The world’s smallest handmade sculpture is a blood cell-sized Lego brick

The Guinness World Record holder for the smallest hand-made sculpture is so tiny that it cannot be seen with the naked eye. Micro-artist David Lindon created a red Lego brick with dimensions roughly equal to a single human white blood cell. Using a specially calibrated light microscope, Lindon crafted the sculpture, measuring just 0.02517mm by 0.02184mm.

Each sculpture is created by attaching microblading needles to instrument screwdrivers, some of which have additional microscopic attachments. The tools are made from silicon carbide, a material second in hardness only to diamonds.

The process involved months of planning, followed by meticulous sculpting using a custom-made toolset. Lindon worked 6-10 hours at a time, only during the night to minimize disruptions from traffic vibrations. On a personal level, the self-described “micro-artist” even learned to control his breathing to avoid disturbing the delicate construction project.

“Even the pulse of my heart beating through my fingers creates too much movement,” he stated in the Guinness World Record announcement.

In the end, Lindon created three Lego bricks, each smaller than the width of a human hair and easily fitting on a pinhead. The first, an eight-spot Lego piece, is officially recognized as the narrowest handmade structure ever built, while a four-spot brick measured four times smaller than the previous record set in 2017 by Lindon’s friend and fellow micro-artist Willard Wigan. His final sculpture, a single-dot Lego brick, also became his quickest project yet, completed in around 20 minutes.

A former engineer for the UK’s Ministry of Defense, Lindon started working on micro-sculptures in 2019, creating pieces such as miniature versions of Van Gogh paintings that fit on a watch mechanism. His subsequent projects included micro balloon dogs similar to those by artist Jeff Koons.

According to the BBC, Lindon’s future projects will not focus on microscopic recreations of classic toys. His upcoming project, “The Smallest Zoo in the World,” set to be released later this year, will feature an animal menagerie sculpted into the eyes of needles.

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