WARHORSE logo--How the Warhorse got to be Warhorse in 2007.

I'll explain later why I have Brad Pitt in the beginning of this post about my horse logo.


Yes, my logo is a horse. In fact, while I was trying to find a name of the cleaning soap, my youngest suggested Workhorse, and I liked the meaning, but already used soooo many times. As a teacher, my goal was to be a workhorse of finding and creating engaging English curriculum.  Hard to do with all that Elizabethan poetry and grammar analysis on the SAT verbal test.  Since our high school mascot is the wolverine, tried that:  "Wolverine: aggressive but a part of nature" for a few days, since it did start with a spark of inspiration from my spunky senior English student Liz Russell and her graduation project. But I needed a name that was aggressive and kind, like many of my students. I needed a name and image that embodied the kind of person I hoped my most defeated, lazy, pessimistic, or whiny student would become. Aggressive and kind like my grandmother Lillian, who wielded a hoe and an ax, who taught my sister and me to be tough, suck it up, rise above, keep moving. I needed a kick butt name and logo, one that upon sight, would inject of dose of steel in a weakened spine. 

Since my eldest prides himself on his creativity, he chimed in with some suggestions. Here's a few of his contributions while we sat at the kitchen table (I had a pencil and notebook in hand as I knew this could be good or outrageous):

• "Glyceride: Cleans your hide, your ride, and everything inside." Catchy rhyme.
• "Metro Soap: Clean Up Your City." If I were to solely target the urban market, but Warhorse cleans farms, horse trailers, tractors too.
• "Good Wife Soap: Cleans Better Than She Does." I felt particularly insulted, but I do obsess over soap, and my house is often neglected as I live at the shop.

A few inappropriate ones cannot be shared--but did contain some poetic alliteration. Shakespeare would enjoy them, however. Obviously, I rejected all of his names.

So, here's how I got a horse: While on hall duty one afternoon, I mentioned to my across-the-hallway-fellow-teacher Mr. Thomas about how I wish I could duplicate a "Get it done and move on" attitude that some of my students had and others so desperately needed.  Whining is hard for me to handle. We talked about how some students--and teachers too--possessed an unbelievable workhorse, determined work ethic, even in the face of a tough home life, or poverty, or handicapps.  Mr. Thomas and I both believe our society is nurturing weakness instead of personal responsibility.  I handed him another water bottle of my dark cleaner, and also mentioned that I had to find a name and logo for my growing-in-demand cleaning soap.  Then we were interrupted by the tardy bell. Here's the 3 logos he dropped off in my teacher mailbox a week later:


The first one looks pretty demonic, don't you think? A horse for a cleaner that could eat the paint off a wall. Then I was torn between the last two, and as you see from an earlier post, the Greek battle horse won. Somehow I imagined Brad Pitt from Troy riding on a horse like this as he approached the walls of Troy, calling for Hector to come on out and fight--thus WARHORSE.

I offered to pay Mr. Thomas for his logo help, but he insisted it was payback for the art room cleaning soap and for the gifts of frog legs and striped bass that my boys sent him and his boy--here's that bartering thing again. It's amazing how some people have exactly what I want exactly when I need it, and I have exactly what they want--a horse for frog legs. Who knew?

Once again, a connection at my school helped this biodiesel and soap journey keep churning. So, even though I felt a kinship to the "Good Wife Soap," I was determined to use one of Mr. Thomas' horses for my logo and label--it was just "meant to be." Even if I couldn't become a student and take his popular art classes, I could have his talent represent my dark cleaner. My former student Erin at the Sign Shop added her touch of graphic design and my former student and Chapel Hill Tarheel graduate Anna Feagan helped me choose a color scheme. Below was the first "publication" of my Warhorse. 

Back to Brad. Clearly, the horse and Brad seem to have that tough, stoic,
confident stare, looking off into the distance, with an attitude of " no problem getting the job done." I can just see Brad riding the WARHORSE and scrubbing his garbage cans with the soap. Yes, I did say scrubbing garbage cans. Did it yesterday myself.

Yes, there's more uses for this soap than in the barn. For the past two years, local folks have used it to clean houses, facilities, boats, horse trailers, trucks, motor homes, dirty work clothes. It really is multipurpose. For example, here's a an email from Gerda Hook who got a sample from someone with a sample from someone I gave a sample...small world. Now we've met. That's the cool thing about new endeavors--meeting new people.  Then Gerda took some to the local Humane Society for cleaning jobs there.

Hi Tawana
I agreed to try some of your glycerin soap.

I'm very glad I did. I love it! I have to confess that I kind of eased my way into using it. . .it's a little counterintuitive to me to be using a product derived from grease. . .on grease. But, I soon got over that. I tried it first on my tired-looking stainless steel kitchen sinks. Nice. Then I did the cook top. Even nicer.

Some time went by. I had run out of my (previous) favorite cleaning product, Murphy's Oil Soap, and tried the soap on our cherry wood floors. I don't like to use harsh products on the wood and this was perfect. My husband, Sam, even noticed how nice they looked!!

I just finished working on my riding boots and dressage saddle and feel the need to e-mail you about the results. Spectacular! The saddle has two different kinds of leather: one is smooth and the other has a grain. The grainy part has always been a challenge to get right. It looks like new!

As if that weren't enough, I had a little left and tried it on our glass shower stall doors. They also have a grainy surface that holds on to mineral deposits from the soap & water and never really looks clean, even with scrubbing. It does now, and I didn't have to scrub.

So, I'm a believer. I actually even like the smell. How do I get a supply??

Thanks!

Gerda Hook


So, as Gerda demonstrates, WARHORSE is not just meant for barns and farms. Yes, it is an awesome tack cleaner, gives a stellar shine to trailers and trucks, but it can work as well inside the house on a fiberglass shower or on lounging around lawn furniture. As me eldest son Jesse quipped--"Cleans Hides, Rides, 'Bout Anything Inside and Outside." And even though this product does have some barn and farm uses, the home of horses--in all honesty, I was bound and determined to use Mr. Thomas' artwork--he's an awesome, insightful teacher and has inspired many a student. If he had drawn three frogs, I would have found a way to use one of them--"Bull Frog Cleaner--can jump from one cleaning job to another." Could have worked, maybe. Just keepin' this project in the PCHS family where it all started.

T. Weicker