Our first class!

Well, tonight Made on Marion hosted its very first class. Claire from the Vanity Case took six gorgeous women through the process of making themselves up, 1920's style. With the most interesting commentary on the reason the makeup style evolved. 

I was over the other side of the shop putting my range of iDyes out (SQUEEE!!!) and it was such a lovely way to spend an hour - listening to Claire while sorting my iDye into colour order.

So two firsts - first class and first shipment of one of the best dyes ever. A certain brand had dye gone, shoved unceremoniously into a basket for likely flogging off, and now we have Rit and iDye in our all purpose line up to complement the specialist wool and silk dyes. 

And what a bevy of lovelies we ended up with!

Actually they were lovely in the first place, but by the end they were specifically 1920's-1930's lovely. And I got the impression that everyone had a lovely time too! :)

United against disposable stuff!

I don't live a perfectly ecological life, far from it. But like most of us who have a half an eye on the planet, I have my particular obsessions.
My peeve is with disposable stuff. I avoid using disposable anything, even if it is biodegradable, because I figure there is always another way. After all, we got by for centuries without disposable products.
Anyway, I cannot do without the makeup pads to put my toner on each morning and it was a burden on my conscience, so recently I decided to try and make a reusable pad.

 These little cuties are prototypes I've been trying out. Scraps of quilting cotton sandwiching a cotton batting inner, zigzagged around the edge (zigzag first, cut after), and a stitchline through the middle. All made of offcuts.

They're doing a great job! I use a side each day, and then throw them in the wash, where they take up not a single bit of extra resource, of course.

They are a little more abrasive than cotton wool pads, but I actually like that. I thought about using a flannel fabric, but was concerned that it would leave traces of fluff on my skin.
And I was going to bag them in and be all fancy, but a friend suggested I just zigzag around the edge, easy peasy. It works.
The only issue left is how to stop them creeping into the front of the washing machine, where they escape the spin cycle and come out soaking wet!

Week one of Made on Marion

I have never been so tired in my life! Oh wait, yes I have. Every first week of every new job. It's so easy to forget how much energy it takes to learn something from new. :)
On Sunday it was my birthday and our first day of actual ownership, so we had a working bee with cake, and many wonderful friends turned up to help rearrange the entire shop. Of course, I didn't know where to begin so I was very relieved when my dear friend Ross turned up and took over. Ross who designed my fabulous kitchen and is a spatial genius. He also somehow managed to avoid being in any photos!
The amazing Sarah took lots of photos that delight me so I'm just going to pop a whole lot in here to hopefully delight you too:

 Perfect white hearts. I think they are a bit odd but come Christmas time we're going to have fun turning them into beautiful tree decorations

 Cane, cane, cane.

 Craft or alchemy?

 I love the heads! The wall below it is now completely different, and crammed with crafty goodness :)

 Lots and lots of ways to string beads, pendants and bone carvings. 

 My indulgence - little sugar paste flowers. Claire and Zoe donned gloves and bagged these up for the shop.

Action shot. Me at counter doing??? The Embroidenator cleaning a window sill. And she is teaching 3D flower making too! What a mother, what a woman! :)

So this is where I am every day. It's fun and hard and fabulous and scary all at once. No wonder I am tired ;-)