Maddabling: Friday Friends, Australian ETSY Sellers

Hello dear readers, welcome to another edition of Friday Friends. Maddabling took a well deserved Birthday holiday break this week and enjoyed really good food (including a Chocolate Factory and Ice-Creamery), the company of good friends and a fantastic time trekking around Mammoth Cave.

Mammoth Cave is located 21km South of Margaret River. Revealing prehistoric fauna from over 35000 years the Mammoth Cave provides easy viewing of fossil remains. The Mammoth Cave was first recorded in 1850, later explored in 1895 and was opened in 1904. It was quite a humbling experience to be in the silent gothic caverns of this cave, amongst the ancient formations.

This week I am thrilled to introduce you to an Australia Soap Artistan - Sharon of Platypus Dreams.

Platypus Dreams have been making unique gourmet soap and bodycare as a full time business for well over 8 years, a small boutique business based near Mackay in the Whitsundays in Queensland Australia.

As I am a bit of an addict when it comes to handmade bath and body products, this gave me the perfect excuse to purchase some products from Sharon to try for myself. They are all completely gorgeous; the packaging and presentation is just beautiful.

I had great difficulty in using the cupcake in my bath as it is so pretty and smells divine, but I relented and really enjoyed the beautiful bubbly bath it produced. The scent lingers on your skin too - luscious !

Seriously though, aren't these things just so pretty ? I can promise they really smell gorgeous too ! The soap really is a work of art and is delightful to use, soft and gentle on your skin.

Dear readers, I invite you to dip your toes into the virtual bathtub, take some time to relax and read all about The Delights of Platypus Dreams. See you all next week x

The Delights of Platypus Dreams

Who is Platypus Dreams ?
Hi, I am Sharon the artisan behind every product you see at Platypus Dreams. I have been making soap, bath and body products in the Whitsundays in Queensland under the label Platypus Dreams for the past 8 years.

Everything you see when you receive one of our products is handmade by me, from the beginning -
including the formulation, the mixing, packaging right through to the graphics on the labels. It is all printed and designed in house.

What inspires you?

Everything and anything can bring inspiration, the key is manipulating and moulding that inspiration so that it will fit the market place. Inspiration can come from art, food, nature, patterns on material or even a customers need for a product.

Inspiration is drawn from different places depending on the type of product that needs to be made, then the packaging and finally the label design and presentation. It can also come from a scent, close your eyes and smell something. What image does it create in your mind? What do you feel? Now evolve that metal imagery into a product and take it even further, through every step of production to the finished product. Keep going further with that image, push it onto a shop shelf, in a customer’s hand, in the customers home. Does this idea tick all the boxes, if so then maybe it’s worth bringing into being.

What mediums do you work with – do you have a favourite?

I work with many mediums and hundreds of ingredients from herbs, botanicals, extracts, clays, colours, essential oils and fragrances. Shape, form and design is the strongest with soap and this is my favourite medium as it can be shaped and moulded within the constraints of what you can do with soap. There are limitations but first and foremost the formulation is the most important.

What kind of things do you make/create?

Where does one begin. I make mainly soap and it is all goats milk soap, the soap is divided up into different categories. Natural Soap or Fragranced Soap, plain square cut in bars or logs or fancy topped bars of soap. Then there are the cupcake and cake style soaps where I can really be creative.

I also make other products like bubble bath cupcakes, body scrubs, body butters, lip balms, bath bombs, liquid soap, body sprays, soy wax melts and perfumes.

Do you have a favourite piece that you have made/created ?

Everything is a favourite until I make something new and better which always seems to happen. Presently the cake range is my favourite and I love every one of them. This will change with time of course otherwise I would not be an artisan. I think an artisan never stops designing and creating new things. Funny thing you know... I never considered myself an artisan when I first started. I think we are all artisans one way or another if we create, the longer we do it the better we get.

What are your future plans/dreams/aspirations ?

Presently I am happy where I am at. I can see Platypus Dreams being around for a long time, that is while ever I still have the passion and love for what I do. I would like to thank Samara for contacting me to be a part of this blog.

Dear Readers, here is how you can connect with Platypus Dreams.

You can shop for lovely things here :

http://www.platypusdreams.com.au/