Biggs & Featherbelle

1. What is your website?

www.biggsandfeather.com

2. What do you make?

We make all natural body care products free from synthetic fragrances, dyes and additives. They are purposeful, fun and full of quality ingredients. Our line of body care products include soaps, lip balm, bath soak, belly balm, body butter bars, body scrubs, gift sets and a lot more in the works!

3. How did you get into making stuff?

A Martha Stewart magazine article inspired us to make 'melt and pour' glycerin soaps as Christmas presents. With backgrounds in the Fine Arts and Fashion, we both had fun creating unique recipes, packaging and clever names for each item. The gifts were a big hit. Our family has always been proponents of alternative healing practices and consumers of natural beauty products. So, it seemed fitting to continue exploring the benefits of botanicals. The innocent investigation soon turned to obsession. We quit our day jobs and devoted every hour to research and invention, striving to create the products we couldn't find on the shelves.

4. What is your favorite thing about the local fiber community?

Everyone in the local fiber community appreciates everything handmade including handmade body care products! They really understand the importance of quality and the handmade aspect.

5. How does what you do/make influence the rest of your life, and vice versa?

Our business is our life! It is all about soap...we never really leave it. Our business has taught us about how to create balance in life. Also we have much more of a appreciation for a well handmade product. We understand what a labor of love is now. It is wonderful how our business has connected us with so many talented indie crafters and the natural products commmunity.

6. Any funny stories, words of wisdom, something else to share about
you or your business?

Learn as you go and don't dwell on the little mistakes.
Take advice from the right people and don't let other people's opinions affect you too much.
Love what you do! Stay organized.

We have had so many funny stories and experiences over the seven years. I sometimes wish we wrote them all down. Something that always sticks out in our mind is our first version of packaging, which was about 5 versions ago (nothing is ever final). I believe we were taking handmade a little too literally and realized that we couldn’t make every detail perfect! We used to cut out circle sponges to stamp a large sheet of paper, then cut it into squares, then the part that always make us laugh is that our mom would sew the paper on her sewing machine together to make a bag for the soap. Mom really felt like she was working in a sweatshop hunched over her sewing machine for hours at a time, which is why our packaging eventually evolved into what it is today. Although we still do everything ourselves and probably create more work for ourselves than necessary…we have fun doing it.