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I’ve become addicted to making origami stars over the past couple of weeks. I got some rather nice printed origami papers, and have been folding and folding until I am cross eyed! Once you start it really gets addictive. I’m involved in a rather lovely craft fair at Am Birlinn restaurant, between Dervaig and Calgary over next weekend (24th-26th November), and you can buy sone individual star decorations and some garlands that I have made at that. I should also have some cards, prints and perhaps some other crafts for sale too. Georgia Satchel, Jo Caskie, Helen Murray, Lynne Addy, and Rae Tiernan will also have a selection of their fine work available.

I enjoyed drawing this spiral composition for submission to the Iona Craft Shop’s    postcard art exhibition . The folks there are raising money for a new village hall for Iona, which is a valued centre of life on the island. Works will be auctioned with proceeds going to the new hall. I did two pen and ink drawings on the spiral theme and then carved some lino stamps to decorate the postcards they supplied. I enjoyed the freedom to do something different, and for such a good cause. They are taking submissions until the end of September, so it isn’t too late to get involved. I’m sure there will be loads of real gems in the exhibition.

This week many of the world’s students are donning their robes and celebrating their graduations. I graduated from the University of Edinburgh more years ago than I care to mention, but more recently I completed an intensive foundation course in graphic design at The Graphic Design School (TGDS). I took 2 years to complete the course on a part time basis, but I learned such a lot.

The course taught me to use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, underpinned by a solid grounding in the principles of good design. There are still a gazillion things to learn, but every project teaches me something new.

I was over the moon to be chosen by TGDS as their student of the week not long after I finished the course. You can have a look at my profile on their website here.

I picked up a this great book in Oban’s Waterstones last week, Just My Type, a book about fonts by Simon Garfield. I had gone in to look for a few novels for summer reading as we are off on hols next week, but inevitably I stray into the further reaches of the bookshop and found this in the small design section. I’ve been delving in whenever I have had a spare moment and it’s a great little book full of short chapters giving the human stories behind a host of familiar fonts. Ok, maybe not for everyone, but I’m enjoying it!

No chic-lit here!