I Turned Art Into Awesome Soaps

Hey there! I'm July! an Immigrant, a Pastry Chef, a Cleaner by day, and a Soap Artist by night who is trying to succeed with a small business in Auckland, New Zealand.

I started doing Soap Art during the lockdown one year ago, but boredom wasn't the reason... I was desperately trying to find my purpose in life, my inner artist, an escape from my day job, an escape from my own mind, and also because soap is cheap and easy to make, so I could start with my small savings in my small flat.

I own a small business named Awesome Soaps where I turn the artwork of artists and designers into Wall Art made in Soap (Insta: @oldmaidck), and I also make original art where I try to represent emotions or moods through weird Self-Portraits, it means if "sadness" would have a face how it would look like? (Insta: @julycortescardenas)

I use kitchen utensils like cake coolers, pans, spoons, the cutlery drawer, even a blender jug as frames for my artwork... it's just really unique and allows me to play with different forms and textures. I dare to say that I'm the only Soap Artist out there who is combining Art + Kitchen Utensils + Soap to make self-portraits based on emotions.

Being a Pastry Chef helped me a lot to develop my own techniques with a unique recognition value. Some artworks took me more than one week to complete and due to the complexity of the process, there is not a guarantee of success... tiny error and it's over, anyway, the satisfaction of doing something that I love is always greater than any failure.

Cheers!

July Cortes Cardenas

Fb & Insta: @oldmaidck @julycortescardenas

Illustration made in Soap using a piping bag.
Material: White Soap
Frame: The Cutlery Drawer.

Illustration made in soap using a piping bag. Frame: A bowl.

Artwork by Reeya Behera from India @the_artsy_junkie. Photo Soap Technique

Wall Art made in Soap, 17x10cms. Photo Soap Technique