Alajane Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 My impulse sealer came in yesterday and I love it! But now the questions begin..... I made some round soap bars, sealed them in square bags, heat gunned them, and you probably know the rest. I have little corners that stick out on the round bars!So next I tried diagonally re-sealing the corners of the bags and trimming them before heat-gunning, making an octagonal-shaped package. That worked very nicely, but was a pain in the ****, and I kept thinking "I'm using my sealer about 3 times more than I need to, so the "element" will wear out quickly and I didn't see posts about ordering extra parts until after I placed my order!!Seriously, what do you do about sealing rounded items? I specifically mentioned Grumpy Girl because I hadn't yet opened her soap from the swap and noticed it was oval and was beautifully shrink wrapped!Anyone have great tips??Thanks in advance,Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisR Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 I have one soap bar thats round and when I used to shrink wrap it, I usually sealed it across the bag, then seal the sharp corners again,to kind of take the edge off, cut off the excess and heat gun it. I smooth the 'corner' with my finger and usually get a pretty smooth round seal. Does this make sense??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alajane Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 That's what I meant when I described making the octagonal-shaped packages--I just went the long way round to explain it! It just seemed like a lot of trouble and I wondered if that's what most people did or just left the corners in place?Thanks,Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Like Chris R said...if it is a round object then just seal as usual...but when you shrink it push in the corners. When shrinking round soap I just rolled it on my table to smooth it out.Also, it never hurts to use a stick pin to poke air hole before shrinking...makes it much smoother and easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyN Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Do you place lots of holes or just one whole in the buttom??? I'm new to shrinkwrapping too and my pillars had a seam on the bottom and top and I wasn't super happy with how they looked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Girl Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thanks for the compliment. All I do is make sure that the soap is in the bag all the way to the bottom and cut the wrap to where there is about 2" on the top left (4x6) seal, and press the edges in while I'm heating with the heat gun and while the plastic is still hot. If I have a lot of excess in the corners, I'll seal them close to the product and cut the excess before shrinking. I've always used a curling iron to seal my bags, and now that I've got a new impulse sealer, they'll probably look like crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alajane Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 I can't imagine using a curling iron--if I had been that creative I wouldn't have bought the impulse sealer!! I'm going to try just smoothing out the edges with my finger tonight--but how do you do that without burning your fingers???!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michi Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 That's all I do-smoosh the corners in while it's still pliable/hot, I've never burned my fingers before, I just make sure I'm sticking my fingers in front of the heat gun (which is all I use). LOLI'm just real quick about it-heat gun the corner, smoosh it in/smooth it real quick and then move on to the next corner.Not sure how this works with an impulse sealer sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alajane Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 It should be the same with the impulse sealer because it just seals the bag, then I have to heat gun it--I have half my soaps for the swap already sealed, so I'll try the rest tonight and see if I can get this technique perfected!Thanks,Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsaycb Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Okay, curling iron idea is awesome! I use a seal a meal thing that I found at goodwill for $2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alajane Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 I won't use mine for this because I love it too much and don't want to take a chance on ruining it for food use--but a $2 one I would definitely love for candle purposes.Using the tricks and tips on here really helped--I finished sealing up all my soaps last night and, while they're not the best I've ever seen, I think they look pretty good for a beginner!Thanks so much, everybody!Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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