Dead flies DO have a use...

Wow is all I can say. Check out these microscopic sculptures by Willard Wigan. The pieces have been hailed as the "eigth wonder of the world." A bulk, if not all, of the collection has been bought by tennis player and businessman David Lloyd (he of the gym chain) and insured for £11.2million. The sculptures fit in the eye of a needle or on the very tip of a pin - absolutely tiny. And apparently are painted with the hair from a dead fly (completely gross! lol)

Willard hails from Birmingham, England and was awarded an MBE for services to art in 2007. Apparently he has trained himself to work "between heartbeats" to avoid destroying the sculptures.

This is from Wikipedia:

Wigan uses a tiny surgical blade to carve microscopic figures out of gold, and fragments of grains of sand which are then mounted on pinheads. To paint his creations, he uses a hair plucked from a dead fly (the fly has to have died from natural causes, as he refuses to kill them for the sake of his art).

The Wizard of Oz in the eye of a needle

The Titanic on the point of a pin

The Obama Family in the eye of a needle

Dressage on a pin head