Platypus Max Blog — how its made

As a life-long maker, artist, and designer, it was a real surprise to me when I learned what an amazingly versatile material leather is to work with. But before leather, there was clay. For me anyhow. If you’ve ever worked with clay, you may be familiar with the term “leather hard” and there’s a reason for this! Before it is dyed and sealed, raw vegetable tanned leather acts a lot like leather-hard clay, taking stamps, and impressions of various found objects.

I discovered this while trying to make myself the perfect hair barrette. I love the simplicity of putting my hair up in them. Elastics just don’t work all that well for me, I just can’t get the hair to sit the way I like it in front. But I get annoyed by finding cute or pretty barrettes at craft fairs or even at Target just that don’t seem like they were designed to hold my full head of hair. Some pinch some were put together with hot glue and fall apart after a few uses, and some just don’t hold. I wanted a barrette that would hold all of MY hair, and I wanted it to look pretty. 

Hello and welcome to my journey as a designer, maker, online shop owner and chronic upcycler. What a journey it has been, and I feel like I am just starting off on the upswing of it, with the destination yet to be seen. 

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As a designer or artist, there is a sort of magic that takes place when your work goes out into the world and is purchased by someone other than your mom or best friend -- a complete stranger is out there validating that what you have done is real enough to spend their money on it.

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Making things that are sustainable is also of critical importance to me. This doesn't always mean the same thing. Sometimes it's about less material, sometimes it's about durable materials, and sometimes it's about finding a use for trash, and I am happy to say that I feel like I'm generally finding the sweet spot on this with everything I create.