Shows and more shows

We haven't been writing for awhile- sorry! It has been crazy crazy crazy here at Soapzilla. We keep pretty busy, between making soap and dealing with all the hobbies that led us to soapmaking in the first place. It's amazing how much time it takes to tend to bees and a garden, and to harvest and dry the hops and herbs and flowers we use in the soap. Honey harvest is intensive too, but no matter how sticky and messy the place gets, you're always so giddy over the gallons of honey that you don't care.

Our soap maker became a Master Beekeeper this year, and is working her way from Association Honey Judge to Senior Honey Judge. Part of this involves entering, and winning, honey shows, and accruing points. It takes 100 points to move up to Senior Judge, and a first place only gets you 6. We're even happier about the quality of the honey and beeswax we use in our soap and lip balm now, because in just one season it won enough ribbons to get her the 100 points. Our bees happened to get their best harvesting done when sumac was blooming, which makes a dark-colored honey, so our honey soap this year is being made with what is now officially the best dark honey in the state. 

Now that honey show season is over, it's time for autumn craft shows! Soapzilla will be showing off our craft beer soaps at the first annual Ponce de Leon Beer Festival - and we greatly enjoyed the Great Atlanta Beer Fest, especially the part where we got to drive our truck on a sidewalk and into Turner Field (craft beer aficionados can find our craft beer soaps at Ale Yeah in Decatur and Roswell if you're not the festival type). We'll also be at the Holiday Bazaar at Serenbe Stables this year, which we're looking forward to (because everything about Serenbe is awesome anyway, so a holiday bazaar PLUS Serenbe PLUS Santa? Epic).

And possibly the most fun of all, this year we're happy to be participating in the Indie Craft Experience Holiday Shopping Spectacular, which, if you've never been, is indeed spectacular. Awesome music, a well-stocked bar, and the most perfect holiday shopping EVER for those who prefer to give unique, hand-crafted gifts in lieu of mall fare. We usually set aside that day to go and shop, not to mention just people-watch and have a good time, but if you couldn't tell, we're thrilled to actually be a part of it this year. And if we haven't sold you on it yet, the first 250 people through the door each day get a swag bag filled with all kinds of goodies from the vendors. Soapzilla's contribution is 500 (!) cute bags with soap samples and an event-exclusive coupon code you can use for any direct purchase (i.e. from us, and not one of our retailers). Actually, we kind of feel bad for the other vendors, because we assume that making 500 of anything might be hard on the hands- but with good soap, cutting and smoothing 500 samples did wonders for our hands. Soapzilla for the win!

Come out and see us at one of our events- and keep an eye out for new stuff. We have some great things in the works!