Wayne Kusy is a Chicago-based outside artist who builds models of 20th century ocean liners.  On first glance there is nothing out of the ordinary about these model ships.  However, if you take a closer look you will see that Wayne Kusy’s ships are made entirely out of toothpicks.

Kusy began building with toothpicks when he was in the fifth grade and has been building ever since.  For a living he works in freelance computer graphics.  However, in his spare time he builds model ships out of toothpicks to relax.

Kusy has built a number of models of famous 20th century ocean liners.  His collection includes the Lusitania, which is currently on display at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD.  The Lusitania is 16 feet long and constructed from 194,000 toothpicks and 5 gallons of glue.  It took Kusy approximately two and a half years to build this ship.

Kusy also built a 10-foot long model of the famous Titanic, using 75,000 toothpicks and 1 gallon of glue.  The Titanic took Kusy about a year and a half to build.

The Cutty Sark, an 8-foot long model made with 12,000 toothpicks and 130 ounces of glue, took approximately a year and a half to build as well.

However, Kusy’s most impressive ship would have to be the 1936 Queen Mary, a 25-foot long model built using 814,000 toothpicks and 19 gallons of glue.  The Queen Mary took Kusy 8 years to build, collectively.

Though Kusy had never actually been on the Queen Mary when he built the ship, his model is very accurate.  He looked at blue prints, photographs and mechanical drawings and even had an LA helicopter fly over the ship to take pictures from above.

When asked why he builds model ships from toothpicks, Kusy answers, “For the heck of it!”

Thanks to WayneKusy.com for the photos!