Miniature art’s been with us for at least 1,000 years–it’s popped up in cultures as far flung as India, Persia, and Europe. It continues to this day, and Nikolai Aldunin just might be it’s most talented practitioner.

Often, it takes weeks and weeks to craft the pieces, which can be scattered and lost with an errant breath. To assemble them, Aldunin has to slow his heart and work between his heart beats, like a professional sharpshooter.

Above are seven camels, passing through the eye of a needle–a riff, presumably, on the Biblical adage that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to get into heaven.

Here, an AK-47, against a matchhead for scale. The piece had 34 parts, and the rifle butt alone took weeks to craft:

A flea, fitting with a saddle and stirrups: