Protecting your laptop in your soap room

[jennyannlowe]

I'm in the middle of "Operation Cleanup". I need to find a good place to put my laptop within easy reach but safe from oils and such. My work space is two long tables that sort of form an L. I'm gonna put my laptop at one end, the furthest from my soaping area. I don't want to keep it in the laptop bag on the table because it might get oil on it and I wouldn't want to take an oily case out of the house. I don't want to keep it in the case away from my tables cause then it would be a pain to go get and put up all the time. I have a computer at work and I would rarely take it out.

I just thought I'd see if anyone has any clever ideas on how to keep it protected but nearby without having to sacrifice a laptop bag. I know there are online patterns for sleeves I can make, but I don't have a sewing machine. I was thinking about making a homemade padded water proof sleeve with a hot gun....I wouldn't care what it looked like.

Any ideas?

 

[DeeAnna]

What about wrapping it with clear plastic food wrap? That would protect against random splashes, but still let you use the keyboard and see the screen. Easy to remove and discard when you're done soaping.

 

[lenarenee]

I print onto paper, keep papers in a folder, and move my electronic stuff out of the soaping zone. Except today when I whipped up a batch of laundry soap and could just remember the numbers.

ETA: my response doesn't sound "nice" so let me tell you the back story:
me + expensive electronics (the newer the better) + vicinity to water=
disaster and lots of bad words.

 

[paillo]

My rule of thumb is to keep laptop in separate room to prevent impulsive actions resulting in harm to laptop. Laptop and I both hate that.

 

[penelopejane]

I print my recipes and take them to my soap room. My laptop never goes anywhere near uncured soap. I don't trust myself because I would be sure to do something silly unthinkingly.

Snap lenaree and paillo [emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]

My new laptop is 2 days old - still at cotton gloves stage [emoji2]

 

[navigator9]

I belong to the group that leaves the laptop out of the soaping space because...I know myself all too well. If the laptop is anywhere in the vicinity of my soapmaking, I will manage to spill something on it. I write my recipe out on a post it, and stick it to the kitchen cabinet where I'm working at eye level. I do keep my scale inside a zip lock bag, I don't see why you couldn't do that with a laptop too, one for the keyboard and one for the screen. Of course, you couldn't zip them, but the laptop would be protected.

 

[BWsoaps]

My rule of thumb is to keep laptop in separate room to prevent impulsive actions resulting in harm to laptop. Laptop and I both hate that.

Too true, my laptop stays in the other room, I used the iPhone when I'm near my soaping, surprising it does not mind abit of oil on it

 

[Kamahido]

I print my recipes and then put them in sheet protectors. Oil and whatnot can be easily wiped off.

 

[jennyannlowe]

Yeah...I think keeping it away is probably best. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Navaria]

I used to use my tablet for recipes. Until I realized that when I touched the screen to turn it back on (with my gloves on, cause hey, I'm soaping and safety first) I was getting caustic soap batter on my screen. It didn't do any harm, but who knows what could happen in the long run. Plus I ran the risk of not getting it all off and then touching it without the gloves when I was done. So I printed everything off and have a binder that stays with my soap stuff. I just feel "safer" that way.

 

[TeresaT]

I use my iPad. I usually set it on the stove or the counter next to the stove if I actually have to heat oils or mix lye. To keep from Navaria's issue (which I had in the beginning), I change my settings to turn the auto-lock off. It burns the battery quicker, but I'm not usually working for hours at a time. Once I get everything weighed and ready to go, I don't really have to look at the screen again. I can ignore it until it's time to transcribe my notes from the plastic bag that was protecting the countertop. It's a great writing space for taking quick notes with a sharpie. I tend to keep better notes when I do that. (Easier to photograph and upload, too, for when I'm too tired to transcribe.)

I'm trying to video record myself making soap and just dictating everything as I do it. This way, I can actually see what I've done if it's a great batch (or a crap batch) instead of trying to remember as I transcribe notes. If I had done that before, maybe I could figure out how to make the Taiwan spin swirl with the lotus blossoms again. That was a once in a lifetime swirl.

 

[dixiedragon]

If I had done that before, maybe I could figure out how to make the Taiwan spin swirl with the lotus blossoms again. That was a once in a lifetime swirl.

Pics?

 

[TeresaT]

Pics?

I just uploaded an album. Keyword search is Lotus Blossom.

 

[Susie]

You could, if you must have it in the soaping area, put it into one of those plastic bags like blankets come in. You could have it open, and completely zipped up and type through the plastic. Or make a cover from a clear plastic shower curtain. Cut it out and simply sew it or see if you could melt it together with an iron.

 

[kchaystack]

I feel kind of bad. I just have mine on a tv tray to the right of my work space. You guys are much more worried about this than I am. Of course I have a whole basement worth of room, so I am not working at a kitchen counter. Nothing happens down there but soaping and laundry.


I can be pretty clumsy, but it is enough out of the way that I am not worried about it. Tho I really do not need it once I start soaping. I will some times use it to play music or Netflix something as background noise.

 

[jennyannlowe]

I'm new so I'm constantly doubting my recipe and needing to run it through calculator. I decided to keep it in the room but covered. I'd rather have it available.

 

[songwind]

OI have most of my stuff printed and in a binder, or in charts tacked on the walls for things I make over and over.

However, I can use Chrome Remote Desktop on my tablet to run things from my computer, so I can get info out of SoapMaker if I need to.

 

[BWsoaps]

I'm new so I'm constantly doubting my recipe and needing to run it through calculator. I decided to keep it in the room but covered. I'd rather have it available.

Watch your laptop does not over heat.

Mine would shut itself down if I did this after a while.

 

[Saponista]

I print things out. They always get greasy and covered in oil/batter so I wouldn't have the laptop anywhere near that.

 

[Susie]

I print my recipes off. If it is a new recipe, I just write notes on the paper. If it is one I have made over and over, it goes into a sheet protector and I use a dry-erase marker to check items off.