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.

A Kashmiri Shi'ite Muslim mourner flagellates himself during a Muharram procession to mark Ashura in Srinagar, India October 12, 2016. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

A Tibetan nomad family crowds on a motorcycle at a camp for cordycep pickers on May 21, 2016 near Sershul on the Tibetan Plateau in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan province. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Liz Katz attends Day 1 of WonderCon held at Anaheim Convention Center on March 23, 2018 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

A dancer poses for her own photographer in front of pink cherry tree blossoms during a sunny spring morning at the Parc de Sceaux gardens near Paris, France, April 12, 2019. (Photo by Christian Hartmann/Reuters)

A model wears a creation for Rick Owens' Spring-Summer 2022 ready-to-wear fashion show presented Thursday, September 30, 2021, in Paris. (Photo by Thibault Camus/AP Photo)

Soccer fans wearing Argentina's football team jersey arrive at workers' stadium to watch a friendly match between Australia and Argentina in Beijing on June 15, 2023. (Photo by Jade Gao/AFP Photo)

Manchester City's Phil Foden takes a corner kick in a match against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in London on March 11, 2023. (Photo by John Sibley/Action Images via Reuters)