Melon Michelangelos

The melon Michelangelos: Amazing sculptures carved from fruit

With their green skins and a hint of red flesh, there is something familiar about these artworks.

A closer look reveals they are carved out of watermelons — and these photographs, capturing their intricate designs, are the latest sensation to sweep the internet.

The art form originated in the Far East 700 years ago when the carved fruit were often presented to royalty at banquets.

Sage: A godly figure in a fruit frame

Fishing for compliments: A sea scene

Mutant turtle: This reptile berries a juicy fruit salad beneath its shell

They used to take the form of legendary figures and flowers, but today anything goes, from waddling penguins to the Taj Mahal.

Many of these examples are the handiwork of hotel chef Takashi Itoh. Inspired by carvings he saw on holiday in Thailand in 2001, Itoh took three weeks to teach himself the skill — which usually takes years to perfect.

Using a tiny knife, he slices each portrait by hand. Simple designs can take as little as 20 minutes, while more detailed works require between 40 and 90 minutes to finish.

Blooming wonderful: Two delicate rose sculptures showcase Itoh's handiwork

You're twisting my melon, man: This red-fleshed fella appears riled

Taskashi, from Tokyo, admits that his is an unusual hobby.

'Watermelons are so colourful and as it is one of the bigger fruits I can make more powerful and interesting creations,’ he says. Each sculpture lasts two days, before the artist eats it.

The craft hasn’t yet caught on in Britain, but the first homegrown watermelons, from Staffordshire, are about to hit the shops.

Maybe this Halloween we’ll be carving ghoulish faces into watermelons instead of pumpkins.

Meloncholy: Tormented artist Vincent Van Gogh

Recycling: A green cyclist has pedal power

Fruit fantasy: Mythical spirits are a traditional subject

Feathered friend: The melon's oval shape lends itself to an owl figure, left, and right, oh so skilful, but what is it?

Skinned alive: An evil spirit with a grimace

Fruity frog: This amphibian gets ready to leap

Mouth watering: A jaw-dropping carving

Sydney scene: The famous Australian opera house

Holy moly! Even the Taj Mahal can be sculpted

Pick up a penguin: Waddling Antarctic birds

You're my honeydew: Two swans in love

In The Eye Of The Storm

In The Eye Of The Storm

In the eye of the storm: The moment Mother Nature unleashes fury on Finland, injuring 40 people

These dramatic images were taken in the moments before a powerful thunderstorm struck parts of Finland.

The bad weather front is clearly visible as it approaches the skies above the capital Finland, moments before strong winds, heavy rain and lightning battered the city.

Forty people were injured in the storm, two of them seriously, as they enjoyed a heavy metal festival in the town of Pori.

Eye of the storm: This picture shows the moments before a powerful storm hit Helsinki

Calm: Revellers enjoy the Sonisphere festival as heavy rain can be seen falling from the storm front behind them

Gale force: The storm damaged equipment belong to band Motley Crue and forced them to cancel their performance

Strong winds and lightning strikes badly damaged one of the stages at the Sonisphere Festival, and the equipment of several bands including Motley Crue was also ruined.

Organisers said in a statement: 'A severe thunderstorm hit (the) Sonisphere Festival in Pori, Finland. Strong freak wind gusts damaged the stages and knocked down tents and fences.

'Approximately 40 people were injured, two of them seriously.'

Casualties: Forty people were injured at the Sonisphere festival in Pori when the storm damaged stages and electrical equipment

Powerful: An aeroplane lies on its side after its undercarriage was damaged during the storm in Pori

Sodden: Heavy metal fans were completely drenched as the sudden storm hit and one of the stages had to be abandoned

Downpour: The skies above the Finland capital turn an ugly black as the storm approaches

Black skies: The rain is on its way as the front moves above the city

A spokesman for the Met Office said: 'Storms of this intensity only occur with large towering cumulonimbus clouds, and looking at the pictures this was a particularly large storm, known as a super cell.'

Silhouettes

Silhouettes

Continuing Russian Wildfires

Though many have been contained, wildfires continue to rage throughout many parts of Russia. In a new twist to the situation, officials have confirmed that some forests that were contaminated with radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have now burned, but it was unclear what danger the smoke from such wildfires could pose. Monitoring stations have not registered any increase in radioactivity as yet. Recent windy conditions have temporarily cleared the smoke from Moscow's skies, but it could possibly return soon. The area of burning forests in Russia is now 927 sq km (358 sq mi), down from from 1,740 sq km (676 sq m). The economic costs of the fires are now estimated at up to 15 billion dollars. 

Light shines through forest fire smoke near a Russian Orthodox church 30km from Moscow in Zelenaya Sloboda late on August 3, 2010. (ARTYOM KOROTAYEV/AFP/ Getty Images)

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A burning forest is seen near village Dolginino, Russia on August 4, 2010. (ARTYOM KOROTAYEV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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In this Wednesday Aug. 4, 2010 file photo a firefighter attempts to extinguish a forest fire near the village of Dolginino in Russia's Ryazan region. (AP Photo/File) #

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Soldiers lay a water pipeline through the forest in an attempt to extinguish forest fires in Russia's Vladimir region on August 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Mikhail Voskresensky) #

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A military bulldozer makes a clearing in a forest in an attempt to halt the spread of fires in Russia's Kirzhach region on August 9, 2010. (REUTERS/Mikhail Voskresensky) #

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Local citizens attempt to extinguish a forest fire near the village of Dolginino, some 180 km (111 mi) southeast of Moscow, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010. (AP Photo) #

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A Russian man works to stop a fire near the village of Dolginino on August 4, 2010. (ARTYOM KOROTAYEV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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A Russian Emergency Ministry Mi-26 helicopter lifts a bucket of water to drop onto a burning forest near the village of Plotava, Russia on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) #

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A view looking down at a full water bucket suspended below a helicopter before it is released over a forest fire near the settlement of Kustarevka, Russia on August 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov) #

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A helicopter drops water over a forest fire near the settlement of Kustarevka, Russia on August 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov) #

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A firefighter walks in a field while smoke from a wildfire clouds the air outside the settlement of Kustarevka, Russia on August 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov) #

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An image released by NASA on August 8, 2010 and taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite on August 7 shows fires burning around Moscow. Red outlines indicate actively burning fires, and multiple fires cluster east of Moscow, many of them sending their smoke right over the city. Smoke almost completely hides the land surface throughout this scene. (AFP/Getty Images/NASA Earth Observatory) #

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People walk in front of St. Basil's Cathedral shrouded in smog in Moscow, August 4, 2010. Air quality levels in Moscow tumbled to an eight-year low on Wednesday as the Russian capital was blanketed in thick smoke from forest and peat fires, said Moscow's state agency for monitoring air pollution. (REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin) #

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A small dog wears a face mask for protection against forest fire smoke in Moscow on August 10, 2010. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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A river boat makes its way on the Moskva River, as the Kremlin is seen through heavy smog covering Moscow, Russia, Friday, Aug. 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) #

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A forest is on fire outside the town of Novovoronezh, some 40 km (25 miles) south of the city of Voronezh, August 2, 2010. (REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin) #

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The burnt-out trunk of a tree is seen in a forest near a village of Zdorovie, Russia on August 10, 2010. (VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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A Russian woman wears a mask as she stands in the burnt out village of Mokhovoye, Lukhovitsi municipal district, some 130 kilometers from Moscow, on August 3, 2010. (ANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, wearing headphones, sits in the cockpit of a firefighting plane in Ryazan region August 10, 2010. Putin, who has sought to burnish his action-man image and minimize political fallout from wildfires and drought, flew in a firefighting plane that dropped water on a blaze southeast of Moscow, state media reported. (REUTERS/Ria Novosti/Pool/ Alexei Nikolsky) #

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A Russian man walks in a forest near the village of Golovanovo, Ryazan region, on August 5, 2010. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/ AFP/Getty Images) #

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A man tries to stop fire near the village of Murmino on August 6, 2010. (ARTYOM KOROTAYEV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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Natalia Solonina, 70, stands in front of charred chimneys, all that was left of several houses, after a spreading wildfire burned them to the ground as well as the entire village of Peredeltsy in Russia's Ryazan region on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) #

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People pray in the village of Kriusha, Ryazan region, on August 5, 2010. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/ AFP/Getty Images) #

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In this photo taken on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010 a forest fire spreads near the village of Verkhnyaya Vereya in Nizhny Novgorod region. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr.) #

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Soldiers hose water onto smoldering tree trunks in a forest in the Noginsk district some 70 km east of Moscow, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010 to prevent resumption of fire. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) #

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Valentina Kotikova, whose mother died from a stroke, reportedly because their house was burned to the ground, stands at the site of fire in the village of Peredeltsy Russia's Ryazan region on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010. (AP Photo) #

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Residents attempt to extinguish a fire near the village of Polyaki-Maydan, Russia on August 9, 2010. (REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov) #

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A Russian man walks through smoke on a road near the village of Mokhovoye, Russia on August 3, 2010. (ANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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Russian women look inside the charred carcass of a building 450km south of Moscow in Izlegoshche on August 6, 2010. The village of Izlegoshche was completely destroyed by Russia's worst ever wildfires and will not be rebuilt according to an administrative decision. (Alexey SAZONOV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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A Russian rides a motorcycle in the village of Kriusha, Ryazan region, on August 5, 2010. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/ AFP/Getty Images) #

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Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral is seen through the heavy smog covering Moscow, Russia, late Friday, Aug. 6, 2010, as tourists walk through. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) #

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A boat travels along the Moskva River shrouded by heavy smog, caused by peat fires in nearby forests, in Moscow August 9, 2010. (REUTERS/Alex Aminev) #

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A newly married couple, no name given, celebrates their wedding despite the deep layer of smog from wildfires covering the ancient Russian city of Ryazan on August 7th, 2010. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev) #

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A man tries to put out a fire near the Russian village of Murmino on August 5, 2010. (ARTYOM KOROTAYEV/AFP/ Getty Images) #

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A fire in a forest burns near the village Golovanovo, Ryazan region, on August 5, 2010. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/ AFP/Getty Images) #

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Russians try to stop fire spreading near the village Golovanovo, Ryazan region, on August 5, 2010. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/ AFP/Getty Images) #