Using shrink bags to package soap, part 1

DeeAnna · Dec 12, 2014

Using shrink bags to package soap

I've photographed and written a tutorial about how I label and package my soap. It's hosted on my website. Enjoy! http://classicbells.com/soap/pkgTut.html

edited to add: And here are a few pictures from the tutorial as "teasers" to lure folks to the tutorial. There are lots more in the tut for the visual learners.

IrishLass · Dec 12, 2014

Wow, DeeAnna- that was an awesome tutorial! Thank you for so much sharing! By the way, your soap looks beautiful! I especially love the look of the pencil lines where you mixed in flecks of gold mica. Ingenious!

IrishLass

girlishcharm2004 · Dec 12, 2014

Thank-you so much for sharing this!

I love it!

DeeAnna · Dec 12, 2014

Thanks, Lass. Glad I could share. I have gotten several requests in recent weeks for pictures of my labels and for using the shrink wrap bags, so having to package these soaps came at a good time.

I know Carolyn (cmzaha) uses these bags too, so I'm hoping she will share her tips and tricks for making them work.

How I did the gold flecks -- I mixed gold mica with a bit of glycerin. After making the cocoa pencil line, I used a disposable pipette to drop 3-4 thin irregular lines of glycerin-mica along the length of the mold on top of the cocoa. For more of an overall gold accent, I suppose one could dust with dry mica, but I just wanted small "nuggets of gold" here and there. I put drops of the same glycerin-mica syrup on top of both soaps, then swirled the syrup with a chopstick.

I learned the downside of being too generous with the glycerin -- too much glycerin in one spot doesn't soak into the soap very fast. The extra glycerin eventually soaked in and dried up in about a week. If I had used a lighter touch (as I had in past batches), the glycerin would have been gone by the time I unmolded and cut the soap.

Lindy · Dec 12, 2014

Very nice tutorial.

JustBeachy · Dec 12, 2014

Will you explain the chemical make up of that shrink bag. JK.

Great tutorial DeeAnna.

DeeAnna · Dec 12, 2014

Beachy ... you are too, too much sometimes. Love it! :thumbup:

JustBeachy · Dec 12, 2014

DeeAnna said:
Beachy ... you are too, too much sometimes. Love it!

The really scary part is, I'm thinking you really could explain it if you wanted to. haha. And not to just inflate your ego, you bring a lot to this forum. In my opinion. Thanks.

Cindy2428 · Dec 13, 2014

Thanks so much DeeAnna for your tutorial. This has been very timely for me as I am trying to package soaps for Christmas gifts and I am very quickly running out of time.

DeeAnna · Dec 13, 2014

For those in a super hurry, you can use a good quality cling film (food wrap, Saran wrap, etc.) and a hair dryer in a pinch. I would look for the heaviest weight film for the easiest and best looking results.

I haven't tried this myself, but what I've seen people do is wrap the whole bar with cling film and then warm it gently with a hair dryer to tighten the wrap. I might experiment with just wrapping a strip of cling film around the front, back, top, and bottom -- leaving the ends open -- and heat a bit to snug things up.

Wrapping with cling film will be more fiddly to do and also the cling film can make untidy spots where it overlaps. If you can figure out how to get the overlap located on the bottom of the bar, however, I think the overall appearance can be comparable to a shrink bag.

cmzaha · Dec 13, 2014

DeeAnna said:
Thanks, Lass. Glad I could share. I have gotten several requests in recent weeks for pictures of my labels and for using the shrink wrap bags, so having to package these soaps came at a good time.

I know Carolyn (cmzaha) uses these bags too, so I'm hoping she will share her tips and tricks for making them work.

How I did the gold flecks -- I mixed gold mica with a bit of glycerin. After making the cocoa pencil line, I used a disposable pipette to drop 3-4 thin irregular lines of glycerin-mica along the length of the mold on top of the cocoa. For more of an overall gold accent, I suppose one could dust with dry mica, but I just wanted small "nuggets of gold" here and there. I put drops of the same glycerin-mica syrup on top of both soaps, then swirled the syrup with a chopstick.

I learned the downside of being too generous with the glycerin -- too much glycerin in one spot doesn't soak into the soap very fast. The extra glycerin eventually soaked in and dried up in about a week. If I had used a lighter touch (as I had in past batches), the glycerin would have been gone by the time I unmolded and cut the soap.

I use 4x6 shrink bags from Papermart, seal them with my impulse sealer cut of the exta and cut a little angle hole across one corner. I then shrink and apply my label. I use 4x2 lables that wrap partially around the back of the soap.

DeeAnna · Dec 14, 2014

Thanks for sharing, Carolyn. I tried just one hole, but I thought clipping off at least 2 corners gave me a little better results when shrinking the bags. Maybe more places for air to escape?

I've tried clipping all four corners too and that works fine. Only problem is there are twice as many static-y little bits of plastic wandering around than if I clip only 2 corners. That drives me batty!

cmzaha · Dec 14, 2014

DeeAnna said:
Thanks for sharing, Carolyn. I tried just one hole, but I thought clipping off at least 2 corners gave me a little better results when shrinking the bags. Maybe more places for air to escape?

I've tried clipping all four corners too and that works fine. Only problem is there are twice as many static-y little bits of plastic wandering around than if I clip only 2 corners. That drives me batty!

Drives me batty too, even the top part that I cut off ends up on the table, floor, everywhere but in the trash bucket.

DeeAnna · Dec 15, 2014

Yes, I agree. Melting to trim the extra bag vs cutting with scissors helps. The melted-off bits lay there politely rather than fly around or stick to everything.

Using shrink bags to package soap, part 1

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Using shrink bags to package soap, part 1

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