Thats so interesting' who knew their was such a thing, agree a bit pricey though for soap. Thank you for your post appreciate it.Hey, @Peachy Clean Soap, what about something like this? A bit spendy, but I'd bet you could find similar for a reasonable price.
https://www.amazon.com/BeeBae-Premium-Beeswax-Alternative-Reusable/dp/B07P9MTBV7
Fluid ounces are really confusing and stupid. I recently bought some powdered oxides that were supposed to be 4 ounces each, but weighed about 2.5 ounces. Then I saw that they measured their powdered oxides in fluid ounces. Ridiculous. I was so irritated I returned them.I probably wasn't disparaging enough. Our moms teach us “We don't talk to them. They use the same unit with different meanings depending on what they measure.”
Joke aside. If a unit system didn't work, people would have died from hunger. Unit systems are about consistency, and each has their strengths and weaknesses (except the pre-1971 £sd system, that had only weaknesses). The only really stupid thing to do is being inconsistent.
I asked because I have no idea how the ambiguity of “ounce” is handled in practice of US households. We have measuring cups too, and they have multiple graduations for grams of flour, sugar, salt, oil etc. (i. e. implicit assumptions on density), but that's about it with “mixing up weight and volume measurement”.
Sharp eye!
I found a site where you can make these yourself. I did ask my "greenie" daughter in Hawaii how she liked them as I knew that she had purchased some. She said don't bother, that no matter how hard you try, air still gets into the container and dries out what is there or leaves it subject to mold. However, if you are looking for a waxed paper(rather than cloth) I would imagine that there is a DIY video out there or use one for the cloth wraps to try it out with paper. There are so many lovely papers out there for scrapbookers.Hey, @Peachy Clean Soap, what about something like this? A bit spendy, but I'd bet you could find similar for a reasonable price.
https://www.amazon.com/BeeBae-Premium-Beeswax-Alternative-Reusable/dp/B07P9MTBV7
Wouldn't they be a reasonable alternative to cling film (plastic wrap(?)) though? I.e. not totally airtight but good enough to wrap/cover in the short-ish term? That seems to be what they're aimed at.
She said as much as she hated using plastic wrap, she would use it rather than these. Her fridge smelled horrible after wrapping a few items...onions, melon and berries, as if they had all been mixed up together...and drying out to boot. She tossed them and I never bothered to try out the DIY type.
I've seen this advice touted by Kenna at Modern Soapmaking as well. She says that if you're curing your soap longer than two weeks you're wasting valuable time and space. I heartily disagree with this advice and have not been afraid to say so. I get that part of why she recommends this is because she uses less water in her recipes, but there's so much more that goes on in curing than water loss. I have a fairly tight schedule for curing (4 weeks for aloe and beer soap, 5 weeks for milk soaps), but I also don't have a quick turnaround on freshly made soap and in some cases if I think the soap doesn't "feel" ready I'll let it sit longer. This is one of the many reasons why when I shop other soap makers at markets I look for loose wrappers and never buy naked soap. If the wrappers aren't loose, I ask how old the soap is.... and I'm always shocked by how many makers are eager to tell me "it's fresh made". No no no! Teach your customers that soap is like wine! It gets better with age. I always act disappointed and ask them for their oldest soap and ask if they'll give a discount because it's old lol. I guess if they want to play that game (or be that uneducated about what they're selling) I'll play along with it too.It's a pity they also say you can use the soap in a week or two or even sooner, after making it. They obviously don't cure any further than 2 weeks.
Okay so I don't sell but... I would assume a loose wrapper should / would only happen as the soap shrinks from water loss. I wouldn't think to wrap soap until after it was cured though. So a wrapper would, if I ever sold, likely to never be loose. I'm thus confused why you only look for loose wrappers? Am I just approaching the idea of soap packaging incorrectly?I've seen this advice touted by Kenna at Modern Soapmaking as well. She says that if you're curing your soap longer than two weeks you're wasting valuable time and space. I heartily disagree with this advice and have not been afraid to say so. I get that part of why she recommends this is because she uses less water in her recipes, but there's so much more that goes on in curing than water loss. I have a fairly tight schedule for curing (4 weeks for aloe and beer soap, 5 weeks for milk soaps), but I also don't have a quick turnaround on freshly made soap and in some cases if I think the soap doesn't "feel" ready I'll let it sit longer. This is one of the many reasons why when I shop other soap makers at markets I look for loose wrappers and never buy naked soap. If the wrappers aren't loose, I ask how old the soap is.... and I'm always shocked by how many makers are eager to tell me "it's fresh made". No no no! Teach your customers that soap is like wine! It gets better with age. I always act disappointed and ask them for their oldest soap and ask if they'll give a discount because it's old lol. I guess if they want to play that game (or be that uneducated about what they're selling) I'll play along with it too.
Soap continues to shrink over the course of it's existence, it just does it more slowly after a few weeks. So, once you wrap your soap, no matter how cured, the wrapper will loosen over time as the soap within it shrinks.
Incorrectly, no, perhaps just inexperienced. Soap will continue to shrink as it ages. When I first started selling I would tighten the wrappers on all my soaps and after several months I would have to go back and tighten again. I have a large box filled with my own soaps and other people's soaps - some dating back to 2017! - and all have loose wrappers. This is also why I generally don't worry tightening my wrappers anymore - I have too much soap to do it with for every market and I have customers who are educated enough to look for the loose wrapper.
I generally don't as I find too many makers get defensive if you start asking them knowledgeable questions. I can ask enough questions without getting specific to find out if someone knows what they're doing or just makes for the sake of making. [I hesitate to call them "hacks" unless they truly act like it.] When my customers ask, I explain as much as they are willing to listen to - it's never a wasted conversation, and any maker who thinks it is is short changing their customers [imo].
Refer to this blogpost, as the solid soapmaking part of the business has been outsourced, apparently. SAIPUA
