The Titanic may have been the largest ship of its day, but San Francisco artist Steven J. Backman has shrunk it to the size of a toothpick.
Backman, 45, was inspired to create a replica of the ill-fated ship by the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking this year. He didn't carve it from a single toothpick; rather he started making the miniature liner by deconstructing a single toothpick. "I cut it up into paper-thin pieces and then re-glue the toothpick back together," he explained in a phone call Thursday.
The result is an astonishingly detailed miniature that measures 1 5/8 inches long -- a work he believes is likely the smallest toothpick Titanic in the world.
Clicking onto Backman's online art gallery is like taking a toothpick world tour: the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid are all on display, each made from a toothpick using the same technique. He says he works full-time as an artist and has been creating toothpick sculptures since he was 5 years old.