Organize soaps?

[Melysg25]

Okay y'all,
I'm racking up quite a few soap bars. I keep 1-2 from each batch I make and now I need to label them so I know which is which etc.

How do y'all label your kept soap batches?

I would like to have some sort of organized system.
I heard plastic baggies for hot process soap is not good. They need air flow. I get that.
I was considering an index card (not sure what all to put on it) wrapped around soap with a rubber band...?

Tips, how you do it, suggestions, helpful.

 

[dixiedragon]

Paper lunch sack with card/recipe inside?
Soap wrapped in 8.5x11 paper with recipe printed on it?

 

[amd]

I use SM3, which assigns a batch number to each batch made. Any time I make changes to a recipe that I have made in the past, I save it as a new recipe so that way I have the correct recipe for each batch, regardless of changes made. I label my keeper soaps with the batch number and a brief description of the soap "Coconut Milk with 10% shea increase" for example. I shrink wrap the soap in a band, and label with a sticker label (like an address label) or a piece of painters tape and marker.

Before SM3, I kept my recipes in a notebook giving each recipe a number. When I made the recipe I would write the date in the notebook. My keeper soaps then were labeled with the recipe number and date.

 

[TheGecko]

Before I make my soap, I fill out an index card with the name of the soap and date made. The card sits under the mold. Then the soap gets unmolded, cut and put on top of the card on freezer paper lined trays. I then put the soap on my Calendar to remind to pretty them up and then flip every week over 6 weeks. At six weeks, I check over each bar, weigh, box and label. Soap that doesn’t pass inspection get wrapped in parchment paper, labeled and donated. Right now I’m donating more soap than selling and I’m okay with that.

ETA: Boxed soaps go into wall mounted racks in alphabetical order (makes them easier to find).

 

[Catscankim]

Before I make my soap, I fill out an index card with the name of the soap and date made. The card sits under the mold. Then the soap gets unmolded, cut and put on top of the card on freezer paper lined trays. I then put the soap on my Calendar to remind to pretty them up and then flip every week over 6 weeks. At six weeks, I check over each bar, weigh, box and label. Soap that doesn’t pass inspection get wrapped in parchment paper, labeled and donated. Right now I’m donating more soap than selling and I’m okay with that.

ETA: Boxed soaps go into wall mounted racks in alphabetical order (makes them easier to find).

I like your method. I am going to try this. It's the calendar part that I like the best. It is right on my fridge and it would be so easy to just turn around and write on the calender (Yes, I still like my paper calendar LOL, I know most people probably use their computers).

I use stickies instead of index cards.

Sometimes I'm like "oh I will put a stickie on it tomorrow"...it doesn't work like that LOL. I always forget then I have to remember what I made, and then I am sniffing each one to figure out what FO I used. MOST of my bars are the same recipe, but then sometimes I try something different, like adding a butter or something. And I have a girl at work that buys my soap who is allergic to mango, so I have to be pretty diligent about noting that it has mango butter in it.

You have a pretty good system. Something I need to get....organized. When I move it will be better cause I will be getting racks. I don't want to buy them until I move.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I like your method. I am going to try this. It's the calendar part that I like the best. It is right on my fridge and it would be so easy to just turn around and write on the calender (Yes, I still like my paper calendar LOL, I know most people probably use their computers).

I use stickies instead of index cards.

Sometimes I'm like "oh I will put a stickie on it tomorrow"...it doesn't work like that LOL. I always forget then I have to remember what I made, and then I am sniffing each one to figure out what FO I used. MOST of my bars are the same recipe, but then sometimes I try something different, like adding a butter or something. And I have a girl at work that buys my soap who is allergic to mango, so I have to be pretty diligent about noting that it has mango butter in it.

You have a pretty good system. Something I need to get....organized. When I move it will be better cause I will be getting racks. I don't want to buy them until I move.

Sounds like y'all are making a lot of soap! I just have a folder on my laptop labelled soap in which I date each recipe as I make it - and keep details of the recipe and additives, behaviour of FOs, etc. I don't label the actual soap - I know by the style/colour and fragrance which is which.
Storage is never a problem - most of them sell out before they have to be kept for any period of time. I cure them in cardboard box lids from the copier paper at work - and once cured, just stack 'em up in the same box lid. I do have some shoe boxes that I've used in the past which I can label if I need to store for longer periods - I've kept those in case I need to use them again. But I'm struggling to keep up with supply at present, so it could be a while.

 

[TheGecko]

Sounds like y'all are making a lot of soap!

No...I just have some folks, who shall remain nameless, in my household who like to move things around. Which, for the most part, is not a huge deal with my Regular soaps...scent aside, colorants can make it pretty obvious which is which, but I don't use colorants with my GMS and the scent can be pretty subtle.

 

[Carly B]

Before I make my soap, I fill out an index card with the name of the soap and date made. The card sits under the mold. Then the soap gets unmolded, cut and put on top of the card on freezer paper lined trays. I then put the soap on my Calendar to remind to pretty them up and then flip every week over 6 weeks. At six weeks, I check over each bar, weigh, box and label. Soap that doesn’t pass inspection get wrapped in parchment paper, labeled and donated. Right now I’m donating more soap than selling and I’m okay with that.

ETA: Boxed soaps go into wall mounted racks in alphabetical order (makes them easier to find).

How do you alphabetize soap? Seriously, I'm not being flippant. Do you name your soaps or alphabetize by fragrance name or what? I keep all my records in OneNote--I have a tab I call "Soaps Made." After a year and a half of CP soapmaking, I'm having too much fun experimenting so I haven't settled on any recipes,
so in the title space is the date the soap was made and some distinguishing feature (i.e. - 3 butter soap or yellow ITP swirl) just to call it "something" that will help me remember which bar. I'd like to have some sort of consistent naming convention, but I don't even know if that's practical since I don't have standard recipes.

 

[TheGecko]

How do you alphabetize soap? Seriously, I'm not being flippant. Do you name your soaps or alphabetize by fragrance name or what?

My soaps are either named after the scent or colorant.