# Mardi Gras Soap Challenge Photos



## AlchemyandAshes (Jan 20, 2013)

Ok, I just can't wait anymore...I introduce to you:

*FRENCH QUARTER VOODOO - 19th Century Black Lager Soap*


Inspired by the infamous Marie Laveau 
(Voodoo Queen of New Orleans 1794 - 1881):


A black cat's tooth and a crow's foot
A knot to bind and some chimney soot
A pepper, a bone, and some red brick dust
Upon her tomb, scratch 3 X's  you must
To hail the French Quarter Voodoo Queen
Who's spirit still walks in New Orleans
(By Shawnee Kircher)

This soap is made with Old Dixie Brewing Company's Blackened Voodoo Lager. The natural color is accomplished by adding the lager at trace, and swirling with Activated Charcoal. The scent is reminiscent of a French Quarter Voodoo shop ~ a bit smoky, earthy, and sweet with the faint scent of beignets...Essential Oils of Lemon Myrtle, Anise, Patchouli, Cassia, and Palmarosa. This is part of my current line-up of soaps made with alcohol (The Spirit Collection) and is a top seller.
_I also made the turtle shell rattle in the picture_ :wink:

Who's next?


​


----------



## dianne70 (Jan 20, 2013)

Don't think mine compares at all to yours Shawnee...but here goes.  This is "Celebration" with an Essential Oil mix of White Grapefruit, Bergamot, Lemon and Mandarin


----------



## melstan775 (Jan 20, 2013)

I love them both! Shawnee I love the poem you wrote to go with yours. You're endlessly creative.  Dianne, so pretty! It's crazy and colorful like a Mardi Gras parade!


----------



## squigglz (Jan 20, 2013)

My party soap xD
















I love the star cut outs and glitter, and it smells amazing. Cutouts were done with hemp melt and pour and glitter and colorant, and the rest was done with glitter, palm oil, coconut oil, castor oil, sweet almond oil, and olive oil. The colors are oxides.

I scented it with raspberry porter FO, with a touch of bonsai and sage and lemongrass for the outdoorsy hint. I was going for the 'party in the street' thing, haha.


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

*Here's my first attempt...*

I feel sorta sheepish followng you guys, but...
Mine's called "Late Night at Cafe du Monde."  It's made with coffee and scented with Cinnamon EO.  And it really does remind me of getting coffee and beignets late after a Mardi Gras parade on a cold, rainy night.  The recipe was undersized for the mold eh...live and learn.


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

*Second Attempt*

Took another run at it... This one was my first ever attempt at a peacock swirl...not too shabby for a first time out.  It is scented with tea tree oil and lemongrass.  The whole house smells incredible from it....like srpingtime at a spa.


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

*Final shot...*

The cajuns have an expression called "lagniappe" which means something extra, special or unexpected at the end.  That's this single bar of soap that came from the leftovers of my peacock swirl.  It also, obviously, also smells of tea tree and lemon grass, but the bold beautiful colors just blew me away. I threw it in a plastic bowl just to not be wasteful, and look what came out!


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

melstan775 said:


> I love them both! Shawnee I love the poem you wrote to go with yours. You're endlessly creative.  Dianne, so pretty! It's crazy and colorful like a Mardi Gras parade!



Agreed!  And a poem too???  Sheesh, I thought I was an over-achiever.  :razz:


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

Will view more and comment later...so far they are all quite impressive.  Gotta get ready for church.


----------



## deb8907 (Jan 20, 2013)

wow!!!!  Pretty amazing soaps!!!


----------



## green soap (Jan 20, 2013)

I am so impressed with the challenge soaps you folks have made.  Very inspiring.

This is my second year celebrating this season with a theme soap.  Here is last year's Mardi gras soap for which I used CP inserts:


----------



## green soap (Jan 20, 2013)

And here is this year Carnival soaps.  

"Carnival in New Orleans". Carnival is the season between Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas) and fat tuesday. Fat Tuesday (Mardi gras) is the day before ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent. The gold, purple and green honor the colors of New Orleans during this very famous pre-lent carnival season. The scent is an all essential oil blend: spearmint, lavender, lemon, and Haitian vetiver for a little voodoo mojo.  The colors are all botanical: annatto, indigo, beta carotene and alkanet.  Because of the way botanical colors work, they are made from three different lye batches.


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

squigglz said:


> My party soap xD
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Your "confetti" is just awesome.  Are they m&p?


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

green soap said:


> I am so impressed with the challenge soaps you folks have made.  Very inspiring.
> 
> This is my second year celebrating this season with a theme soap.  Here is last year's Mardi gras soap for which I used CP inserts:



Beautiful.....nice blend of artsy and hand-crafted. A soap that I would love to display but wouldn't be afraid to use too.


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

AlchemyandAshes said:


> Ok, I just can't wait anymore...I introduce to you:
> 
> *FRENCH QUARTER VOODOO - 19th Century Black Lager Soap *


 
Do you mind sharing your estimated coast per bar of this soap?  What are it's dimensions/weight?  How much will you sell that bar for?


----------



## AlchemyandAshes (Jan 20, 2013)

DWinMadison said:


> Do you mind sharing your estimated coast per bar of this soap?  What are it's dimensions/weight?  How much will you sell that bar for?


My bars are a little over 6.5 oz and sell on my website for $6.00. I do discounts at shows for multi-bar purchases...but I'll be honest and tell you that pricing has never been my strong point. As I stated in another thread: I don't wanna be the Wal-Mart of soaps, nor the Harrod's. I don't want my soap to only be "luxury purchases". Could I sell for higher prices? Probably. Would I have as many sales? Probably not. Volume over singular profit? Does it all end up the same? Hell, I don't know. I make soap.
Dimensions are 3.5" x 2.5" x 1.5"
For a 6 lb batch, I would use 1 bottle of lager, concentrated down to 6 oz. The cost of that one bottle, if purchased as a single, is $2.39. I use 1 tsp of Activated Charcoal, which basically adds up to pennies for cost because I buy it by the pound. My base oils are Olive, Coconut, Palm, and Castor...so depending on how big of a bulk order I placed would determine cost per bar. Same with the EOs...I usually buy 8 oz - 1 lb at a time from Camden-Grey, and my usage rate is 4.5% of total oil weight. *The usage rate considered advisable on this forum is 3%...I have experience in Aromatherapy and with these oils and I am confident using these particular oils at this rate.
So after all that babbling, my bars usually are around $1.50 manufacture cost. I'm a one-woman show in my business...I make the soap, labels, many of my display pieces and the like, not to mention I'm a super thrifty shopper (always on the lookout at thrift stores/sales for tools & equipment)...but I do not add in a "labor cost" into my pricing. I do for wholesale accounts.

I can give advice on soap and herbs or essential oils all day long...but business accounting and numbers...not so much.

P.S. the poem I wrote is on my label opposite of my ingredients. I try to put a little story pertaining to the name of the soap on the label that matches up to the sign in front of the soap on the table display...a little request from a customer! So now all my labels have the story of the soap to which they are attached.


----------



## dianne70 (Jan 20, 2013)

I love all of them so far......I think we are a talented bunch of soapers!!  Keep them coming please


----------



## melstan775 (Jan 20, 2013)

Really amazing! Some similar designs - looks like you guys had big parties on the brain. No wonder, it IS Mardi Gras after all!


----------



## SoapAddict415 (Jan 20, 2013)

Ok, I'm going to try this again. I posted my picture this morning but I don't know where it went. I tried posting it again a moment ago but something happened & I got kicked off the internet. So I'm hoping the third time works! My soap is called festival of colors. I used 7 colors & some uncolored batter. The colors are purple, green, yellow, orange, blue, pink & black. The orange & black disappeared somehow. I scented it with lavender & lemongrass EOs. Everyone made some very beautiful soaps! I hope we have more picture swaps!


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

SoapAddict415 said:


> Ok, I'm going to try this again. I posted my picture this morning but I don't know where it went. I tried posting it again a moment ago but something happened & I got kicked off the internet. So I'm hoping the third time works! My soap is called festival of colors. I used 7 colors & some uncolored batter. The colors are purple, green, yellow, orange, blue, pink & black. The orange & black disappeared somehow. I scented it with lavender & lemongrass EOs. Everyone made some very beautiful soaps! I hope we have more picture swaps!



Love it! The swirls really capture the essence of a Mardi Gras parade.  Did you use a hanger swirl?


----------



## AlchemyandAshes (Jan 20, 2013)

dianne70 said:


> I love all of them so far......I think we are a talented bunch of soapers!!  Keep them coming please


I second this emotion! :wink:


----------



## deg195 (Jan 20, 2013)

WOW- so impressed all of these soaps look amazing! wish I smell them


----------



## SoapAddict415 (Jan 20, 2013)

Thanks DWin! I used a rubber spatula to swirl. This time I used evoo instead of pomace & my batter just wouldn't thicken like it does with pomace. So, with a cup in each hand, I poured 2 colors at a time, side by side down the length of the mold. I then swirled in every direction with my rubber spatula. Spooned my uncolored batter on top. Scraped what was left of the colored batters out of my mixing cups & drizzled them on top, then gently swirled them together. It didn't turn out the way I expected but I still think it came out nice & they smell wonderful!


----------



## squigglz (Jan 20, 2013)

DWinMadison said:


> Your "confetti" is just awesome.  Are they m&p?



Yes, I'm sorry, I forgot to state that the confetti was MP as well.


----------



## MaitriBB (Jan 20, 2013)

Wonderful, everyone!  I am at a farmers market for a little while yet, and will post pics of mine when i get home . You are all so talented.


----------



## maiseycat (Jan 20, 2013)

Everyone's soaps are so colourful and pretty!

Mine are a little plain looking, but I am loving them anyway. To recap what I said in the challenge thread, when I think of Mardis Gras and New orleans, I think of food and drink. So I decided to make a red beans and rice soap. I used Rice milk for my liquid, ground up some red beans as fine as I could get with a coffee grinder, and used lard as one of my oils to represent the ham. 

Too soon to really give it a good tryout yet, but I think the rice milk really added a very silky feeling to the soap from the scraps I tried, and it's definitely an ingredient I would experiment with again. I imagine it would add a fair bit of label appeal for vegans, for anyone who sells their soap. Due to the natural sugars, add it to your soap the same as you would coconut, goats or any other milk,  and don't be like me, and think "it has no fat, I'll just straight up add my lye" and burn the sugars in it, and have to mix your lye solution again.


----------



## AlchemyandAshes (Jan 20, 2013)

green soap said:


> The colors are all botanical: annatto, indigo, beta carotene and alkanet.  Because of the way botanical colors work, they are made from three different lye batches.


Beautiful colors! Definitely Mardi Gras colors!
I have never gotten that true of a vibrant purple from Alkanet...do you mind sharing your method to achieve that purple? I use Alkanet all the time, but it's usually deep dark purple or some lighter duskier purple. Still recognizably purple, but not as vibrant as yours.


----------



## MaitriBB (Jan 20, 2013)

Yay mine turned out nice!
















Goat's milk soap with coconut, castor, grapeseed, lard, shea butter, a touch of cream, and kaolin clay.  Fragrance is a Tangerine Yankee Candle dupe from Saveonscents.  I used multicolored jojoba beads from BB and confetti shavings from other soaps of mine.


----------



## dianne70 (Jan 20, 2013)

I love the jojoba beads...they look great....might have to get me some of these


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

*Oops Almost Forgot These Guys*

These are the ovals I made with the Crystal Lite cointainers...Would have been great IF I had remembered fragrance.  Still...great little hand soaps for the powder room.


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

MaitriBB said:


> Yay mine turned out nice!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

maiseycat said:


> Everyone's soaps are so colourful and pretty!
> quote]
> 
> I think it looks great.  Reminds me my mom's "grease can" where she kept bacon drippings.  That not a dis AT ALL.  In a southern home, bacon drippings are like gold.  In fact you can't make a decent rb&r or gumbo...no much else cajun without them.


----------



## TeriDk (Jan 20, 2013)

They are all beautiful soaps.  Nice work.


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

Hey all...there may be a few more stragglers to come in, which would be great, but before I get busy planning for work tomorrow, I wanted to thank everyone for playing along.  This was really fun.  I learned tons over the past few weeks from my own experimenting with various techniques and tips from reading this board.  I'm not sure how or why I became interested in soap but it sure is fun.  I feel sorta like Noah, when God told him to start building in arc...in the dessert.  In a funny way, I feel like this is something He is calling me to do.  Will be interesting to see where it goes.  Let's pick another challenge and get to soaping.  Maybe we could ask the board for suggestions, then vote on the winning theme for the next "Soap and Tell."  Thanks again all...especially you experienced soapers for sharing your gifts and experience and putting up with us "newbies."


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

DWinMadison said:


> Wow.  I've never seen those beads before.  Makes me want king cake.  Can you use candle scents in soap making?  Great job.  I've already learned tons.



Where do you get those "sprinkles?"


----------



## dyclement05 (Jan 20, 2013)

DWinMadison said:


> These are the ovals I made with the Crystal Lite cointainers...Would have been great IF I had remembered fragrance.  Still...great little hand soaps for the powder room.


\

Gorgeous and I love the shape! I have a bunch of crystal lite - the packages are going in a ziploc bag so I can use the containers for molds! Did you line them or oil them down at all? Were they easy to get out of the mold?


----------



## melstan775 (Jan 20, 2013)

Wow ll of you did such a beautiful job.  Everyone's ideas pay excellent tribute to New Orleans and Mardi Gras. Thank you for sharing!


----------



## MaitriBB (Jan 20, 2013)

DWinMadison said:


> Where do you get those "sprinkles?"


 
Saveonscents made a fragrance oil for soapmaking that is a duplicate of Yankee Candle's Tangerine scent.

The little beads are jojoba beads from Brambleberry.  The confetti is soap shavings.


----------



## dianne70 (Jan 20, 2013)

I'm excited...would love to do another "soap and tell"......it was fun......and best of all was seeing everyone's creativity....pity we can't smell them though!


----------



## DWinMadison (Jan 20, 2013)

dyclement05 said:


> \
> 
> Gorgeous and I love the shape! I have a bunch of crystal lite - the packages are going in a ziploc bag so I can use the containers for molds! Did you line them or oil them down at all? Were they easy to get out of the mold?



Thanks. Like the Pringles thing, I cut the bottom off, flipped it over and used the top as the bottom secured with duct tape. I did line them w/ freezer paper, and they were still a little tough to remove, but I may have taken them out a bit early.  They would be really nice in a stack of 5 to 6 1/2" thick bars stacked in a cellophane bag for a hostess or teacher gift. They would also make great "sample" soaps.


----------



## Momonga (Jan 20, 2013)

Beau savon!  But waking up to a shower with some of these, I would either eat the soap, which is not good for me, or I would spend the rest of the day with a sweet tooth!


----------



## green soap (Jan 21, 2013)

AlchemyandAshes said:


> Beautiful colors! Definitely Mardi Gras colors!
> I have never gotten that true of a vibrant purple from Alkanet...do you mind sharing your method to achieve that purple? I use Alkanet all the time, but it's usually deep dark purple or some lighter duskier purple. Still recognizably purple, but not as vibrant as yours.



Alchemy, I have to say i LOVE everything about your New orleans soap, and the picture.  Very cool copper pot too!  Love the packaging and i wish i could take a sniff.  The poem is great.  I was just at Marie Laveau's voodoo museum around thanksgiving!  Now if I told you I have 3d painting of her tomb in my living room you might think it weird.....

To answer your question.  It is like mixing colors in art class.  If any of your base oils, or goat milk, coconut milk, anything you add to you soap contributes a yellow hue, and lots of things do that, well.....purple + yellow = grey.  I planned this soap for vibrant colors and also, to send some of them to my dear family in New Orleans.  From my experience, my salt soaps and 100% coconut soaps perform much better in New orleans water (let's face it, my bastilles suck there even though I love them here at home).  So I used 100% white CO with enough SF% to make them mild and conditioning.  This is like giving the alkanet infused oil a pure white canvas.  So now we can REALLY see the alkanet.  It is as simple as that.


----------



## AlchemyandAshes (Jan 21, 2013)

green soap said:


> To answer your question.  It is like mixing colors in art class.  If any of your base oils, or goat milk, coconut milk, anything you add to you soap contributes a yellow hue, and lots of things do that, well.....purple + yellow = grey.  I planned this soap for vibrant colors and also, to send some of them to my dear family in New Orleans.  From my experience, my salt soaps and 100% coconut soaps perform much better in New orleans water (let's face it, my bastilles suck there even though I love them here at home).  So I used 100% white CO with enough SF% to make them mild and conditioning.  This is like giving the alkanet infused oil a pure white canvas.  So now we can REALLY see the alkanet.  It is as simple as that.



Thanks! I think I'll do a 100% CO bar and give it a whirl with the Alkanet and see if I can get some vibrancy.

And I of all people wouldn't be weirded out by a 3D picture of Marie Laveau's tomb! :wink:


----------



## cerelife (Jan 21, 2013)

You guys rock! I LOVED all the soaps 
We're longtime NOLA addicts (25+ years) and go 2-3 times a year. We rarely go for the MG "main event" anymore, but this is the first year since the post-Katrina MG of 2007 that we won't be in town for some part of Carnival (we released our annual reservations due to all the Superbowl madness). We usually go for MG "Lite"; i.e. the weekend before the "big one" and actual Mardi Gras on Tuesday or we go for the hilarious and irreverent Krewe du Vieux parade
I've been feeling kind of blue about this, but seeing all these great soaps made me smile! 
Shawnee, loved your soap! I was laughing when I read the description of using Dixie's "Blackened Voodoo Lager"...even though I don't like dark beer, I couldn't resist this stuff years ago (the name alone is irresistable and the LABEL!!)...you should have seen the look on my face at the first sip! I hated the taste, but still drank it because I loved the concept so much...does that make any sense at all?
And Marie Laveau art...this is one of my favorite light-hearted depictions. I'm far too lazy to go take a pic of my framed print, so I'll just post a link to the art:
http://www.thecreolecat.com/marieminou.htm
Thanks again to everyone for putting a smile on my face!


----------



## Clemmey (Jan 22, 2013)

*I was just checking out the Jojoba beads..*



MaitriBB said:


> Yay mine turned out nice!
> 
> Goat's milk soap with coconut, castor, grapeseed, lard, shea butter, a touch of cream, and kaolin clay.  Fragrance is a Tangerine Yankee Candle dupe from Saveonscents.  I used multicolored jojoba beads from BB and confetti shavings from other soaps of mine.



Thank you for this soap! I was seriously checking out the jojoba beads last weekend at Otion and couldn't see where they could be used. They look great! Thank you for the visual!


----------



## lsg (Jan 22, 2013)

Beautiful soaps, everone!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Kersten (Jan 25, 2013)

Absolutely amazing creations! Good job everyone


----------



## judymoody (Jan 25, 2013)

They all look great!  Lots of creativity and diverse interpretations.

Life has interfered with soaping yet, so I wasn't able to do anything before the deadline.  But Mardi Gras isn't until February 12 so maybe I can shoot for that.


----------



## green soap (Nov 17, 2013)

Looking at this old thread to find inspiration for a Mardi Gras soap - carnival starts January 6th.   Thank you to all of you who posted pictures.  I had to figure something that I have not done before.  I just thought of something! yet visually different from any of the soaps posted here.  However, looking at these soaps is what made me think of the idea.  

Still need to figure the scent.  It needs to be something that does not accelerate (or discolor), yet does justice to New Orleans during carnival.  Any ideas?


----------

