Teach Soap

I am new to soap making, and am very excited to find this forum! I am wondering if anyone could tell me how long I have to wait for soap to dry/cure before I can shrink wrap the bars? Thank you!

I don't know that I would shrinkwrap cp bars. I would think that after awhile they could develope dos. I just leave mine out and then wrap with a cigar band made out of paper grocery bags. I could be wrong though since I am not an expert.

CP soaps need to breathe. I wouldn't shrink wrap them completely. At least leave some room on each short side. Otherwise you could end up with DOS, or bars that are too loose for the shrink wrap.

What is DOS?

DOS = Dreaded Orange Spots!!
Basically unsaponified oils going rancid.

I wrapped a bunch of my hockey puck soaps as Xmas gifts and got many nice comments about how professional they look. So far no DOS but none are older than 5 months. No significant shrinkage either but they cured at least 5-8 weeks before wrapping.

The upside to shrink wrap is that everyone can see my pretty soaps. The downside is that when they go to sniff (and they ALWAYS sniff) all they get is a dissappointing burnt plastic smell.
I now sometimes use a brown coffee filter which solves the sniffy issue but then they don't see my lovely soaps right away. But that may be just as well... I keep finding my soaps are being displayed as decoration rather than being used... which is kind of a let down for me.

I still keep hoping to find a transparent tissue paper

Have you tried clear cello bags, with a small hole in the corner made by a paper punch? You could dress up the top of the bag with some ribbon or wraphia.

No I have not... you don't mean plain old sandwich bags right? I'm guessing you mean something a little heavier like the stuff we wrap easter baskets with?

But actually... now that you mention it... just because I'm shrink wrapping doesn't mean I can't punch a few holes in the back first for ventilation. In fact I've done that by accident with my heat gun a few times. I'll have to experiment with those ideas.

As always you are an inspiration and I thank you.

I have one cold process soap that I put a shrink wrap band around. This only covers about 30% of the soap. I do this because the soap I am selling needs to be seen to sell. Putting this band around it allows me to have something to stick a label to on the back side of the bar. All others I use a cigar band.

Bruce

Thanks so much for all your responses. I am loving this forum! Now I am off to make some more soap!

Well...what I've read is smell-thru breathes, so any excess water can still get out. Is that true?

i shrink wrap all my soaps.......

on the cp soaps, I use the 4x6 bags, and cut off to about 1.5 inches from where the soap ends. fold it over gift style, then shrink wrap. I start the heat at the bottom sealed end of the soap and work toward the other end. the end that I folded up, it opens up as it shrinks, exposing the end of the bar, so it's not completely sealed. makes for a nice place for them to sniff too......lol

I've never had any problems with DOS shrinkwrapping this way. I dont shrink my soaps until they are several months old though. I hate shrinkwrapping. so time consumming. Printing the labels from and back, then cutting them out with the paper cutter, then putting the bars in the shrink bags, then inserting the card, then trimming off excess bag, then actually shrinking. I swear.......makes me want to sell nekkid soap!!

never tried the smell through wrap though.......if you can smell through it, I'm assuming it would be breathable. never thought about it! I'd still have to go through the same process though.....lol

why do I have to label them at all? i hate labeling anything. Why cant I just make stuff all day??

Cello bags are similar to the clear wrap for easter baskets. They are not like sandwich bags at all.

well, I hate to be the odd man out - but I shrink wrap all of my soaps, completely, and never get DOS. I've been shrink wrapping them for the past ten years, thousands and thousands of bars.

I cure for a month or so first, depending on the weather and the recipe.

Cool... a couple of questions:
What type of shrink wrap do you use?
PVC? or the other breathable stuff? (I forget the name)
And by any chance do you know the thickness of the wrap you use?
Does the scent come through?

I was wondering if you purposely avoid oils that are "DOS prone" in your recipes?

and XXie? I've got smell-through wrap, and it really does smell through...IMO though if you were at a show, I'd have either an exposed end or a naked bar for folks to smell to get the WOW factor...