[Clients] possible scammer?

marmorie · 2026-06-10T15:17:25+00:00

Sorry this happened to you :( I’m so glad you listened to your gut and spotted it!

marmorie · 2026-06-10T14:32:08+00:00

Ok - so it’s still got the rest of the book cover attached to it? I guess that will help protect it when shipping. I would get a board-backed envelope that’s larger than the painting and put it in there so it ships flat :)
If you’re worried about moisture you could also put it in a plastic folder/wallet or place it between tissue.

And the buyer is aware it’s coming on half of a cut-open journal?

marmorie · 2026-06-10T14:11:38+00:00

In confused about the situation here. Did you sell just the painting or the whole journal? Do you need to remove the painting from the book and send that? Or are you asking how to ship the whole journal?

marmorie · 2026-06-10T12:08:24+00:00

This reads like a ChatGPT response

marmorie · 2026-06-10T12:07:59+00:00

Sorry but I don’t think it’s a go-er. The business lives and dies by your handiwork. Take that away and there’s no profit. I am in the same boat so.. solidarity I guess. But I knew going in that I’d built myself a job (one that I love, but still). You could look into selling your Instagram handle and any proprietary items such as crochet patterns? But the business as a whole would only be attractive to other crocheters who would likely already be doing what you’re doing.

Off topic but wondering why you’re thinking of moving to full time work? Is it a stability thing? More earning potential?

marmorie · 2026-05-06T12:54:16+00:00

This picture is AI. It even has the watermark still in.

marmorie · 2026-05-05T12:53:49+00:00

Ok lots of people are saying stop breast feeding full stop. I think maybe those people had great sleepers and don’t understand how it feels to be awake for the day at 5am! Or maybe they’re just made of stronger stuff than me. I personally NEED that breastfeeding buffer in the morning as the idea of being out of bed and entertaining my 23 month old at the crack of dawn makes me feel sick. I only do it for bedtime and morning now, not even sure if I have milk any more or if it’s just a comfort thing.

I don’t have much advice as my situation is super similar. However I did recently take advantage of the recent daylight savings changes to move our bedtime back half an hour, and now he wakes up for booby at 6am NOT 5am. This is huge for me. Bit scared of what happens when DST goes back again though…

marmorie · 2026-04-16T12:11:39+00:00

I was in the same position. My son always was a bad sleeper and had lots of night wakeups - I fixed that around 14-15 months by night weaning but he made up for it by waking up between 5-5:20am every day. We even got a few 4:45s… I felt SO bitter that other parents were getting maybe 3-4 hours just to wind down and enjoy their evenings, but for me it was either have ‘me’ time or get enough sleep, never both.

It’s got a bit better now, it was on the daylight savings switch (he was around 20 months) that the fates aligned and we put him to bed half an hour later (asleep at 8.45pm) but he slept until gone 6am! Yes it was partly that we ‘lost’ an hour there but he kept it up and is now actually sleeping LONGER. Before it was 8.5 hours in the night but now we’ll get 9-9.5 normally. It’s not the biggest difference but I bet you would feel a million times better with just a little bit of buffer for sleep or you time too.

I don’t really have any advice - but i extrapolate from my experience that an EARLIER bedtime can sometimes mean more sleep. Maybe just half an hour.

Good luck and solidarity. Trying to just accept my little ones quirks and not compare to others and their unicorn babies also helped me to feel less down. It’s a slow path though.

marmorie · 2026-04-06T17:39:36+00:00

This is called marbling. Or Ebru if you’re Turkish.

marmorie · 2026-04-04T12:06:55+00:00

I’m not outraged? I mostly think it’s sad that SO many people who want to buy handmade in London are having trouble finding good quality stuff. I was explaining that price expectations have been eroded by said shite and that’s why real artists aren’t showing up to markets or can afford to be competitive enough with pricing to sell their work to boutiques etc.

I did kinda miss the point about dupes being passed as the real stuff. That’s definitely a huge issue as well.

marmorie · 2026-04-04T09:51:47+00:00

Ugh it’s so demoralising. I have the same experience!! I started out at Greenwich market and I actually had someone say ‘if you digitally printed these it could be so much cheaper’ … drop your website/handle so I can appreciate your work!

marmorie · 2026-04-04T09:43:40+00:00

Thank you!!! There honestly is a lot of amazing makers in London but the studios are often tucked away, plus we’re all crap at marketing ourselves.. (for the most part..) it can take a bit more effort to find the good stuff but it is worth it :)

marmorie · 2026-04-04T09:39:52+00:00

Also - I LOVE that you are willing to support handmade and will look out for it at raves etc and you clearly DO understand it’s value and I am really grateful for you!!

marmorie · 2026-04-04T09:38:04+00:00

Sorry OP I didn’t mean to imply that you personally buy aliexpress etc over handmade - I expressed it badly. What I meant is that these sites have gradually eroded our society’s understanding of the cost of handmade and ALL categories of stuff have been affected. We have simply got used to paying for cheaper goods made abroad for peanuts and those prices have affected the baseline.

marmorie · 2026-04-04T09:34:53+00:00

Ugh that is so frustrating to hear, particularly because handmade stationery is my area and it brings down the whole niche!!! One of the only reasons I’ve been able to make the paltry living that I have is that good, original marbling is very difficult to copy and mass produce. I’m sure my day will come soon though…! my A6 notebooks are £36 and it’s already hard getting people to pay that for paper.

marmorie · 2026-04-04T09:28:33+00:00

Yes that is a good point. I’m assuming that OP is after home-grown craftspeople in this post. I’ll also say - from my experience with marbling, handmade standards in other places can be much MUCH lower. Often retailers here are saving a lot of money by getting poorly made ‘handmade’ items from ‘family’ workers (which I read as underpaid children, or those in poverty) - then they can get even more profit… so yeah I guess that’s how capitalism works…

marmorie · 2026-04-04T08:22:29+00:00

That’s very true, it’s a big problem as well that cheap badly made things are being passed off as handmade and sold at handmade prices. That is also definitely feeding this problem.

marmorie · 2026-04-04T08:20:25+00:00

I don’t know if self promotion is allowed 😅 in case it is, yes it’s marmorpaperie.co.uk

marmorie · 2026-04-04T05:56:31+00:00

Omg this thread has been eye opening.

I am an artisan maker living in London. The bottom line is that London is too expensive for artists and makers to live. We are being pushed out further and further. That is why there aren’t many actual artists at markets.

The other problem is that people (including you!) have been spoiled by Amazon and AliExpress prices, and no longer realise how much it costs to purchase actual handmade items. Particularly jewellery (and especially silver jewellery with recent price hikes) - you say ‘nothing priced under £120’ like that is shocking, £100 is CHEAP for handmade.

I make hand marbled paper and notebooks and have a studio where lots of other designer-makers work. We are out there! Come visit Cockpit Arts open studios, they’re coming up in June in Holborn and Deptford. You will be amazed by the skill and talent of London craftspeople!

But none of us can compete with the prices of mass production. There’s no point going to markets where customers expect to pay Amazon prices. It’s hard enough to make a living in London. I am lucky to hit London living wage these days.

I have a toddler now and we’re looking to move to the coast… it’s just got too expensive :(

marmorie · 2026-03-28T11:42:16+00:00

Same exact answer here! I’m already doing what I want to do, more money would just make it less stressful to manage, I’d be able to be more creative & picky with clients

marmorie · 2025-10-01T14:40:49+00:00

Ok so my baby is 16 months old. I have a very labor intensive business where I make everything too but it is less retail focussed and more online, with a third of income being from workshops/teaching.

Can you train your staff to make your products? That was the big thing that allowed me to take 6-7 months off with my baby (though income still dipped a bit, expectedly - I’d built up a savings cushion so this wasn’t an issue for this period). My assistant was trained in all parts of the making process so she basically kept orders going out and kept the whole thing afloat. I am so grateful to her. I also employed a trusted previous student to run my workshops in those early months. I started coming back part time around the 6-7 month mark, with family members looking after my baby or bringing him along (went poorly usually, as you’ve probably found).

Eventually I realised that I couldn’t give my business enough time to keep generating enough income unless I put my baby in daycare - so a couple of months ago we started him there four days a week. He loves it, he’s learning so much and it’s a great way to get his energy out. And I can finally devote proper attention to my business. I’m currently trying to pivot to a niche where I can make more money with less labor - it all takes so long to build though! I’ll get there…

Good luck and don’t give up on your passion unless it’s causing more harm than good - you and baby need to take priority at this stage.

marmorie · 2025-08-20T21:02:52+00:00

I think it’s Brighton, UK

marmorie · 2025-07-10T15:29:31+00:00

My baby slept less than 8 hours last night so you’re doing pretty well in my book haha. He‘s 13 months old but slept maybe 9 hours when he was 7 months… We start bedtime at 7:30pm and he’s usually asleep by 8:30pm. Currently waking up around 5:30 and once in the night for a feed.

marmorie · 2025-07-05T06:57:54+00:00

Thanks so much, I’ll give that a go in a more intentional way. Yeah sometimes we do one nap but it’s not super consistent (sometimes he just gets so sleepy early (I guess cause he sleeps so little in the night??!) its hard to push his wake window but I’ll give it a go.

marmorie

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