Creative Latte Artwork

The arty latte... or how to turn coffee into 3D sculpture: Japanese artist creates foamy artworks using toothpick and a spoon

By DAVID GARDNER

PUBLISHED: 22:45 GMT, 11 June 2013 | UPDATED: 07:05 GMT, 12 June 2013

If you like to play with the froth on your coffee, here’s a challenge for you – could you make something as striking as these?

The rabbit, hippo and giraffe emerging from the coffee cups are the astonishing work of a barista in a Japanese cafe. Japanese latte artist Kazuki Yamamoto has taken coffee art to a higher level.

While others may try swirling their flat images on foam, the 26-year-old specialises in building 3-D sculptures, some of them even climbing out of one cup and into another.

Purrr-fect coffee: These cute cats look like they're posing for the camera. Japanese latte artist Kazuki Yamamoto has taken coffee art to a higher level

 

Creature coffee: Tokyo resident Mr Yamamato, 23, says each artwork takes between three and five minutes

The barista’s currently working in Cafe10g in Osaka but dreams of opening his own place in Tokyo where making art, however fleeting, is more than just a perk of the job.

Among his temporary masterpieces are pictures of pop sensation Psy, and Disney characters Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Pinocchio.

Yamamoto has made a name for himself on Twitter, where more than 82,000 followers receive daily tweets with images of his latest creations. But he’s hardly the only latte artist to emerge from Japan.

Time for coffee: A Salvador Dali-esque melting clock adorns this cup of java

Help me! A polar bear struggles to escape his caffeinated peril

Scare bear: Customers love the Japanese artist's incredible and unique works of art

Not all cute: The sculpture on the left shows the deadly protagonist of the hit Japanese horror film Ring

Wrong side of the bed? Like many people, this cat is a bit grumpy until after his first cup

Hello Kitty: The iconic Japanese mascot greets a customer (left). The unnamed foam sculpture on the right bears an uncanny resemblance to former PM Gordon Brown

Hot beverage bath: The nimble-fingered barista first created 'flat white' pictures on coffees and moved into sculpture

Yamamoto’s friend Kohei Matsuno, a 23-year-old originally from Osaka who now works at a café in Tokyo, also creates coffee characters from anime to Lady Gaga.

More recently, Matsuno has begun recreating famous works of art like Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream.’ 

He uses a toothpick and a spoon for such fine details. The milk and foam parts go on first, then he uses toothpicks to add ‘shading’ with espresso.

 

The whole process, he says, takes about three to five minutes.

Some controversy exists within the coffee community as to whether or not there is excessive focus on latte art amongst baristas. The argument is that too much focus on the superficial appearance of a drink leads some to ignore more important issues - such as taste.

Intricate: Some sculptures, such as this cat watching fish in a pond, are spread over two cups. Many show popular cartoon characters, such as the three-eyed aliens from Toy Story

Mr Yamamoto said: 'I use a cocktail pin and spoon, steamed milk and delicious espresso'

Perky pandas: 82,000 people follow Mr Yamamato's coffee creations on Twitter

Asleep: Despite all the coffee, this bear is enjoying a peaceful nap. Mr Yamamato hopes to open his own coffee shop one day

While others may try swirling their flat images on foam, the 26-year-old specialises in building 3-D sculptures, some of them even climbing out of one cup and into another

Sun and shadow: A bear transitions from darkness to light

Dog Photos of the Week

This dog's owner is trapped inside and his dog is trying his best to help him.

Everyday Hero: Dobri Dobrev

Photo Courtesy of Amazing and Weird

Meet 98 year old Dobri Dobrev, a man who lost his hearing in the second world war. Every day he walks 10 kilometers from his village in his homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of Sofia, where he spends the day begging for money.

Though a well known fixture around several of the city’s churches, known for his prostrations of thanks to all donors, it was only recently discovered that he has donated every penny he has collected — over 40,000 euros — towards the restoration of decaying Bulgarian monasteries and the utility bills of orphanages, living instead off his monthly state pension of 80 euros. 

Mother Brings Baby Back To Life With Two Hours of Loving Cuddles

Source: I Can't Believe It

Kate Ogg, an Australian mother who gave birth to twins at 27 weeks after 3 hours of labor couldn't believe her ears when the doctors broke the news that her son, Jamie weighing 2lbs couldn't make it. At a Sydney hospital, Jamie’s twin sister Emily was fine and healthy at the time of delivery while her brother was resuscitated for twenty minutes to help him spring to life.

When he didn't respond to the treatment, the parents had to be told the dreadful news. Kate, unable to digest the news that her baby was dead, unwrapped him from his blanket and put him on her chest, against her skin. Kate and David, Jamie’s father talked to him telling him his name and that he had a sister, told him what all thing they would do with him throughout his life, touched him and hugged him for two hours before the little baby gasped for air. But the doctors dismissed it as a reflex action. 

The baby then gasped for more and more air and she fed Jamie with a bit of breast milk and the miracle touched the zenith. The baby started breathing. A while later, Jamie opened his eyes and moved his head that left the doctors both shocked and happy.

12 Steps To Self Care

Thought For The Day

Picture Courtesy of Health & Wellbeing

Pregnant at 17 with a baby doomed to die at birth, she chose life

Micah and her newborn daughter Ambra

June 5, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Micah was just seventeen years old when she discovered she was pregnant. But abortion simply wasn't an option for her and her boyfriend, Kyle.

"We were not ready at all but we both felt like we needed to take full responsibility for the baby growing inside of me," she told LifeSiteNews.com.

Though they did not feel ready to parent a child, the couple soon began to feel a growing excitement about the baby growing inside of Micah. However, their excitement turned to fear and heartache when, at an 18-week ultrasound, they discovered that the baby Micah was carrying had a condition called anencephaly. This meant that their daughter had not developed a major portion of her brain, skull and scalp.

Doctors said she would not survive outside of the womb. 

Micah's doctor immediately suggested abortion. And though Micah and Kyle refused at first, Micah confessed that for a week following the diagnosis, abortion actually seemed like the more attractive option. She feared that it would be more painful to carry the child to term and deliver a stillborn than to simply "terminate the pregnancy" at 18 weeks. 

"I was carrying a baby that would more than likely not even be born alive. My daughter couldn’t survive outside of the safe haven I had created for her,” she said. “It took months before I came to terms with my decision to carry. I was constantly faced with questions. Why? How?" 

Yet Micah began to understand the answers to these painful and difficult questions. 

"Why? Because no matter what, she was my daughter. There was a life inside of me and I couldn’t just take that away from her. She didn’t choose to have this happen to her, so how could I choose to end her life to save myself from more heartache? 

“How? Go on with every day life! The bottom line was simple. She was alive she had a life and it was my job as a mother to give her the best life she could possibly have."

During her pregnancy, Micah was astounded at the insensitivity of people she encountered.  "Many people were so rude about the idea of carrying a baby that wasn’t meant to live outside the womb. The amounts of comments I got like, 'why don’t you just abort?' People seemed to think by aborting it would be easier. It would somehow just go away, like it never happened." 

But Micah knew that carrying her baby was the only option she had. 

"I explained to them, 'I would rather endure the heartache that is surely to come if I carry her because at least I can give her a fighting chance.'" 

Micah and Kyle decided to name their daughter Ambra Storm. 

Micah began to enjoy her pregnancy. She recalls that the baby "always got scared at loud noises. This made football games not so fun for me. She was always so funny. She would kick a few times then stop for 3 minutes and then you would just see my belly bounce up and down. It was like there was a party going on in there!" 

Micah's mother shared her own experience of watching Micah's pregnancy.

"There wasn’t a moment that Micah’s belly wasn’t moving around. We laughed a lot at Ambra’s tantrums. I struggled with how to be there for Micah. I could teach her how to be a mother, I could even show her how to be a good teen mother. But I didn’t know how to help her through this. We found that talking and laughing and crying all together was how we were going to handle this and that is what we did."

Due to an excessive amount of amniotic fluid, at 35 weeks, Micah began to find it difficult to breathe. The doctor ordered an induction. 

"Looking back I think I knew something was wrong when I hadn’t felt Ambra move. She was a wild one most of the time! I didn’t want a fetal monitor on during labor because I didn’t want to know during labor if she passed away. 

“After 20 minutes of pushing Ambra was here. They quickly placed her on my chest and cleaned her off. No one spoke. I remember giving my mom a look and she nodded back at me. But the words ‘she’s gone’ never were spoken." 

Micah and Kyle had three and a half hours with their daughter. They were astonished to discover Ambra's beautiful and familiar features. 

"Of course like any mom I started counting her toes and realized she only had 9, then her dad pointed out they were like his feet. His pinky toe wraps under his other toe. I started laughing at how many of our features she did have. She had my black hair and her daddy’s long eyelashes and my cheeks and both of our long legs. She had my mother’s chin and my family’s nose."

Ambra's funeral was held two days after her birth. Micah describes the event as a time of deep mourning, yet she maintains that she does not regret carrying and delivering her daughter. "Throughout my pregnancy it was important for me to not mourn her. She was still alive and I wasn’t going to mourn her until she was gone." 

Micah's mother also does not regret her daughter's choice to carry Ambra. 

"I can’t even begin to explain what going through this journey with Micah has meant to me. I have a wonderful, loving, and beautiful daughter who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, my first grandchild, Ambra Storm. This experience has brought us even closer as mother and daughter ... I am so proud of her."

So many young women in Micah's situation would choose abortion, simply because they did not feel they could face teen pregnancy and motherhood. And even more so because of the fatal anencephaly diagnosis. Yet Micah courageously defends her decision to carry and give birth to her daughter, and encourages other young women in similar situations to do the same. She has also devoted her life to sharing the pro-life message in honor of Ambra.

"I got to meet my daughter, to hold and kiss her. I couldn’t imagine not being able to share those few hours with her. Even to this day when I share my stories doctors, mothers of many children, fathers and strangers will ask, 'why not abort?' It saddens me that this is the way we think. I still continue to fight for her, and all the babies that have been aborted."