Bournemouth University (BU) has played its part in helping to measure the world’s smallest sculpture, as confirmed by the Guinness World Record.
David A Lindon, a Micro Artist from Bournemouth has recently been awarded a Guinness World Record for creating a sculpture called the “Yellow Smiley Face” which is invisible to the human eye.
In the past David has recreated paintings and sculptures small enough to fit in the eye of a needle.
The size of the Yellow Smily Face sculpture was so small that David had to ask the life sciences laboratory at Bournemouth University whether they could officially measure it using their high-resolution microscope.
Associate Head of School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Dr Sarah Elliott gave David permission to access the laboratory and use the microscope needed to measure the sculpture. Postgraduate Researcher Jack Rose was on hand on the day of the measuring to operate the microscope. The sculpture was so small that it had been stored on the cover of a purple, first-class stamp. It was placed on a micro dot on the eye of the late Queen to help them search for it under the microscope.
Jack Rose was able to confirm the measurement of the sculpture as a size of 11.037 by 12.330 microns. Once the size had been confirmed in the laboratory David said: “I am thrilled at this news and grateful for Bournemouth University for measuring it. The Yellow Smiley Face sculpture beats my previous World Record of the Red Lego Brick sculpture, which is bigger than this and measures 0.02517mm by 0.02184mm.”
David said: “My sculpture is so small that it is the same size as a particle of talcum powder, a human blood cell, mould spores, bacteria and even a fog droplet”
At the end of the measurement David agreed to measure the sculpture against fine grain of sand from Bournemouth beach. In the photograph the grain of sand towers over the sculpture, which can barely be seen in the image.
David has since created a micro sculpture of a graduation certificate being grasped by the hand of a newly qualified student, which is less than a millimetre wide and set on a solid gold plinth.
Dr Sarah Elliott said: “We were really excited to be able to help David achieve his Guiness World Record and to make use of our laboratory and equipment in such a unique way. Our students will be fascinated to see the sculpture that David has created for us, and we hope that this will inspire students to think of life in miniature in different ways.”
The stamp where Yellow Smiley Face lives now is mounted on a glass tower and housed inside a sealed glass box.
Find out more about our courses available in the school of Life and Environmental Sciences on the BU website.
