I. Nelson, Ph.D., posted this comment on Nov 18th, 2009
Neuroscientists who have done single-cell recordings/microinjections etc and made their own electrodes will have a certain sympathy and understanding for Willard Wigan. I certainly preferred to work alone, on Sundays, in a deserted lab, and, excitable by nature, I knew I had to enter a different, calmed state. I was fabricating structures 7 microns in size for our team, but they were simple, and I had an XYZ-theta stage to hold the work (movement in 3 dimensions + 1 axis of rotation, with dial-a-micron positioning). You enter a different world, where “liquids” may be hard as solids, surface tension binds like a magnet, a finely-drawn glass fiber can be a battering ram, a broken glass edge is sharper than anything you can make. But I could not do any of this (”Hi, boss, sorry about the electrodes, but here’s Elvis.”) and I would have to sit at Wigan’s feet to learn.
Franklin, posted this comment on Nov 20th, 2009
Amazing piece of art…
Akash, posted this comment on Apr 14th, 2010
I am truly amazed at this extraordinary level of artworks!!! Its really an example of showing the world that nothing is impossible…… Well all my best wishes are with him and I can understand the amount of patience is required to such amazing feats…. as I myself write on sand grains!!!! great work.
Unofre Pili, posted this comment on Nov 8th, 2008
Wow! wonderful sculptures maam. Thank you for sharing.