2008 Crafty Bastards Vendor Spotlight: Biggs and Featherbelle
In the week leading up to last month’s Crafty Bastards Festival, we began posting a series of interviews of crafters who were going to be there. Unfortunately, in all the hustle & bustle, we were unable to publish them all. This continues the Q&A’s that we weren’t able to get to!
Just as you shrink from buying soaps for fear of synthetic additives, Biggs & Featherbelle have decided that you should have an alternative — handmade body care products that are free of synthetic fragrances, dyes and additives! Their soaps are made from unique recipes that use the properties of natural resources to heal and nourish different skin types. Pamper your eyes with their array of body butter bars, lip balms, soaps and bath soaks at their official website.
1. Using just three words, how would you describe your work?
Clean, natural and fun
2. What are you doing to prepare for Crafty Bastards? Are there any new products or techniques that you will be trying out for this show?
Making soap…we are always making soap. We are excited because we have a new summertime product. We are bringing our new body scrubs to Crafty Bastards!
3. Is your craft widespread in the handmade community? What makes your stuff different from others in your craft genre?
Surprisingly we never see many other body care vendors at the shows we do. There are tons of great handmade body care folks in the community but there is not an abundance of them at the shows we do. I never frown upon other body care vendors or view them as competition. We are all working together to open up the customers eye to using natural, handmade goodies for their bodies instead of all the commercial junk out there. Our products generally stand out for their ingredients and packaging. We are sticklers for a very clean product with only essential oils and nothing synthetic.
4. Starting an independent shop takes a lot of dedication, planning and hard work. At what point did you realize you had the chops to start your own indie craft business?
We slowly have worked our way into it over five years. The dedication, planning and hardwork never ends but we love it!
5. Where are your favorite places to find your supplies?
We source our raw materials from a lot of different places. A large chunk of our money goes to Columbus Foods for soap making oils and Camden Grey for essential oils. We would love to get everything local but some of our ingredients are unique and not available everywhere. We like to get the best quality and a fair price so we can pass that along to our customers.
6. Crafting is a grassroots revolution of sorts. It’s catching on as people appreciate all things handmade, original, recycled and environmentally/socially conscious. Does this influence/inspire your work? If so, how do you incorporate it into your craft?
Our products are all about being handmade and green so we love the fact that more people are understand and embrace the value of it.
7. After seeing your work, many would-be crafters are inspired to start their own creations. Will you have any DIY kits available for sale at Crafty this year? Could you provide any simple how-to’s or tips for readers who want to get started on their own designs?
People are welcome to ask us questions anytime! We have even done some demos on making products. We learned by reading books and experimenting. If anyone is interested in handmade body care products, we have a lot of good books and information to pass along.
