If you’re Japanese artist Chie Hitotsuyama, newspapers aren’t just for reading, sudokus or keeping around as a fire starter. Instead of using newspapers in any normal fashion, she rolls them tightly before turning them into realistic animal sculptures.
Her process is done entirely by hand, kneading, folding and sticking old newspapers to one another, even using the print colours to define characteristics on each animal.
Turning trash into treasure has been done before, but not quite like this. Using something most of us would throw out, Chie Hitotsiyama is turning discarded newspapers into beautiful animal sculptures.
Featuring a rhinoceros, Japanese macaques, lizards and a regal rabbit, Hitotsiyama’s art is like nothing we’ve seen before. The rolled papers make an astonishing replacement for hair or wrinkles, giving the animals a stunningly lifelike quality.
Watch a video of Hitotsiyama at work below, as well as more photos of her sculptures.
This article originally appeared on Bored Panda.
