Category: Ephemera

Jane Austen Mini-Convention in San Mateo, CA

Our friends with the Jane Austen Society of Northern California let us know that there was a mini-convention in the works for March, 2017, and we got prepared.

Our proprietor was able to find a suitable outfit to wear, created and loaned by creative and  talented Lynn McMasters, who also created the outstanding Timeline of Fashionable Hats for Ladies and Gentlemen during the time period of Jane Austen, that was on display at the Public Library in San Mateo.

We had delightful historical and literary presentations by a number of members of the Jane Austen Society, live music and country dancing.  Ann Morton provided delicious cakes and other desserts for our consumption. We had a game of Whist, presided over by Deborah Borlase. Our Proprietor offered a hands-on writing workshop for those who wanted to learn or revive their skills with the quill pen and ink, folding paper and sealing it with wax. We had a marvelous turn-out of all ages of people, met some old friends and made some new ones.

It’s now been requested that we help organize a program, like this one, as a fundraiser for the Vassalboro Grange in Maine, with Full Circle Farm founders Jody and Bernie Welch, our Proprietor’s sister and brother-in-law. So stay tuned, gentle readers, for more information about that event, coming your way in August, 2017.

2017 Events planned so far

SLD at Bellevue 2017

The photo above was taken at our friend Kristen Caven’s book release party, an event called An Afternoon at Caffe Florian. It was held at the Bellevue Club in Oakland, CA.

Just prior to the Afternoon at the Bellevue Club, our Proprietor attended a dance with friends in Alameda, CA that was a Hogwart’s Reunion Ball, hosted by PEERS. Evidence of her attendance is below.

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But wait! There’s MORE! Coming up in March, our Proprietor will be attending the Jane Austen Society of Northern California’s Mini-Con at the San Mateo Library. She will be instructing students in the art of letter writing, using a variety of historically appropriate quill pens, ink, sealing wax and paper.

We are getting sponsors for this event, and the most prominent is the San Mateo Public Library, where last year’s event was held and was a huge success.  So that’s on Saturday, March 25, 2017, from  Noon – 4:00 PM at 55 West 3rd Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94402. Many of us will be dressed up in our Regency attire, which is in no way required. There will be presentations, dance instruction, lectures on various Jane Austen related topics and of course hands-on workshops like this one on Letter Writing, entitled,  “Creating Regency Letters with the Tools of Jane Austen’s Time.” Who knows? There may even be tea served!quill

July, 2014

Yesterday was July 14, Bastille Day and we acknowledge this with our annual singing of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. We also acknowledge that there has been little activity on our site for some time.

We thank you, dear reader, for your patience as the proprietor of the Emporium has made many transitions throughout the last year.

We have been renovating the studio and find that we have some stock left that readers may be interested in, namely the Tarot of the Tailors, a divination deck of cards, shown below.  If anyone you know collects tarot cards or is a seamstress, this is a fine gift. Please contact the proprietor if you have questions about this wonderful, unique deck of cards.  We offer them  on discount, now at just $8.00 each plus shipping.

Please be in touch with us. We want to hear from you.  Thank you for your support!

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Update: Malvena Pearl’s Emporium has moved!

Good day to you, adoring fans. Our proprietor would like to make the official announcement that we have had a major transition. The Emporium is now set up in a house in the lovely village of China, Maine.  Some of the House Elves are calling it “the future Command Central” of the Emporium. In fact, ur new location is just a few doors down from The Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China, Maine.

What’s that you say? You don’t see a link describing the namesake of said library? Or anything about it? That’s because the Emporium’s Wikipedia House Elves need to get their butts in gear and research that and update Wikipedia with that vital, missing information. WOOT!!

In other news, Please note that our committee was only able to bring four bags with us on our journey here. We only had room for basics because we stopped off to join the lovely and talented hi-jinks ringleader, Laura Ulak, along with Renaissance Seamstress Arte Moltabocca, Saharazara, and The Cheap Chick in Edina, Minnesota, for CONvergence 2013. For more details about that now-lost weekend and all of our preparations, please see Arte’s blog, Diary of a Renaissance Seamstress, entry here. For another version of our Costume Sorority week at Chez Ulak, please see Laura’s blog, Rocking the Frock.

So, as we return to the topic at hand, let me remind you that we do not yet have access to our paper library, which was amassed previously by our proprietor. Aherm.  We currently only have the digital resources, which while they are very helpful are not what we are Accustomed To. Nor do we have — ulp — our major tool, the sewing machine handed down to our proprietor by the proprietor’s mother, that once belonged to Grammie Robbins, aka Malvena Pearl herself. We are also in need of a real ironing board and iron. But that will come with time. We do have a functioning washer, dryer and internet access. And our phone number has not changed!

Please bear with us as we complete our set up of our new diggs. We are available for design, hand-sewing, repair and other consultations.

Our new address is:  Malvena Pearl’s Emporium, 809 Lakeview Drive, China, Maine, 04358

For driving directions, please email the proprietor as the exact location is just down the road from the mailing address.

SIDE NOTE: Our friends and allies from BIBLIOMANIA Bookshop in Oakland, California have given us an Ephemera mission, to aid them with their collection of postcards – only of LIBRARIES. So that will be one assignment that our Ephemera Elves (a sub-set of the House Elf Committee) will be taking on this month. Dear readers, if you find any inexpensive vintage postcards of libraries in your area, do please drop us a line! The folks at Bibliomania want old postcards in good condition – no matter if they have already gone through the mails – that is usually a bonus.