# Round soap packaging



## nebetmiw (May 4, 2015)

I am looking into wrapping my round soaps. For those that do other than coffee filters can you post pictures and what you use please. This is for local market only.


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## cmzaha (May 4, 2015)

I fully shrink wrap all my soaps.


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## shunt2011 (May 4, 2015)

I too shrink wrap mine. But, I use bands.  My shave soaps I use coffee filters though you could find some pretty wrapping paper and cut it into circles and wrap them in that.


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## IrishLass (May 4, 2015)

I don't have any pictures to share at the moment, but for my round soaps, I use white tissue paper- the kind that department stores use when they package shirts in gift boxes- which gets anchored down into place by a decorative sticky label (round in shape). I bought a huge package of it from Costo around Christmas-time. 

I use a compass to help me draw out the perfect-size circles on the paper to cut out for my soaps, and then I utilize one of my biscuit cutters to help me wrap the soap (It helps me to be able to create nice fluted creases in the paper all around my soap, and it also holds the paper in place around my soap so that I can stick my label on without much fuss). The slightly overlapping edges meet in the middle and get anchored down/stuck into place by my label. 

I like the clean, sharp look of the white paper against my decorative label.

IrishLass


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## nebetmiw (May 5, 2015)

Can someone post a picture of a srinkwrapped round bar. I would like to see how they seal. Can you smell the fragrance threw them?


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## Trix (May 5, 2015)

I don't sell my soap, but do buy it to support other soap makers at craft fairs, and with round soaps many do what Irish lass described; wrap with that paper she described and hold it in the middle with a label. It looks quite pretty usually!


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## lsg (May 5, 2015)

Coffee filters work well.  I think I would shrink wrap the soap first, though.


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## nebetmiw (May 6, 2015)

lsg said:


> Coffee filters work well.  I think I would shrink wrap the soap first, though.



Yes, I know coffee filters but I wanted to see the other options like shrink wrap. I have yet to see one of those posted and how it looks on sealed side.


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## LBussy (May 10, 2015)

IrishLass said:


> I don't have any pictures to share at the moment, but for my round soaps, I use white tissue paper- the kind that department stores use when they package shirts in gift boxes- which gets anchored down into place by a decorative sticky label (round in shape). I bought a huge package of it from Costo around Christmas-time.
> 
> I use a compass to help me draw out the perfect-size circles on the paper to cut out for my soaps, and then I utilize one of my biscuit cutters to help me wrap the soap (It helps me to be able to create nice fluted creases in the paper all around my soap, and it also holds the paper in place around my soap so that I can stick my label on without much fuss). The slightly overlapping edges meet in the middle and get anchored down/stuck into place by my label.
> 
> ...


I wish I had taken a couple pics of the last batch - but I use Kraft paper.  I think dosco has a couple of them so maybe he will shoot a pic.   I have virgin 30# (pronounced thirty-pound) Kraft I use for my fireworks.  It's very strong and wrapping soap with it is reminiscent to me of fireworks created in the Italian tradition.  It's something like you describe but there's no need to cut the paper in a circle.  Here's what the fireworks looks like from the end.  






(Illustration from: Fulcanelli, A. 'Traditional Cylinder Shell Construction, Part I'. _Pyrotechnica_ IX (1984): 15. Print.)

You cut a strip long enough to go around the soap's circumference at least 1.5x.  The strip should be the height of the soap + the diameter of the soap in width.  Then you roll it with the soap centered on the strip. Optionally you can use just the tiniest dot of Elmer's glue to hold the end of the wrap down - it will not show when dry.  There's really no need to do this though:





(Illustration from: Fulcanelli, A. 'Traditional Cylinder Shell Construction, Part I'. _Pyrotechnica_ IX (1984): 24. Print.)

Set it over a can smaller than the puck but long enough to allow you to work on one side.  You do your pleats, secure that end with a round sticker, flip it over and do the other side and put on a round sticker.  I have two round labels, a top and a bottom, so I use them for the stickers.

The 30# Kraft is thin enough to get very crisp edges.  A person could use recycled Kraft (as they use in paper bags) but the virgin Kraft is a very smooth/crisp paper, perfect for this.  

In case you are curious, here's what an Italian Shell looks like:





(Photo from: Venton, Danielle. 'DIY Fireworks Blow Away Factory-Made Displays'. _WIRED_. N.p., 2011. Web. 10 May 2015.)

This is an acquaintance of mine at the yearly convention.  They sometimes call these "salamis" because underneath the outer wrapping these are string with twine like a salami (you can just see the lines underneath the paper on the shell he is holding).  Each of these shells typically has two or more shells stacked on each other which break in succession - like several shells being fired.  That shell probably has three large breaks.  Some are made up to 16" in diameter and several feet tall.

It can take months to craft these start to finish and when you are done you blow up your hard work.  Very strange huh?


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## snappyllama (May 10, 2015)

LBussy said:


> It can take months to craft these start to finish and when you are done you blow up your hard work.  Very strange huh?



That's just awesome, Lee.  I'd liken it to sand mandala painting... I'm not a spiritual person but do find something meaningful in expressing the transitory nature of life/beauty by painstakingly making something only to destroy it.  Also... fireworks go BOOM!


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## LBussy (May 10, 2015)

snappyllama said:


> That's just awesome, Lee.  I'd liken it to sand mandala painting... I'm not a spiritual person but do find something meaningful in expressing the transitory nature of life/beauty by painstakingly making something only to destroy it.  Also... fireworks go BOOM!


Another acquaintance of mine (another fireworks person ironically) had some monks as houseguests.  Before they left they did a small sand painting on his patio table.  He mentioned the same thing - that destroying it was bittersweet.


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## IrishLass (May 10, 2015)

I guess that's what all of us soap-makers do every time we take a new, prettily-swirled soap into the shower with us. lol

Lee- I am going to have to try your wrapping method out! Thanks for the explanation with visuals! 


IrishLass


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## cmzaha (May 10, 2015)

It really depends what you are doing with the soap. If you are selling it takes much longer to cut and wrap rounds out of paper although they look nice, but get pretty beat up with packing and unpacking. Shrink wrap is not glamorous but holds up well, although periodically I have to pull some from stock and reshrink wrap.


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## nebetmiw (May 10, 2015)

Yes it's for local farm market. That's why I want to see pictures of pvc rounds shrink wrapped.


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## DeeAnna (May 11, 2015)

No, it's not soap, but the pics should give you the idea anyways. These are leather coasters 4" across. Pack of 4 is about 5/8" thick. I followed the process I outline here: http://classicbells.com/soap/pkgTut/pkgTut.pdf except I only clipped off one diagonal corner just to let the air out. If you clip off all four corners (or use the heat sealer to melt off the excess at the corners), the sides will be a bit neater than what you see in the pics.


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## LBussy (May 11, 2015)

Nice tutorial DeeAnna.  I have one of those sealing devices already.  They are pretty durned handy.


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## nebetmiw (May 12, 2015)

Thanks DeeAnna. I was thinking that sealed part was on one of the flat sides and was open a bit. Like an small circle. Not sure where I got that thought but I remember seeing heat sealed like that. I like your way too.


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## DeeAnna (May 12, 2015)

"...I was thinking that sealed part was on one of the flat sides and was open a bit. Like an small circle...."

A shrink wrap wouldn't look as nice if the heat seals are on the large flat face(s). IMO, it's better to put the heat seals in the least visible areas of the object you're wrapping. You could easily get small openings on the cylindrical sides if you clip off the corners with a scissors. When the plastic was shrunk down, the small openings on what was the corners would let scent waft out. That's pretty much what I usually do when shrink wrapping my soaps -- I just didn't happen to clip the corners when I did my example using the coasters.

If you don't keep the soap moving over the heat gun, the excess heat will "blow a hole" in the wrap. This is especially likely any place where the plastic film doesn't touch the soap, so the film gets really hot really fast. This might explain the hole you saw. Not sure.

You can use this idea of "blowing holes" to your advantage if you want to deliberately make a hole in the shrink wrap. I've been experimenting with putting a tiny puncture in the plastic film on the back flat face of my felted soaps -- by tiny, I mean a needle prick is plenty good -- to carefully blow a small hole on the backside of the wrap, so customers can smell the soap and touch the felt.


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## dixiedragon (May 12, 2015)

You can buy circle cutters at Hobby Lobby, etc. The best way to wrap round soaps with paper is to do some kind of pleating, like in LBussy's diagram.


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## nebetmiw (May 12, 2015)

Ok the hole thought was not as nice as what you did DeeAnna. But putting holes on  purpose is an interesting thought that goes with my farm name.


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## LBussy (May 12, 2015)

DeeAnna said:


> I've been experimenting with putting a tiny puncture in the plastic film on the back flat face of my felted soaps -- by tiny, I mean a needle prick is plenty good -- to carefully blow a small hole on the backside of the wrap, so customers can smell the soap and touch the felt.


If this is "different thread-worthy" let me know - but what's "felted soap"?


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## DeeAnna (May 12, 2015)

A felted soap is a bar of soap with wool batting wrapped around it, and the wool has been felted with moisture, friction, and warmth to form a dense mat. The process is pretty much like felting a favorite wool sweater in the wash, if you've ever made that mistake. The felted covering is decorative, acts as a built-in washcloth, and also keeps little kids from eating the soap, if you happen to have a little one with that tendency. There are many, many variations on felted soaps -- google "felted soap" and you'll see lots of examples made by artists far more talented than I am.

To keep this related to the OP's thread, the pic shows felted soaps with a shrink bag covering. A card-stock label is sandwiched between the soap and the plastic film. I did put a tiny nick in the back face of the shrink wrap on these soaps to create a larger hole for a "touchy-smelly" spot. I didn't think to photograph that detail, unfortunately. 

I think round soaps as felted soaps would be neat. I've seen soaps that have been formed into hearts, spheres, irregular "rock" shapes and then felted.


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## nebetmiw (May 12, 2015)

Yes I have one planned that way in the future.  Right now working on my knitted facecloths. That way I will have package sets.


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