December Update!

Hi everyone! Apologies for our absence from the "blogosphere" of  late, we have been a little bit busy working on a number of things that have been pleasant but time consuming. We'll be back to normal soon but thought we'd check in and update you on some exciting* news.

The Swapsies

The best pop folk band Liverpool has to offer have just released their new EP which is accompanied by a neat little zine that us two made especially. The EP is called 'Sparrows' and the zine we did is called 'Feathered Migrants. It's based on the lyrics of the Swapsies song of the same name. Andy from the Swapsies has written all about our little collaboration on his blog, so you should read that. The EP is great so you should definitely buy it. You can also buy it from us here. There's going to be a launch party in Liverpool on December 12th and you can find out all about that buy clicking here.

Young Explorer Etsy shop

We've been busy updating our Etsy shop recently and now you can buy even more great stuff for yourself or for people you like (Note! If you are buying Christmas pressies, make sure you place your order in good time so we're able to get the stuff to you before the big day). You might have noticed that the photos on our Etsy page are quite nice now, and that's thanks to the wonderful Elle Brotherhood who did them for us.

In other news, we'll also be selling things at Liverpool Winter Arts Market on Saturday December 7th too! You should come, it'll be great. 

Anyway, that will do for now. We'll be posting more from now on, I promise! 

*depends on how easily excited you are

Coo & Co's Landbaby Exhibition

We never actually got to see Stef Bradley's Today Zine exhibition at Landbaby, partly because we seem to be stupidly busy all the time at the moment and also because we tried to go and look on a Sunday when Landbaby is closed. Duh!

When we heard that Coo & Co were doing an exhibition there we pulled ourselves together and managed to get down to the shop when it was actually open. Jenny McCabe is super talented! We met her at a craft fair in Lancaster ages ago and her lovely stall, as part of the Make District collective, was definitely the best thing there. She makes loads of lovely textile things, including some 'make your own bird/moth' kits that I really want to have a go at.

You can see for yourself anyway - the exhibition is on until July 20th. And while you're there, Landbaby have a couple of our brooches left for sale too! Here's some photos: try and see if you can guess which ones we took and which ones have been lifted from Landbaby's Facebook page!

Bye!

S

Liverpool Fun!

Despite the bobbins weather we're still hoping to go on as many days out as possible this summer. We spent this weekend just gone in Liverpool and Llangollen, which was super lovely. Here's some photos!

We went to Liverpool fairly early on Saturday morning and went for a walk down Lark Lane. Sadly the Amorous Cat Book Shop was closed. If anyone reading this has ever actually been inside this shop, please fill us in on how amazing/rubbish it is please.

We went for breakfast at a café on Lark Lane and had their 'American Breakfast' which was alright.  I think the pancakes were a bit burnt, but you know, it was still nice. I'm still not sure how I feel about maple syrup with savoury foods, but the novelty of it was exciting enough for me. Syrup on eggs! Syrup on everything!

According to Wikipedia, Lark Lane has a 'bohemian reputation', so I guess it's like Liverpool's answer to the Northern Quarter. Kind of. I think it's probably more relaxed than the latter and it's dead close to Sefton Park, which is a bonus. Imagine how much more pleasant the Northern Quarter would be if it was all green and leafy and that.

Speaking of Sefton Park, that's where we went after we'd had our breakfast. The other half of Young Explorer went here quite a bit when she was growing up in Liverpool and she delighted in showing me her old haunts. The palm house (above!) was restored fairly recently and looks beautiful now. It's definitely worth a visit if domed ceilings are your thing. Or if you like plants and trees.

Over here on the left is a statue of JM Barrie's Peter Pan, for some reason. I'm not sure exactly if JM Barrie has any kind of connection with Liverpool, but either way, they saw fit to erect a statue of his most famous character in the park.

Liz tried to explain a game that her and her brother and sister used to play that involved running around the statue and putting your hands on a designated character around the statue's base. So an independent adjudicator (aka a parent) would shout something like 'two little mice' and the first to touch that character would win. I don't think there were any prizes, I imagine it was just a pride thing. If reading this has confused you then I apologise.

Remember to buy stuff from our Etsy shop or email us at youngexplorerzine @ gmail.com if you want to bypass any annoying login type things and just arrange buying stuff off us like that. Many thanks.

S

Sea Odyssey

Last weekend we went to Liverpool to see Sea Odyseey, a show by a French street theatre company called Royal De Luxe. You probably saw loads of stuff about it on the TV, but we took a couple of photos from our vantage point that we thought we'd like to share.

We went on the Sunday for the finale of the show. In hindsight we should have done more research into where the best place to stand was. We had an alright view though. We could see the dog, the 30ft girl, and her even taller uncle from where we were stood. They walked past and then were lifted by crane on to a waiting boat. It was probably the most creative use of a crane that I've ever seen.

Then we had to walk very briskly to the pier head to get a glimpse of the boat going up and down the river. It was all very impressive and there were literally lots of people around us who seemed to be enjoying just as much as us. I imagine that the shops, bars and cafes in Liverpool were doing a roaring trade all weekend, and it seemed like the whole city was out on the street to watch the puppets in action.