Teach Soap

Hi,

I am trying to wrap my melt and pour soaps following the YouTube #11 from soap queen. But I'm finding that my Saran Wrap is melting and I'm holding my heat gun about 10-12 inches from the soap (set on low). Is there another way to wrap my soaps so they don't sweat? Any advice is appreciated!


Thanks,

Jennyower

Jenny:

I will try to help with your saran wrapping the MP soaps! I have had great success in the wrapping and I use one of the least expensive "sarans" available from Smart and Final or Walmart.

It sounds like holding the heat gun away so far would do the trick, and on low, but I use the "high" heat and sweep the gun very quickly back and forth (just once, maybe twice) on each area of the edges of the soap. So, on a square bar for example, wrap up the bar tightly, pull up the "ends" to the most center area of the back of the soap and cut off any excess wrap so that when you press down what's left, you don't have too big of a bump. This takes a bit of practice. If you end up with too much wrap in one spot, cut a bit more off or start over trying to cover the soap completely, but without too much excess wrap. Excess wrap makes it difficult to apply a label.

Next, with a quick sweeping motion, about 3 in. away from the bar, heat up this back part of the wrap to make it seal. Right after you "sweep" with the gun, press down with your fingers to pat down this area of wrap. The trick is to "sweep" and not apply the heat directly in one spot. I do this 2-3 times. Sweep, then pat down. Once the wrap is sealed there, I sweep once on each side of the bar (whether it's round or an odd shape) and lightly press on the wrap if it is still a bit loose-looking. It goes very fast once you get the idea.

I hope this helps! I'll check back to see if you have any other problems with this part of soaping. I have learned so much on this blog!

Thank you for your advice! I did about 9 bars of soap and kinda got frustrated. Every time, I swept over the saran wrap on the back with the overlay it didn't seem to "melt" or shrink properly. I used the low setting. I will have to try it on the high setting. My honey bought me the heat gun and it is high low not in between. So I still have 20 more to wrap so practice is what I will get. So far I have found that the round soap are easier to shrink wrap with the heat gun than the square or rectangle.

Saran wrap is not the same as shrink wrap. I can see why you're having problems.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

But Saran works fine. There's a Soap Queen video on it.

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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I think this is the video in question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD4bJgtaHMg

Anita

I never had luck with Saran. I would quit wasting time and money and invest in a true shrink wrap.

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Haven

Saran wrap is more trouble than it's worth in my opinion, and it doesn't look as nice. Save yourself time and frustration by getting the shrink wrap bags, I don't think BB sells them so hopefully they won't mind if I say that papermart.com has a large variety of sizes.

Thank you for ideas! I will definitely look into them!

Jennyflower:

After reading this blog, I've decided to try the shrink bags as well. I've ordered some from PaperMart and fortunately, I can pick them up instead of having them shipped to me.

That being said, I still really like the heavier saran type wrap with the heat gun. The hardest part is just not getting too much wrap bunched up on the sealed end.

I would suggest using BB low sweat base for your .5 oz soaps...it really works well when I'm soaping in humidity. This way you can put them into a cute bag without worrying about them sweating...as for .5 oz molds, I've found the chocolate molds on Amazon are great.

Best wishes!

boatygirl

Thanks for responding boatygirl! I don't generally have a problem with my corners or ends. I have found out that making square/rectangle soaps works best. Just wrap it like a present wrapped in a box and voila. Heat seal it carefully and done.

I bought the shrink wrap bags and was excited to try them out. When I did they shrank. They just acted like I didn't have anything in them at all. Oh well.

Thanks for the tip on the lcp for my minis tho! Will order that after my next order is in.

I just checked out amazon as you suggested. I found the cutest lego and Star Wars (r2-d2) molds!

Thanks!

Jennyflower

What was it that went wrong with the shrink wrap bags? I use them all the time and don't have problems shrinking them. What size did you get?

I bought 6x6 and placed the soap in them and went for the heat gun to use. Used it and the shrink wrap shrank. It wrinkled all up and looked bad. So now I'm just cutting one edge of the wrap bags and taping the soaps up in it. Not what I wanted, but it's working. Or at least last night it did.

Other than that I have no idea why it's not working. I've tried my heat gun on low and high. I tried a hair dryer. It didn't work. So I don't know, but I won't go back to the plastic wrap. I would rather use small prices I tape to keep the shrink bags together.
If I didn't something wrong. I'm no sure. I've watched several videos on it and mine never works like theirs. Not sure if there are different types of shrink bags or what.

Jennyflower

i have found that if yoy shrink wrap the edges first it wrinkles less, it may not work for you but it is worth a try!

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Anna Rose @-}--
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