The Iron Fairies Story

The Iron Fairies are beautiful cast iron sculptures by Australian artist Ashley Sutton.
This eccentric character once worked deep in the mines of North Western Australia.
It was a life of back-breaking labor in difficult conditions.

"I longed to escape the monotony, tedium and gloom," he recounts. "So I created this fairy tale in my mind to help set my spirit free."

In his created world, communities of little miners have lived underground, unnoticed, for hundreds of years, toiling away in the darkness, building their strange machines from the rare red ore of the Pilbara in Western Australia.

One day the miners started making The Iron Fairies and placing them in the gardens above their labyrinthine tunnels.
No one knows quite why.

The fairies slumber in a state of suspended animation until they’re brought above ground, sprinkled with magic fairy dust, and touched by the first light of the morning sun.
Only then are they set free to roam the world, making wishes come true.

If you bring home an iron fairy, you must awaken your new friend also, by following the instructions that arrive with your cast iron sculpture.
Each fairy has a name, the wings of a certain insect, and a poem that tells you what kind of fairy she is.
"Chloe", for instance, is the fairy of Love, and "Jess" is the fairy of Night and Owls. You’ll find that some of them have a rusty sort of look and some are more blue or green.
Blue fairies are the naughty ones—so look out!

Eventually The Iron Fairies will all develop a beautiful patina of natural rust, whether you give them a home indoors or out.