There was no clear reason why Dave Sheed felt so drawn to crafting miniature fairy doors for trees across Langford and beyond – only a quiet pull towards something whimsical and enchanting.
But when the 86-year-old created a door of a different kind to his past, he found an unexpected magical surprise – fairies are in his blood.
Originally from England, Sheed’s ancestors can be traced back to 18th century Scotland, where his distant relatives went by the name of ‘Shee’.
Translated from Gaelic, the name means “dweller on fairy hill,” explains Sheed.
“It's in the blood … I’m a fairy dweller,” he said with a smile. “It shook me, especially as this was not how I got started, it was afterwards.”
According to Scottish folklore, fairies were believed to inhabit the hills and mounds of the land – hidden worlds where the boundary between the natural and supernatural blurred.
These fairy folk were said to be capable of both mischief and kindness, and their presence left its mark on the landscape. Many Scottish place names, like Glen Shee – meaning Fairy Glen – reflect the deep-rooted connection to the mythical underworld.
For nearly four decades Sheed has been building doors to this magical world of fairies – thousands of them, by his estimate.
“Everybody in Victoria must have one of my doors,” he jokes. “One lady told me she was sending one to Africa …. lots have gone to the States, England too – they're all over the world.”
Each door is lovingly handcrafted from wood, with bright paint, tiny hinges, and embellishments like miniature doorknobs or flowers. Some are custom orders – painted in a favourite colour or inscribed with a name – while others are left to Sheed’s imagination.
His doors are now on sale at granddaughter Shayla Hann’s gift shop Hann Made, located in a converted shipping container at The Langford Station on Station Avenue.
But Sheed doesn’t do it for the money, his reward comes from the reaction of the youngsters who admire his work.
One fairy house he built for a local daycare business holds fond memories for him.
“The kids were nuts about it, “ he remembers. “And the owner told the kids that I was Santa Claus's brother.”
While fairy doors are Sheed’s calling card, he’s no one-trick imp. He’s also created wooden portraits, hand-carved trinkets, and even dabbled in poetry and painting – he’s also a published author, with two children’s books under his belt.
Sheed is certainly not one to sit around twiddling his thumbs.
“I’ve always needed to be doing something,” he said. “Before I retired I was an insurance agent ... I saw people lose their sense of purpose. I didn’t want that to be me.”
Sheed is not the only crafty one in the family – he’s one half of the “crafty couple” – a nickname lovingly given to him and his wife of 64 years, Pam, by the crafting community.
But Pam was creating handmade treasures long before her husband picked up his first piece of wood.
She was once known as “the doll lady,” knitting dolls that found homes across Canada and overseas.
Though arthritis has brought an end to Pam’s knitting days, she hasn’t slowed down. She now focuses on crafting intricate greeting cards, all sold alongside Sheed’s fairy doors at their granddaughter’s gift shop.
Pam also lends her skilled hands to her husband’s creations, adding the finishing touches to the doors. She also still finds time to pursue her love of portrait painting.
“We’re just a crafty family,” says the 84-year-old, smiling at the creative legacy now carried on by their children and grandchildren – three generations of a crafting dynasty.
Now, after six decades of marriage, countless craft fairs and thousands of fairy doors later, Sheed has no plans to slow down.
“As soon as I finish one, it’s on to the next – there's one on the table now that I have just started," he says.
“He does it all day long … he doesn't do anything else,” adds Pam with an eye roll, a fond one, despite the growing to-do list at home.