In an atmosphere of steampunk inspiration, they use feathers, coins, leather, chains, metal, jam-jar lids, even bicycles to create extraordinary kinetics installations and impressive accessories, such as belts, hats, necklaces, hairpins.

If you would like a taste of Brighton’s Steampunk world, don’t miss visiting The Boiler Room Studio, on the Brunswick Town Trail. And if after your visit, you crave a bit of steampunk inspiration, why not have a look at our very own Steampunk Accessories and Steampunk Softies and let those creative juices flow?

Perhaps one sunny day, you may fly over the world, in one of these…

The Heart of Mindful Relationships is due to be the next addition in June but the series is so popular we’ve decided to let you have sneak peak.

Maria is a London-based mediator and counsellor who works with couples to help heal and mend troubled relationships. She is the founder of the Centre for Peaceful Solutions, has a master’s degree in mediation and conflict resolution, a diploma in counselling theory and practice, and is a Reiki Master!

In this guide to compassionate communication, readers are talked through the spiritual and practical applications that mindfulness can offer and will gain a deeper understanding of their connections and emotions for peaceful wellbeing.

If you own an iPad or ePub reader, head over to the Leaping Hare Twitter page to find out how to win a free copy of Maria’s book!

@LeapingHareBks

T minus one day to LBF

11:00am - We turn up to Earl’s Court on Sunday morning faced with an empty stand…four or five hours later everything is in place and ready to go. Dummies, books, blads etc. all in their proper places. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the stand in perfect order

5:00pm – We head off to check into our hotel for the week and head out for a well deserved dinner. The view from my room was particularly interesting this year!

Day One

8:30am – The sales team descend on the stand ready to sell, sell, sell!

9:00am – The fair is is full swing, and for the next two days there’s barely room to move around the stand. The sales execs have meetings every half an hour from 9am – 18:00. Over the whole fair that adds up to over 200 meetings for the Foreign Sales team alone!

9:05am – This year’s display arrives! Carried by our intrepid Art Director through the rush hour on the train, it made it unscathed! Last year we had Knit Your Own Royal Wedding which you may remember causing a bit of a stir; this year it’s Paper London. Not quite as attention grabbing as the knitted royal family, but in Olympic year when London will be the focus of the world, it has everything you need to construct your own miniature metropolitan masterpiece!

Day Two

The fair continues apace. It’s so busy that I didn’t have time to think about taking a single photo.

Day Three

8:30am – One unlucky member of our team had her birthday at the fair, but our Rights Director, Meike Schoenknecht made it as nice as possible. Check out the sparkles!

2:15pm – I finally made it off the stand to take a look around. I’d been meaning to look down on the fair for years!

5:30pm – The stand starts being pulled down around our ears and in an hour or so everything is boxed up and ready to go back to the warehouse, where it will wait until the Frankfurt Book Fair. Only a short 6 months away!

If you got this far, thanks for reading. See you next fair!

Author of Titanic Love Stories, Gill Paul, will be giving a series of talks over the next couple of weeks. A great opportunity to find out more about the couples on board the ship; their backgrounds, how they met, their weddings, their plans for the future – and how they coped when, from celebrating their marriages they suddenly found themselves fighting for their lives.

An informative and engaging experience for Titanic enthusiasts and non-specialists alike, a great chance to learn more about the breathtaking and mournful history of the liner.

Gill will be at the following events throughout April:

Sunday 8^th April – Belfast City Hall, 1pm. Part of the Titanic Belfast Festival.

Tuesday 10^th April – Southampton Cineworld, 7pm. A 30min talk before the final screening of Titanic 3D, with the chance to buy copies of the book afterwards.

Wednesday 11^th April – Southampton Solent University Conference Centre, 7pm. Gill will be giving a talk alongside Christopher Ward, author of And The Band played On as part of Southampton City Council’s Titanic Week.

Saturday 14^th April – Croydon branch of Waterstone’s, 1pm. Book signing.

Our fantastic new Ivy Kids imprint was successfully launched at the Bologna Book Fair where Ivy exhibited at the Publishers Association stand.

There was a great buzz at the fair and everyone seemed upbeat.  I hugely enjoyed being back in Bologna, the very heart of children’s books.

We had a busy schedule and got the thumbs up from our international partners with positive feedback on forthcoming titles and new presentations.

And good to see some inspiring illustrations at the illustrators exhibition.  Several publishers seem to be doing more arty and adventurous stuff, for example our Italian partner Inter Logos with their dark Illustrati imprint.

As for Ivy Kids, we will be focusing on what Ivy does best.  Stylish craft and non-fiction.  The Ivy Kids catalogue is now available online and the first six titles will be published this coming September.  Watch this space!

With a lot of interest generated and several new contacts made, it was definitely worth attending the fair – and plenty of reasons for coming back next year.  And that’s before taking into account Bologna’s dolce vita, the sun, the architecture, the food, the wine, the grappa…

If the word best-selling sounds vague, the generous contribution by our statistically minded colleague is bound to put everything in place, in less than 30 Seconds: Nine titles, 20 languages, over half a million copies sold worldwide, one third of which in French language. Plenty of choice for everyone. Take your pick of title and language. Published in France by Guy Trédaniel Editeur and in French speaking Canada by Les Éditions Hurtubise

Steampunk fashion seems to be a big thing at the moment and, living in Brighton, I thought there must be some local events happening. Sure enough, last Saturday, I found myself at the Steampunk Hidden Market, borrowed steampunk hat on head and tail-coated boyfriend in tow.

An array of fancy hats, clothing and jewellery were available from the Octopus Emporium, Chanchala and Cuttlefishlove stalls and most items were much cheaper than I had expected. One stall was offering a £1 lucky dip of steampunk inspired scrap materials – a great way to start for anyone looking to make their own jewellery.

Octopus Emporium

The market was free to attend but that night the Marlborough Theatre was also host to the Steampunk Hidden Nautilus (I wouldn’t normally advise taking a stroll down a dark Brighton backstreet but this place really is easy to miss). The events’ popularity was clearly marked by the queue for tickets winding up the stairs and along the corridor, but queuing was well worth it for what turned into an interesting and most definitely irregular night out. Highlights included mermaid burlesque from Billie Rae and champion chap rapper Professor Elemental delivering rhymes on tea*, and crumpets…

*NB Steampunks love tea, coming in close second is gin

Some more steampunk events coming up:

Major Jack Union’s Victorian Monster-Hunting Tea 26th / 27th May @ the Hendrick’s Library of Delightfully Peculiar Writings, Brighton Fringe Festival

Thomas Truax 23^rd March @ Stcky Mike’s Frog Bar, Brighton (and touring rest of the UK)

A Journey into Steampunk Festival 24th / 25th August @ Llanfillyn, Wales

The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff – new comedy on BBC iPlayer

Steampunk Clothes

Lucky Dip

As per the agreement, pictures of me wearing the hat

Getting electrocuted

The nights' eccentric host

Nice side burns

Fully working iPod-powered gramophone hat

Mermaid Burlesque

Professor elemental

Great to see Love Bakery given pride of place in the window of cookware specialist, Steamer Trading!  And what better excuse than Valentine’s Day to indulge in a delicious Red Velvet Cupcake or two? We’re all heart here, so we’re sharing this gorgeous Love Bakery recipe with you.

A ‘red velvet’ is essentially a cocoa-based, cream-cheese-frosted American delight. The actual red velvet part is the red food colouring that is used to give the cupcake base its gorgeous, rich colour. When you go through the ingredients for this recipe, don’t be afraid of the white wine vinegar. Just keep to the quantities and you won’t even know it’s there, but it’s vital to ensure that this rich, dark cupcake stays light as a feather.

A ‘red velvet’ is essentially a cocoa-based, cream-cheese-frosted American delight. The actual red velvet part is the red food colouring that is used to give the cupcake base its gorgeous, rich colour. When you go through the ingredients for this recipe, don’t be afraid of the white wine vinegar. Just keep to the quantities and you won’t even know it’s there, but it’s vital to ensure that this rich, dark cupcake stays light as a feather.

? RED VELVET CUPCAKE RECIPE ?

Makes 12 cupcakes

EQUIPMENT

12-hole muffin tin
12 muffin cases
Freestanding electric mixer
Mixing bowl
Spatula
Teaspoon
Ice cream scoop, size 16
Wire rack
Medium piping bag and large star piping nozzle or palette knife

FOR THE CAKES

60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
20g cocoa powder, sifted
2 tbsp red food colouring
150g plain flour
140ml buttermilk
21/4 tsp baking powder
41/2 tsp white wine vinegar

FOR THE FROSTING

40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g full-fat cream cheese
250g icing sugar, sifted

FOR THE LOVE (optional)

Pink heart-shaped edible sprinkles
Sugar-paste roses and leaves
Silver edible glitter

From some simple cut out shapes she made the coolest of all the star signs Aquarius the Water Carrier, and once she’d started along came…

…Leo the Lion…

…and Libra the Scales!

If anyone out there is having a go at crafting these astrological cuties we’d love to see them. You can find us on Facebook or on Twitter @Ivy_Press.

The Sweat Shop Book embodies the ‘less buying – more trying!’ spirit of the original Sweat Shop Sewing Cafe in Paris,  with an an eclectic mix of sewing, knitting and crocheted projects.

The February edition of Popular Crafts is available in shops now and stars the gorgeous Tulip Dress. The next four editions of Popular Crafts will each feature a complete project from the book (including the Martena Hat – my personal favourite – channeling a real 70s vibe). What better excuse to dust off the sewing machine than free flamboyant sewing  projects? Now is the perfect time to start making in time for the summery months!

Twisted Hoodie in the March issue on sale 17^th February.

Banana Bag is the April issue on sale 16^th March

The Martena Hat in the May issue on sale 20^th April

Todti’s Jacket in the June issue on sale 18^th May (in time for Father’s Day).

Tulip Dress

Twisted Hoodie

Banana Bag

Martena Hat

Todti's Jacket