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xphaiea.bsky.social
XPHAIEA
@xphaiea.bsky.social
Tom Cherry • Bedfordshire, UK

Textile artist inspired by folklore, myth, magic and the macabre ✨🌞

https://xphaiea.bigcartel.com/products
#bookmail looking forward to reading this new @britishlibrary.bsky.social collection of #supernatural tales!
December 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
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John Bauer (Sweden, 1882-1918) :
St. Lucia with Seven Candles, 1913

Swedish postage stamp design
Gouache on paper

Bauer's mystical, folklore-inspired style made this image an enduring symbol of Swedish Christmas and the Feast of St. Lucy (December 13th). Celebrating St Lucia’s Day today! 🕯️
More 👇
December 13, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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D
December 1, 2025 at 8:28 AM
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Sphagnum moss spore capsules/sporophytes. NWT, Canada.
#moss #bryophyte #fungifriends
December 12, 2025 at 12:36 PM
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The Groke is a ghost like character in Tove Jansson's Moomin stories. She embodies the idea of the darkness, the cold. Tove loved all things scary & unknown #WomensArt #Winter ❄️
December 11, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Sid is enjoying rolling all his balls underneath the Xmas tree and then pining for them to be returned.

#dogs #borderterrier #dogsofbluesky
December 11, 2025 at 7:40 AM
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December 11, 2025 at 7:21 AM
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This is the second time I have photographed one of my favorite Mycena species - this one is found on leaves and has regular water droplets along the stem for a reason which remains a mystery to me.

From the Chocó Andino region of Ecuador.

#mycology #fungi #mycena #fungifriends
December 10, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Frosty spiderwebs 🕸️🕷️❄️
December 11, 2025 at 7:33 AM
December 8, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Tiny little cluster of mushrooms growing out of a bench ✨
December 8, 2025 at 8:39 AM
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Thanks again to all contributors to another phantasmagorical #PhantomsFriday! Particular congratulations to @chriswoodyard.bsky.social who absolutely stormed it with a single post (with a fascinating image I'd never seen before either).
Picture is 'The Incantation' by Anton Machek, 1931.
December 6, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Stuck for gift ideas? Lots of little handmade items on my website ✨

xphaiea.bigcartel.com

#shopsmall #smallbusiness #christmas #yule
December 6, 2025 at 8:28 AM
November 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
It's been raining all day but now it's cleared just in time for sunset 🌅
November 29, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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'What do you want, dark ghost! Where are you going?'
-Guido Gezelle

🎨Moritz von Schwind
#PhantomsFriday
November 28, 2025 at 9:47 AM
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Another of Prof Ronald Hutton’s excellent Gresham College Lectures
www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/go...
Hecate: Mistress of Magic
Hecate started as the ruling goddess of the Asian region of Caria, and got taken over by the Greeks as the only one able to operate in every realm of the cosmos. This then gave her special responsibil...
www.gresham.ac.uk
November 29, 2025 at 12:47 AM
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Bat Friday
November 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM
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New art doll available on my website

The Forgotten Queen
I love her and she has to be one of my favourites ever.
littlebirdofparadise.bigcartel.com/product/the-...

#bsnm #handmade #artsky #witchsky #Christmas
November 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Another Mossy Troll waiting to be photographed tomorrow 💚✨

#goblincore #troll #britishfolklore #artdolls
November 27, 2025 at 9:21 PM
November 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM
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A small wip. She is supposed to be a Christmas Fairy but so far, she looks more like the ghost of a Victorian child 😅🤣
Let's see what happens with her today...
Happy weekend everyone ❤️

#folkart #handmade #dollcreation
November 22, 2025 at 8:14 AM
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daamn Caitlin R. Kiernan was looking sooo good in this H.P. Lovecraft documentary from 2008 like wow shes so goals. Bleaching the top + front while keeping the ponytail dark was srsly such a high-tier maneuver for the time (she wrote a really good book called The Drowning Girl & you should read it)
September 27, 2025 at 12:47 AM
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On this day in 1982, #TheSistersOfMercy released their third single, the iconic "Alice". On the other side is "Floorshow", another storming Sisters classic!
November 21, 2025 at 10:14 AM
a mystery mushroom has sprung up in a pot in the front garden
November 21, 2025 at 7:33 PM