Packaging, moulds and ingredients

I went to Spotlight today to see if I could find something nice to package up my soaps and make them look more presentable. Unfortunately the invention of scrapbooking has done a serious disservice to other crafts by completely taking over the whole section. Now everything comes in little pre-cut packages, which are just perfect for the time-strapped scrapbooker but bloody annoying for me who is looking for a sheet of corrugated card or a roll of raffia. So I left empty handed and checked out the $2 shop instead. There I found a huge roll of plain brown paper and a packet of shrink wrap.

From 07-Sept-08 New Soap Batch

The shrink wrap is awesome and the best part is that it locks the smell in, which means it wont fade while its not being used. It also means that they can be picked up without getting the soap on your hands. Much nicer all around really.

I spent the morning making up some soap moulds so I can get a nice rectangular log that will fit into my mitre box for cutting (a rather nifty idea I found on another website). After looking at the prices online for wooden and plastic moulds I thought that a better idea would be to cut up some heavy cardboard instead and see how that goes. I think they turned out rather well and the old washing detergent box I used is rather fitting. They're very sturdy and now they just need to pass the actual soap test. I bought some foam sheets to make a removable liner, but I'm having a bit of trouble putting that together.

From 07-Sept-08 New Soap Batch

I put in another order for some more ingredients yesterday. I need to make up a batch of super-mild soap for a friend at work and I need to get some more soap curing so that when the current batches run out I don't have to wait another 4 weeks for more.