![]() The bag looks pretty ugly at this point, but don't despair.Īt this point, the air in the shrink bag has no place to go and usually makes the shrink bag into a puffy pillow. If this is the kind you have, you will have to experiment with the heat setting and the method of use that works best.Īfter a lot of trial and error, I think it works best to first hold the narrow edges of the soap bar facing the heat gun and quickly rotate the soap around - bottom, left side, top, right side - to shrink the plastic around the edges.Īfter I make one circuit, I make a second circuit around the edges, moving a little quicker yet. Most inexpensive heat guns have just two settings, hot and hotter, and are intended to be held in the hand. I also like this particular heat gun because it is made to sit safely on a flat surface and blow upward. I like this because I can tweak the temperature so the air is hot enough to shrink the plastic quickly, yet cool enough to avoid singeing my fingers or burning holes in the bag. I use a fancy heat gun with an adjustable heat setting. That fringe will disappear when the bag is shrunk down, so it's nothing to worry about. Melting off the excess bag will leave a fringe of melted plastic along the sealed edge. Once the heat setting is right, the sealing and trimming step goes fast. I pull this waste portion off the sealing bar, leaving the heating surface ready for the next bar of soap. The unwanted excess bag will remain behind, stuck to the sealing bar. At that higher setting, the bag sealed and melted through, so I could pull the bagged soap away from the sealing bar. If the soap does not pull away easily, I increase the time setting (the dial on the front of the heat sealer) another notch and try again. ![]() Right after the heat cycle ends (I can hear a little click when the power goes off), I continue to hold the sealing bar down while gently trying to pull the soap away from the bar. I put the bag into the sealer and press the sealing bar down to activate the heating cycle. For the first soap bar, I have to do a little trial and error to get the heat setting just right. The next step is to use the heat sealer to seal the bag and remove the excess bag all in one operation. The label position can be adjusted again right before heat shrinking, but it is nice to get it reasonably close at this point. I try to get the label positioned about where it needs to be on the soap. The labeled bar goes inside the shrink bag. This allows for variations from bar to bar. I then wrap the label around a bar and find where the back needs to fold to fit that particular bar closely. I fold the front part of the labels so the front corner is a nice sharp crease. The shrink wrap holds the labels securely in place and protects the labels from being smudged and scuffed. ![]() This lets more of the bar be visible while still giving plenty of room for product information. My labels form a "U" shape that covers the bottom and extends partway up the front and back of each bar. Shown below are a box of cured soap bars, scissors, heat gun (DeWalt model D26950 is shown here), a box of 4 x 6 inch shrink bags ( PaperMart #3636046), and a heat sealer (Papermart, Uline, eBay, etc). To get started, I assemble my soap, labels, and the other tools and materials needed on a clean, sturdy work table. Instead, I have focused on using inexpensive shrink bags sold by PaperMart and other suppliers. National Shrinkwrap sells a shrink wrapping system for soap, but as a hobby soaper I did not want to spend that much money. The soap is protected yet visible and, after a little practice, shrink wrapping becomes fast and easy to do. It has its disadvantages, but shrink wrap works the best for me out of all the different packaging methods I've tried. I eventually gravitated toward shrink wrap. In frustration, I even tried leaving my soap just naked, but I didn't like how the soap collected fingerprints, dings, and lint and how the fragrance dissipated faster. I tried tying on a tag with raffia or ribbon and was all thumbs. I love the look, but the tedious process had me grinding my teeth. Next I tried hand folding cute little boxes out of pretty paper. I think this "simple, efficient, but nice" ethic shows up in the way I package and label my soap.Īt first, I tried cigar bands and got annoyed because the band hides a lot of the soap bar and, what is worse, the band loosens with time and that problem is difficult to fix. In my day job, I want to produce products that are well made and look good without spending a lot of time on fussy stuff. I do not have a soap making or bath-and-body business, but I do own a small business making and selling gifts and home decor. Classic Bells > Soapy stuff > Packaging tutorial
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |