How do you wrap your CP soaps???????

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mare61

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I would like to sell some of my CP soaps at a farmers market this summer. Now I'm toying around with some different ideas at how to wrap my soaps. They look a lot like a slice of cake (loaf) and I would like to show them off to their best advantage. Does anybody out there use shrink wrap??????
Any suggestions are very much appreciated!
 
Used to do cigar band under shrink wrap. I recently started using white soap boxes with labels. Nice clean professional look and east to transport since all are boxed and same size. :D

Paul :wink:
 
Wow, me too, jadiebug1. Wrapping must be in the air :D

I just came across this page: http://www.goplanetearth.com/packaging_ ... _wrap.html

and immediately thought of IanT from the afore mentioned thread. Not exactly burlap, but being recycled, it is "green".

I saw a tutorial somewhere on how to set up cigar bands in Microsoft Office and changing the wording and pictures. If any are interested, I'll dig around in my brain and files to find the link.

Digit
 
I have made little bags for my fancy molded soaps. Some were muslin and some were just scraps from old sewing projects. I even used the bottom of an old prom dress. Stitch up the sides and draw string on top. If you have something that has a hem already in it it's easy. I even used a pendelton wool scrap and put bias tape around the top for the string.
It's only my time ( hopefully winter month activities) and materials were at no cost. I charged a dollar extra for a bagged soap.
 
hey digit!

Ok this might sound redundant lol...but I TOO have been researching this in the past day!!... I actually tried a method i thought was quite nice, using a piece of tissue paper (just because i had one laying around...and no burlap or anything else yet) and a piece of hemp string tied both ways.... I like it alot it looked quite rustic!

Also, this migh tbe hard to acquire but you know how they steam food in the islands, by wrapping it and tieing in a banana leaf?? that would be an AWESOME packaging idea too!

and totally biodegradeable (and probably still alive by the time the customer recieves it!)
 
You could even use a corn husk, they sell them at Wal-mart for Tamales. It has the look of Digit's corrugated wrap and the biodegradability of Ian's banana leaves.
Is biodegradability a word? LOL
 
thats an awesome idea!! yes it is a word!!

I just looked into banana leaves, they have them at a few asian markets but tend to be a little expensive and hence not practical for wrapping, so corn husks (being more plentiful and easily produced than banana leaves) are a great option that Im going to start researching.....NOW!!

lol


thank you for the suggestion!!


Ian
 
Hi Mare61, I was reading your question and was planning to do the same thing. I have been using shrink wrap with a cigar band underneath. My girlfriend suggested only wrapping 3 sides instead of 4 so that customers can see more of what the soap looks like with out having to pull off the wrapper. Hope this info helps.

BTW where in Canada are you from?
 
Thanks pink-north, I will have to get some shrink bags. Already bought a heat-gun on sale today at Zellers.

I live in Midwestern Ontario about 45 min east of Lake Huron.
 
Tissue paper wrapped (with a small naked sample piece). I try to use a 'coordinating' color for the flavor of the soap. I'd like to find something easier and quicker though!
 
I love pink-north's wrapper. It leaves the ends uncovered so you can sniff or feel the soap, but the rest is well warpped.

My own bars have only a cigar-band, made from 'cover stock' paper. In order to avoid having the soap fall out of the wrapper when people pick up a bar, I make a cross-wrap with small slices of paper. I glue the cross piece to the larger wrapper, with a glue stick. Here's a pic showing a large bar with cross-wrap, and a half-sized bar without.

large%20bar%20and%20mini.jpg


My customers tell me they don't want to throw away lots of packaging with each bar, else I would have preferred to buy boxes for each bar.
 
i tried just about every kind of packaging and heres my take on things for what it's worth and what worked for me. packaging is a personnel thing, depends on the look and type of market you are selling to. for my farmers market, naked would be my first choice ( if i didn't have issues with germs) but not the look i would want at an upscale trade show. this is what we have tried over the years.

first choice like i said would be to sell naked and offer a small individual paper bag with scent name and ingredient label on the bag for each soap if customer wanted it. i did actually try this the first year at the fm i just couldn't handle the handling all of the soap by everyone.

pros: customers can actually see the whole bar, more economical and less paper waste, it goes over well with the those who are heavily into being green ( we recyle too but i want my soap clean, lol so please read on)
cons: soap gets dusty from being out in the open every weekend at either farmers market or show.
little kids ( while i luv em ) as well as some adults can't see to keep their hands to them selves these days and insist on picking up and smelling every bar of soap even if it is the same scent and then just toss it back on the table and if i'm lucky it doesn't get dropped on the ground.
knowing that every bar of soap has been man-handled before being purchased to me is a big turn off and i personnaly wouldn't buy a soap that way, i would have to be a pia and ask if they had any extras in a tote. but again that's my quirk. so while i like the idea of naked bars i have not been able to let go of my weirdness and just go for it, but i already said that.

cigar bands: still fairly economical not to much paper waste.

cons: soap continues to shrink some even after 6 week cure time so the labels may need to be adjusted, if it's humid and you are outside the ink may run or the paper gets funky. to much handling gets the labels dirty or ripped. but easy to replace.

label or cigar band under shrink wrap: i think the soap still needs to breath so open ended bands seems like a better option. i still had problems with the humidity and sweating and since my displays were made to hold the soap bars the long way from top to bottom, the top with the dan's band was still left uncovered and picked up dust and who knows what from someones nose being on it. again my quirk

wrapping each bar completely in paper, back when i started i was going for a country look and wrapped each bar in forest green or burgandy gingham printed paper with 2x4 label. made me happy knowing each customer was getting a fresh clean bar of soap, free from everyone's germie hands, but took to long wrapping.

i have been using white soap boxes for the last couple of years, they're quick to package, the individual bars stay clean, the boxes have a cut out so customers can see and smell the bar they are getting, ( i set a bar out for display that is shrink wrapped with the top end exposed ( yeah i know ) and i tuck a small black and white label down the front with the name of the scent and price , this way customers can see what the soap looks like and smell it. customers seem to like them packaged this way especially if they are giving it for a gift.

and yes you can say it, my family tells me all the time how anal i am. :lol:
 
Thank you for the detailed understandable explanation. Being new here, I have a learning curve and I did not have to do a search or look anything up to understand what you were talking about.
I have been wrapping my soap in artisan made papers, cigar wrapper style. I think they are beautiful but as you said time is now an issue. Last year at the farmer's market I had problems with keeping the soap in good shape also.
I am very interested in the boxes you mentioned. Someone I know had hers custom made. May I ask where you get yours?

Marianne
 
I use clear pillow boxes they look good stay clean and people can smell the soap . I got a lot of good feedback on the packaging at the show I did last week end. If you would like to see how they look you can check out my blog link on the bottom of this post. Ginger
 
Marianne,

i get mine from www.forcraftsake.com they fit my 3.5x2.5 soaps snuggly. they have a small oval cutout. the space under the cutout is large enough for a 2.25x2.25 label. which i used to make myself on a full sheet of label paper, and used a 2x4 size on the back with ingredient and contact info. you can get the 2.25x 2.25 label on line.
or you can do a cigar band for the box. the boxes are available in white or kraft. here's link for what they looked like after i did all the display bars.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/vie ... offset=468

as you can see i also have some done up in what i call a 3/4 envelope, the whole thing is covered except for the top, i had a few odd ball soaps that didn't fit in the new boxes.

if you soaps are a bit bigger there are other sources on line that carry them. kangaroo blue, elements bath and body. some places even carry them in other colors then just white.
 

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