Pixies & Sprites

Pixies & Sprites Unusual Gifts made from usual things

The Pixies & Sprites Road-trip continues…….we’re off to Buxton!This weekend finds us stepping even further out of our us...
16/09/2026

The Pixies & Sprites Road-trip continues…….we’re off to Buxton!

This weekend finds us stepping even further out of our usual comfort zone. For the last 18 months we’ve been exhibiting at a range of antique & vintage events. We still have heaps to learn but we already know it’s a good fit with our hybrid craft/vintage/upcycle business. They’ve all been outdoors, all with bigger pitch sizes etc, so a mental challenge to scale things up.

So why not take it a bit further and explore the art aspect of our pieces. Hence a fabulous indoor venue, a shell scheme to work with and a new adventure.

It may take us just as long to navigate our way through creating a 2x3m shell scheme as it does putting up 3 gazebos and filling a 25’x25’ piece of grass.

No trailer this time, or stands/gazebos - all very strange.

Just some wonderful pieces which will hopefully go down well with the customer base.

…and yes we’ll be taking a few of our amazing folded Peak District pieces

The Autumn Buxton Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair

https://www.cooperevents.com/

Adding more Star Wars to our range.The Dark Horse Star Wars comics always come with a hideous barcode on the front but c...
15/09/2026

Adding more Star Wars to our range.

The Dark Horse Star Wars comics always come with a hideous barcode on the front but colour internal strips.

These 1970’s Marvel ones have great front covers but black & white internal strips. But the artwork is superb so I don’t mind one bit 😍.

The first Darth Vader piece is already taken, the other two will hopefully be available sometime next month 😅

There’s also some Starlord stories within - happy days 😊🤭

Two very iconic books which will be transformed into our ‘page plus’ format.Favouring using both the front & back covers...
15/09/2026

Two very iconic books which will be transformed into our ‘page plus’ format.

Favouring using both the front & back covers of these, since the back cover is an interesting read on both.

1984 I read many, many years ago although it took me several attempts to get to the end of it. My head has a plan for this one already.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover, I’ve not read, but watched one of the adaptations years ago.

Many thanks to my near Encyclopaedic Mum who reminded me of the attempts to get this book banned and the resulting court battles to prevent its publication. Hard to think of a lawyer standing in court saying ‘Would you let your Wife or Servants read this’. Would love to be able to source the newspapers of the time & use the headlines & tabloid inches as well.

So two very provoking books, with very big back stories. Both of them serving as examples of our changing social history.

It’s taken a while to source both these maps, but it’s a bitter-sweet find.1950’s paper Bartholomew maps of the North an...
14/09/2026

It’s taken a while to source both these maps, but it’s a bitter-sweet find.

1950’s paper Bartholomew maps of the North and South Yorkshire coast. The plan was to create a bigger piece joining both together and to remove the overlap section. Bit tricky but I was up for the challenge.

Bartholomew maps from the 1920’s through to WWII can be hard to source but get a good one and they are great quality. Surviving 1910’s are even better. Pre 1910 maps can be tricky to work with since the surface can crack easily and delaminate.

Somewhere along the way the processes changed. The 1950’s canvas maps got a heavier cardboard face. Often this added weight results in the canvas tearing and the covers being lost or sections missing. The paper ones became much lighter in weight and as a result more prone to separation, damage etc.

So it’s great to find this surviving paper pair, although there is a reason why they have survived. Not so much an issue on the front of the north map, but it’s heavily sellotaped across the back. Can’t fault the application. It’s very neat and precisely done in very small, straight pieces. Not a quick repair job at all. The south map also had tape on the front face as well as the back; long gone but the adhesive residue remains.

Otherwise they are in great condition. So would love to join and flat mount, but this technique won’t work with the damage. The wet conservation adhesive may spread the sellotape residue and stain the map further, so too risky.

So these two will be folded, possibly together although possibly separately since a lady at the weekend was rather taken by the southern section of the map so it may become a Christmas gift.

Well that was a full on weekend!Thanks you Richard, Anna and team at .com for our first Ripley Castle event.The weathe...
14/09/2026

Well that was a full on weekend!

Thanks you Richard, Anna and team at .com for our first Ripley Castle event.

The weather, well let’s just say Saturday 🤭, was bonkers with driving wind & rain.

Yet people still came out, brave souls.

But we survived and the sun on Sunday was welcome.

A new audience for our pieces and some were snapped up and off to their new homes.

Lots of commission discussions, and I will definitely get that Fireball XL5 piece finished next month!

What to do next about a commission - just pop me a message.

Back this morning in a soggy Norfolk, a quick turnaround before the next leg of the tour.

Can’t come to an event like this & not come back with supplies. But then what do I look for?Maps are a no brainer, espec...
13/09/2026

Can’t come to an event like this & not come back with supplies.

But then what do I look for?

Maps are a no brainer, especially when they’re in such good condition.

Can’t resist an antique Bartholomew. These ones are easy to date with the dates on top left corner.

The Penguin Classics are a new and emerging line for us. I’m thinking of a William Blake Jerusalem piece or even Tyger Tyger, or a combination.

The Animals without Backbones title is an experiment. Not sure what that will become yet.

Then the lovely double sided map, originally I thought 1950’s but might be 1930’s.

The real interesting thing is…..this time last year I couldn’t have been able to make any of these pieces.

Without the framing workshop and our ability to create box frames or varying sizes none of these pieces would be possible.

This has to be one of my favourite pieces.Not because of what it is, or where it depicts, but because of where it starte...
13/09/2026

This has to be one of my favourite pieces.

Not because of what it is, or where it depicts, but because of where it started from.

The map was purchased as part of a mixed bundle.

It’s paper rather than the typical canvas & a wall-poster weight.

It had then been folded really well but over the years, well you can see the condition.

Surprisingly no tears, I think because of the poster weight, but the paper layers were starting to separate, so living on borrowed time.

Not at easy transformation, much head scratching and possibly the hardest to plan.

If our overall goal is to create something decorative that resembles the original, yet preserves it for years to come then I think this fits the brief.

Working with the paper, stabilising damaged patches, and allowing the colours to show through.

Conservation materials won’t give off gases which can react & breakdown the paper.

But the biggest saviour of this piece is UV resistant acrylic, a permanent sunscreen for the piece.

This Special First Edition 1946 RAF edition map of Southern England & Wales gets another chance to be admired & enjoyed.

So he likes his framing workshop all neat and tidy, well mostly.Whereas I work best in pretty much turmoil and chaos 🤭🤭N...
12/09/2026

So he likes his framing workshop all neat and tidy, well mostly.

Whereas I work best in pretty much turmoil and chaos 🤭🤭

No wonder the aperture mountboard cutter has been relocated back to the house. Evicted!!

The framing process needs 4 separate machines.

Who doesn’t love a batch process.

The Morso cuts the frame mouldings, then there is an underpinner which joins the frame. Then you need a large multi cutter to handle the backing board, acrylic/glass and mountboard.

Finally there’s the flat mountboard cutter (my toy) which cuts smaller mats and the aperture mounts. Now in the house following eviction 🤭😊

Slightly different surroundings this weekend.Not the usual flint cottages of Norfolk, nor the flat terrain.We have bendy...
12/09/2026

Slightly different surroundings this weekend.

Not the usual flint cottages of Norfolk, nor the flat terrain.

We have bendy roads, up and down and up again- the truck is very happy!

Wet start this morning in Yorkshire for day 2 of

But lots of breaks in the clouds & they are used to it up here.

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Welborne
Dereham
NR203LD

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