Bekah Stonefox is a 45-year-old artist from the UK who specializes in creating intricate works of art with hundreds of colorful strips of paper.

The talented artist has been honing her quilling skills for the last five years, and has put together quite the impressive collection of artworks, from detailed portraits of imaginary human characters, to animals like dogs, cats and even gorillas. Bekah’s most remarkable skill is using various quilling techniques to depict various textures, like the fur on mammals, the feathers on birds, or the skin of reptiles. It almost seems like there is nothing she can’t recreate from tiny bits of paper.

While many quilling artist use multiple techniques in their artworks, Bekah Stonefox relies only on the on-edge technique to make her creations look as realistic as possible.

While you’re here, you may want to take a look at the works of Danny Schleibe, the creator of a unique art form called “tapigami”, which uses vinyl masking tape instead of rolled bits of paper.

Photos © Bekah Stonefox

Head covering, veils and burqas are common sight among many Muslim communities around the world. There are a lot of different styles and each have their own name, but none of these come even remotely close to the vibrancy of the boregheh mask.

These colorful masks are donned by the women of the Hormozgan Province in southern Iran. They are available in a variety of shapes and styles, but the most common ones are rectangular, pinched between the eyebrows to create a sort of vertical wall running along the bridge of the nose and across the forehead. A rectangular slit over the eyes allows the wearer to see. They are most gorgeously decorated with embroidery and beads.

Photo: Eric Lafforgue

The styles usually vary according to region, ethnicity, and religious affiliation. Shia women wear red rectangular masks, while those of Sunni women are black or indigo with gold and of less geometric shapes. One peculiar design is shaped like eyebrows and moustache. It is said that this mask was designed centuries ago as a ruse to fool potential invaders into thinking that the women they spied from a distance were in fact men.

The masks are thought to have practical and cultural purposes. They shield the skin and the eyes from the sun which can be very harsh in the Persian Gulf.

The masks are worn by young girls as soon as they hit puberty. They are also worn at social events and gatherings.

These pictures were captured by photographer Eric Lafforgue, who spent time travelling around to meet the women who make and wear these masks.

Photo: Eric Lafforgue

Photo: Eric Lafforgue

Photo: Eric Lafforgue

Photo: Eric Lafforgue

Butcher Billy (born Billy Mariano da Luz, in Curitiba, March 14, 1978) is a Brazilian artist and graphic designer known for his art pieces and illustration series based on the contemporary pop art movement. His work has a strong vintage comic book and street art influence while also making use of pop cultural references in music, cinema, art, literature, games, history and politics. Often crossing reality and fiction, his projects promote creative concepts that reference fictional characters with real life personalities such as musicians, artists, historical figures and politicians.