These Little Floating Worlds Inside Test Tubes Are Gorgeous

Have you ever seen those delicate little ships in bottles or terrariums with dainty plants inside them? If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll definitely love the work of this artist who excels at depicting artworks within test tubes!

For her series Micro Matter, Dutch artist Rosa de Jong creates tiny floating worlds inside test tubes. Her pieces are made up of a variety of materials like sticks her pet cat brought in, rocks from the Caribbean, sand from the Monument Valley, and so many others. She carefully cuts, glues, paints, and sculpts these tiny vertical scenes that look deceptively realistic and whimsical at the same time.

The painstaking process of sculpting a world that fits in the palm of your hand.

The tools of the trade: tiny brushes, toothpicks, cutters, and of course, the trusty tweezers.

Gravity defying artworks that can fit in a dollar bill.

The level of detail in each piece is astounding!

You can imagine a miniscule creature living in one of these dwellings.

Their glass casing gives of the illusion that these scenes are floating in their own secluded piece of the sky.

A little world right at your fingertips.

Some of her sculptures not only show the surface, but also what’s underneath. This gives some of her pieces the illusion that they’re growing upwards and downwards at the same time.

A minimalist skyscraper up in the clouds.

Trees are some of the most prominent subjects in her artworks, and she never neglects to put in the roots beneath the surface.

The artist’s workspace.

Rosa de Jong is based in Amsterdam. She has created numerous other collections and artworks, which can all be found on her site at www.byrosa.nl Check out some of her other artworks!