Slowly the list is been ticked off, however there are so many steps and actions still to take. First action to take was to get more work for more money.
A couple of extra shifts a week at Mu Mu find me slowly but surely achieving the end result. It also gives me the opportunity to promote the in house show, The Madame Mu Mu House Dinner Party Show. Check it out.
I am constantly asked the following two questions.
Are you Madame Mu Mu?
What are you doing back here?
Working in a provincial town and at a popular venue, your life is constantly on display, especially here in Maidstone. Everyone wants to know your business and where you are going.
It’s been really refreshing as so many people have been very encouraging about my decision, and surprisingly the Kent County Council employees keep letting me know about the schemes available to new businesses starting out.
Not only is it a great way to promote our show, but also my label. The amount of people that say, “I love hats!” is staggering.
Right so where am I right now?
I have completed my course at the London College of Fashion; Millinery Summer School. I met some incredible people who had travelled worldwide to attended this course.
When I started I promised myself that I would write about the days spent working and learning on the course. This has now resulted in me writing out my epic amount of notes and re-sketching the diagrams that I drew whilst learning. I believe that this is good enough for me as a way to store those pleasurable memories of doing what I love to do.
What I will note is the amount of talent in the class. These gals and guys are a Petri dish of talent waiting to explode onto the scene. It was a great lesson to see how each person’s imagination works, prep for when I can one day afford to employ a talent such as these to be creative and work towards a great result. A great experience.
Here are the five hats that I made whilst on the course. I would highly recommend this course and our teacher, Chloe Scrivener, was brilliant. Calm and constantly reassuring us all as we panicked over a difficult block or flimsy felt work.
I took this picture of the college halls one morning whilst walking up to our classroom. I imagined the talents that have walked it and was so pleased to be apart of it.
The last day was most exciting as each of us were privileged to be filmed and photographed for the LCF Website. Very exciting, and yes, vain. I keep searching for when it is uploaded so I can see how shaky my hands were as I tried not to prick myself with a needle then swear it out. Watching this space.
The work continues and the support I am shown by my family and friends is still inspiring me to continue this, dare I say it, journey towards my goal.
Talking of support, a very talented artist called Kate Hayton has made me two beautiful heads as my studio models. Rose and Lea made out of clay help me illustrate the direction I want to take the label in.
Here they are constantly pouting. I have also re-shot all the product available on my website using these gorgeous studio models.
My mother, Mums the Word, helped me buy my first lot of blocks. I would highly recommend Hat Blocks Direct for quality and service. James is incredibly helpful. Thank you Mum for the help and constant belief, support and love.
The day they arrived it was like Christmas came early. It sure did come early. Nine crowns, three brims, a collar and a hat stand. I am yet to bring my file-load of ideas and sketches to life.
There are days when I get so depressed because, financially, starting out is so hard and money goes towards the important things you may need. As it comes in its already been allocated to a section on that epic list. I keep saying to myself, Rome wasn’t built in a day!
The other morning I walked down our stairs from our bedroom and noticed the lovely light the dawn was spraying through my studio window. That day I tidied it up; as you can see, it was beautifully messy.
Moments like this remind me of why I am doing what I am doing. I am forever in doubt of my decision and suppose I will be until I can see a confirmed result. The question that keeps ringing in my head is; do I give myself a time frame when I give in and look at being employed by another milliner (ideally Phillip Treacy or Stephen Jones or Jane Taylor or, oh my god, Victoria Grant!)?
I suppose practice makes perfect, so whilst I’m a drag queen in a local cabaret restaurant one must try and keep working through that epic list.
Each time I sketch, the piece is created in my head into a 3D finished product and stored safely away in my mind. Every one is constructed, line by line, as I sketch the idea into my records. Notes are made on each sketch to remind me when making them, the thought process.
I know there are other creative people, all working from the same zeitgeist. At least if my idea is sketched and filed away and I see it being executed by another milliner, I know I am on the right track. But this can also be a huge frustration for me when I am strapped financially, choosing to be until the time is right, then I see another creative person executing their ideas.
My partner keeps telling me (and rightly so) that the sales from one piece should fund the creation of the next. I agree, but I also believe the risk is worth taking.
For me it affirms that I am doing it and putting myself out there to be criticised and seen as someone serious about my decision. As my sisters always say, “all fart and no shit.” I don’t want to be that person.
Only time can tell and we shall see. I have said before, and will do time and time again, how I cannot wait to have created this monster and let it roam amongst the public. It’s a scary thought, but I will always be faced with scary things to tackle. I just take a setback on the chin and realise it wasn’t that bad.
I have become a reader of all these inspiring quotes about life in general, that I used to brush by. Some of them resonate with me and I shall leave you with this one for now.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Abraham Lincoln
Thank you.
xoxo
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