American singer Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known professionally as Halsey shows off her Innovation Award in early March 2022. (Photo by iamhalsey/Instagram)

Justin Rowe creates these magical sculptures from hand cut books and found images with the help of just a touch of gum arabic and 24 carat gold or palladium leaf. Some are very much in the realms of fairy stories like the one above, but my favourites are the stories below where Justin’s skill brings the book’s own illustrations to life.

People will spout about impermanence of digital records, but books are really fragile, too. Alexis Arnold from San Francisco wanted to illustrate that with her project The Crystallized Book: collecting books and growing Borax crystals on them. Books range from literature classics to magazines, and there’s even a mysterious and arcane tome called “Linux: The Complete Manual”.

Puerto Rican model Aleyda Ortiz attends the 20th annual Latin GRAMMY Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on November 14, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

Model Lara Lieto arrives for the Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

Actress Laverne Cox attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)

In a handout picture released by the Brit Awards English singer-songwriter Dua Lipa poses with her awards for Female Solo Artist and British Album at the BRIT Awards 2021 in London on May 11, 2021. (Photo by John Marshall/Handout via Reuters)

Zendaya arrives at the 25th Annual Critics' Choice Awards at Barker Hangar on January 12, 2020 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)