Think the world’s smallest Ne Zha doll might be 10 cm? Maybe 5 cm? Think again. In Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, a doll artist is making characters so tiny that they can only be seen in detail under a microscope. Her figures measure just 2 to 3 millimeters in diameter—smaller than a grain of rice, and definitely smaller than anybody’s fingertip.
The artist, who goes by the online moniker Minidolls, is known online for her impossibly detailed miniatures, which she began sharing in 2021. What started as origami experiments gradually evolved into woven paper-thread sculptures. Now, she sculpts with manicure clay — yes, the same kind used for nail art — to capture the fine details of popular IPs like Ne Zha from the hit namesake movie series and Qin Che or Xia Yizhou from a popular game called Deepspace, as well as a range of original characters. Her studio? Just a desktop, a needle, and a magnifying glass.
Filming the creative process, however, is a whole other challenge. “They’re so small that even zoomed-in videos can’t capture the detail properly,” she wrote on social media. Still, that hasn’t stopped over 30,000 fans from following her updates and waiting for each new release with magnifying glasses at the ready.
Some netizens have jokingly compared her to the author of the classical Chinese essay 核舟记 (“Carving a Miniature Boat on a Peach Stone”) — except her work, they say, goes even further. “That peach boat guy was playing on easy mode,” one comment reads. Others have even stated their worries about the tiny dolls being too easy to be “blown away” and lost. Minidolls’ response? “:) These things happen often.”
Fairly shrouded in anonymity, Minidolls is an artist who is simply doing her. There’s nothing here about profit, nothing about fame; just a creator immersing herself and her craft in her own little world.
Cover photo via Xiaohongshu @Minidolls.
