Hello world!

Me and Genie making our 'uniform'

It's been a while since I've posted a blog on here, I have been concentrating on my website among other things! But never fear, we are still here!

We have been doing many wonderful things, from refining our Steampunk Jewellery collection and getting involved with some fantastic charity events, to organizing our studio space and creating a monthly newsletter! So lets take a look at the last few months...



Christmas saw us at the Attic Bar (Stokes Croft) for 2 Sunday's of festive, Fabulous Bagfolk fun! Fairy light's definitely added a warm glow to the cold winter air, as did the splashes of colour highlighting the space! We had music and bellydancing, cupcakes and henna, outside the Attic had it's own little festive grill, with German sausages and mulled cider.
It was a lovely note to end 2011 on!

As 2012 rolled along, it became obvious that this is the year! Not just for Moon and Magic, but for all the projects we are involved in and many of our fellow artists! I have dubbed it "The year of opportunities!"

Ours began here, at the Showroom on Park Street, in a dinky little pop-up shop! It was an interesting experience, I learnt a lot about our market and other people's perception of our work. 

The day after the pop-up shop closed we transported all our stock to The Easton Community Centre for a Fabulous Bagfolk valentines market!
It was, in my opinion, the best feeling venue yet, though I have to say even our traders had trouble finding the place! it was bright and airy and didn't need much work to make it feel welcoming.


I really loved the way our stall looked this time, the yellow cloth I had chosen was only meant to be temporary, but I'm definitely going to be using it regularly!

Hosting a Dreamcatcher workshop at the Bagfolk

One of my favourite parts of the day was hosting a dreamcatcher workshop in the lobby, it was mad! I was suddenly surrounded by children, (most of them in pink!) escorted by parents who ended up doing most of the work, but I enjoyed myself and so did they!

 Our last stop in February was another pop-up shop, this time at the Trinity's new enterprise Arts West Side! I went along with Dre's Jewel's to fill up the space with our lovely jewellery (and other) for a week long pop-up shop! It was fun, if a little surreal and paved the way for many inspiring notions! Which I will let you in on, once I know where they are going! In the meantime check out my new side project Bazaar Inspirations and sign up to the newsletter! 

Monstering Adventures

Romina and Boris at St Paul's Carnival

Paul and Zara at Glade

After a sucessful weekend at the Fabulous Travelling Bag Folk I had mixed emotions as some of my much loved Monster Hoods went out into the world. Obviously I was happy to see them find new owners but I am sure going to miss them. And yet over the weeks I have seen my creations tagged in a number of romps around Bristol and I have to say its a thrill to see people love them as much as I do!

I have been busy creating new designs with bigger, brighter impact and some specially tailored points! Watch this space for stegasaurus spikes and gnomish peaks!

Monster Hoods

Meet Wizgone

We do like to switch and turn, to play around with different ideas and skills. The steampunk jewellery was a lot of fun but it is so last season! Now we have moved onto fluffier, terrifying monster hoods to get people dressing up for the festival season. I have to say that these monster's are probably the most fun thing I have ever made, each one is different so I never get bored or tired of doing the same thing. It is so satisfying to produce something that is unique and extremely popular among my friends. Every monster is hand-stitched from recycled materials dug out of my overflowing studio, they acquire names and personalities as they are created and come to life.

This is Splodge, Hammond Splodge

They are given a lining of awesome fabric to compliment the design while also making you look cool even when wearing it down, and to avoid it falling off I have designed counterweight straps that can be worn loose or tied for security. Plus they are an awesome poking device for pesky friends.

Estelle

I have had so much fun designing and creating these monster and can't wait to showcase them at the Fabulous Travelling Bag Folk's first ever market. 

The Fabulous Travelling Bag Folk

I am so excited, for weeks I have been scheming and plotting with some fellow creatives and we have come up with a Fabulous new venture. All of us have attended various market's in and around Bristol, sometimes they have a good turnout, ocassionally it is worth standing around in the cold, but most of the time (in my experience at least) they are disapointing. A lack of publicity is the biggest downer, when all there is to bring people in is a black and white A-board stuck outside on the day it's not surprising there isn't much interest. I have been to market's where the venues is so dark and dingy you can't even see the stall's, there have been times when the venue hosts have made it clear that we are in the way. In short, Bristol has a terrible lack of fun, atmospheric markets.

So me and my fellow schemers have come up with The Fabulous Travelling Bag Folk, we have collared all our crafty friends and hired out a venue, we've brainstormed idea's to get punter's in and enjoying the atmosphere. We've got fancy dress, competitions for the best bearded lady and the most marvelous hat, we have a number of great Dj's on hand. A blank board for our guests to doodle on, wandering entertainers to fill the air full of juggling balls and general carnivally amusement!

Moon and Magic are certainly be going along, we are splitting up the team and will be hosting two stalls. My sister is taking charge of the steampunk jewellery, spats and custom suit jackets, while I'll be presenting our newest venture...Introducing Moon and Magic fantastically unique and terrifyingly cosy MONSTER HOODS!!!!! Oh yeah, handmade from recycled materials and designed with much enthusiasm, each one is individually crafted and has it's very own personality.

If you want to enjoy a day of entertainment, fantastic handmade goods and support local crafters of Bristol then hop along to:

The Greenbank Pub

(Easton)

14th May 2 pm - 2 am

More information will be available soon, in the meantime stick it on your calendar, tell all your friends and join our facebook event!!!!

Blue skies 

Luna

Steampunk

I've been hit by a bug, it's hard and shiny and it's great! I spent this morning flitting in and out of second-hand shops and boutiques in Clifton (Bristol) I picked up some great finds to turn into funky SteamPunky jewellery. My best finds this week though came from a Timspon's key cutting shop. Their rubbish bin turned out dozens of keys in various shapes and sizes and this awesome watch-strap which made this Choker. They even gave me a little bag of metal glitter, offcuts from the key-cutting machine. They are very shiny but super sharp so I'm going to have to think of a safe way to incorporate them.
Besides picking up random bits and pieces my mission today was to find some shops that will sell my work. I found two perfect little stores called 'I Love Crafty' and 'Bamonte Clothing' (you should check them out) They are complete opposites, one's fluffy and pink and sells fairy cakes while the other is a bit more edgy but they are both awesome!
Anyway enjoy the weekend,
Lu.

Today was a day of many crazy processes from hand dying old lace with red onions to pulling massive parts of metal apart. After much discussion and many cups of tea we (Luna, Taz, Genie and Lucy) crammed into the tiny little studio and rummaged through a box of metal scraps. There was anything and everything to be found and we were all quickly consumed by the excitement of piecing together our junk to form beautiful controlled mess. 

..Tazie..

Blue Skies for the New Year!

Hello world!
Moon and Magic have had some days of inspirational research, in the weeks to come we will be busting out some fantastic products under the title 'Dereliction'. We are smooshing together the up and coming trend of SteamPunk with the wild colours and textures of nature!

This year we're working to get our Etsy shop fully up and running with new products being added weekly. Check us out on Squidoo where you can keep up to date with our work. http://www.squidoo.com/moon-and-magic

Inspiration and motivation!!

My creativity is the sort that needs to be restrained, or at least directed. I find I can start ten projects at once and finish less than half, I always have trouble getting those two buttons attatched or adjusting the hem before I get distracted. Yet these past few months I have been working on a number of items for my christmas stall and I'm finding myself overwhelmed by so many projects. (I wont even mention the amount of mess all this creates.) Late nights of dressing peg dolls in festive felt tunics while watching hours of Project Runway have filled my head with some great ideas for the new year. Having watched people design, create and complete outfits for modelling in just a few days I am determined finally to reign myself in.
The first step this morning was a bit of glossy research, (though we probably got more entertainment from the magazines numerous questionnaires than anything practical) before we ventured out to meet our newest member of Moon and Magic (Lucy Hill). Armed with tea and biscuits we delved into her bag of crafty goodies, and introduced her to our assortment of weird and wonderful concepts. After pulling skirts and dresses out of the cupboard we began to discuss possible inspirations for a Spring collection. By the end of the day we settled on a theme of Bugs and their habitats, with a plan to visit Bristol Zoo and spend a few hours in the Butterfly forest and BugWorld. Yay! So the next step will be a fun filled day of photography and sketching to get some fresh design ideas swirling around.
A new face and some refined brainstorming has given Moon and Magic a bit more direction, and injected some fresh enthusiasm into the group. Roll on the New Year!

Luna