Minnesota State Fair beeswax and honey soap entry

It's been awhile since I've posted and I apologize for that. I've had some personal issues going on and, frankly, just haven't felt like soaping much.  Hard to believe, right??!!??  BUT, I did commit to entering a soap in the Ag-Hort-Bee division of the Minnesota State Fair and I don't like to back down from commitments.  This was my fifty-third year attending the fair and, as I said in a prior post, I've never entered anything for competition in the fair before.  I decided my beeswax and honey recipe was a good fit and here's my entry. I'm without a camera, so excuse the iPhone pic - it at least gives you an idea.  There were five entries in my category and I placed third.  I'll give it a try next year and know more of what the judges are looking for.  The winning entry was colorless and more rustic, so that's the route I'll take when I compete next time!

The Minnesota State Fair officially began in 1849 

 The Minnesota State Fair is the second largest in the country, next to the State Fair of Texas. Ours is a mere twelve days, theirs twenty-four, so I'd have to brag and say that by attendance comparison  alone, more Minnesotan's actually attend our fair !  This is the Bee-Honey entry in the Horticulture Building, a gorgeous piece of architecture. 

Here's the Horticulture Building.  The tower in the back actually lights up with different flashing colors at night and is a landmark on the fairgrounds. 

Here's my soap entry.  My stamp, a replacement as the first arrived from China missing the "i",   arrived three days before my soap entry was due.  I made this loaf at the last minute so it was soft enough to stamp and worried it was too soft to stand up to the heat and handling. It wasn't cured, but it was hard enough to handle come fair time. 

You can't see my white third place premium ribbon (the yellow fifth is for the jar of beeswax lotion next to mine), but I'm happy to have placed !!  I wrote an explanation of how soap is made that I thought might be useful.  I had no idea how soap was made before I started making it, did you?  Yep, that's a little bee on the front bar.  I struggled with whether to use it or not, but he was just too darned cute to pass up. He's made of sugar.  The top of the bar has calendula that I actually wish I'd left off - a little didn't look right and what I used is too much.  Overall a lot of fun to enter and I look forward to next year !!!