Olde worlde crafting and chainstore Carly

Last night I went to dinner with some friends, and met many new friends there. It was delicious and fun.

On the walk to dinner at the Provincial Hotel last night (review to come), Jentopia and I passed this wonderful shop which I need to return to. It's the Magic Lantern Studio in Brunswick Street Fitzroy.

There was a man standing in the doorway crafting a face out of plasticine. The face was for a marionette. It was a pretty special sight. In this world of disposable, mass produced disposable stuff, it was lovely to see the handcrafting of toys happening after hours.

We knocked on the door and asked if we could take photos.

Inside the windows were beautifully intricate dioramas of cacti, plants, toy animals and hand crafted marionettes.

Jentopia and I loved this man in white. He looks like Gandhi.

Amazing detail!

You can read more about Magic Lantern Studios here. I really want to go back to look inside, and maybe do an interview with the craftsmen. It's intriguing.

This is what I wore to dinner. Very happy with it, but in a rush (because of my indecisiveness about which top to wear over the red dress - I changed my outfit three or four times), I forgot to wear a necklace. Oh well.

The navy bird top and red dress are from Sportsgirl, grey longsleeved tee is Sussan, jacket is Target, shoes are from Diana Ferrari and hairclip is Mimco. It has been a cool summer so far (but tomorrow will be 40 degrees) so I am loving layering and jacket wearing.

As Jen took this pic, she walked around the footpath to get a good angle, and accidentally almost walked a woman off the footpath. That's why I am laughing.

This is me with my entree. Heirloom tomato, watermelon, feta and mint salad. It was delicious. Stay tuned for the blog entry about dinner, coming either later today or tomorrow.

Oh and this is what I wore to work yesterday. Layering. Temt dress, Portmans merino cardi, Diana Ferrari shoes (they get a workout!) and Sussan jeans. I think there's my handmade ceramic heart brooch pinned on the cardi too.

Have a great Saturday!

(In other news, I just heart Kings of Leon have postponed their March concerts in Australia to November. Sad, but convenient for me, as I am due on a plane at 7.45 am the day after their original concert date, and their concert would have happened on the busiest workday of my year. Thank God!)