A new beginning

Hello, I'm Magpie Moonshine and I make hand bound books and original contemporary prints; the ones that pass my quality test make it into my Etsy shop here: magpiemoonshine.etsy.com.

I went to a rival's Summer School (shhhh! don't tell etsy!) in a beautiful hideaway in the woods for the Folksy Summer School

I volunteered there and it was really refreshing to be surrounded by other eager creatives. I felt like I'd found my second home: a course in the woods with a wonky wood-framed house.

I was so busy taking down notes and soaking in the atmosphere that I didn't get chance to take any photos but if you're interested in a more detailed round up of the weekend you can find it here: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3d1c6a149b4d82013b3fd0b15&id=10699476e6

Anyway, one of the key things that came out of this weekend was that I've still not got round to creating a dedicated blog for Magpie Moonshine, I have my own personal blog, but that has lately been drifting into a learning log for my Illustration course. So instead of procrastinating, I thought, just start it! and here it is.

So hello to anyone who might be reading this slightly rough around the edges blog. I'm hoping we can go on a journey of improvement together, where I'll be featuring my favourite printmakers, work in progress and maybe offering some tutorials on book binding and printmaking.

I thought I'd start with what I've been up to last night:

I've been playing with old library books and trying out different snowflake designs. A lot of them didn't make the cut and have ended up in here:
 

But some worked out well! I've also been getting the rest of my artist book editions ready for binding. Nearly there..