Cora the Cow

After yesterday's long post, I'll keep this one short.

I love animals.  I also love living in Iowa.  When driving around Iowa, you can't go too far without seeing cows grazing in fields.  With so many farms in Iowa, I thought it would be fun to make some cow soaps.  I named the soaps Cora the Cow just for kicks.  Each soap is made by hand individually, so each Cora the Cow is similar to the others, but not exactly the same.  That’s one of the things I love about making them individually.   The picture below shows how they look similar but have little differences too.

To make Cora the Cow, I start by filling in the black or brown spots with soap.  I wait for that to set up.  Then I pour the white soap at just the right temperature.  If the white soap is too hot it will melt the black soap that is already in place.  Once the soap hardens, I take it out of the mold and let it sit for a bit.  Then I paint the pink parts with paint made just for soap.  Cora is scented with a fresh outdoorsy fragrance.  Each Cora the Cow soap is individually wrapped in shrink wrap to help her stay fresh and beautiful.

State Soaps Iowa and Nebraska

I saw some state shaped cookie cutters a while back.  Guess what?  They can also be soap cutters J

The cutters don’t always stand up the best to soap, but with a little finessing, I can get them to work. 

I like that I can make endless color combinations or these, or even just “float” the state in clear soap.  I started with Iowa because that’s my state.  I don’t have cutters for all 50 states yet, and there may be some that just won’t work.  But I look forward to working with as whatever states customers want. 

I made Iowa shaped soaps in red and gold and in black and gold.  I need to do one in purple and gold too.  I also did one in red and white because red is my favorite color.  I’m also thinking green and yellow or green and white would be good to go along with the state slogan of “fields of opportunity”.

I also made some Nebraska soaps because I have a few friends who are from there or live there.

What state would you like to see?  What color combination would you choose?