# sticker shock for muslin bags



## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

We have used muslin bags from the beginning. When we started I could get these for $.17 each. The cheapest I can find now is $.24 each. 

I would hate to change our whole system (we stamp the bags / front and back and slip a cardstock black and white business card inside. which includes the ingredients and scents we offer. )

The cost of the bags does not include the labor, ink or stamps. Should I change this for the upcoming season? rethink and start it all for next season.


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## feistymomma (May 20, 2009)

Do you sew? Little muslin bags are super easy to make and you can get it pretty cheap by the yard.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

When considering the price per yard for muslin, the number per yard 8-10 I could get from a yard. the time. I think I would rather spend my time making soap.


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## Faye Farms (Sep 14, 2009)

http://www.packcoinc.com/cloth-cotton-drawsting-parts-bags.html

I used muslin bags for a special project last winter. I got them from Packco. I was happy with the bags and the price is right. I'm pretty sure I used the 4x6 bags.


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## feistymomma (May 20, 2009)

I can be 18 per yard (4x6) and can get muslin for 2.99 a yard. So I can make them for .16 a piece and it takes me 3 minutes a bag after they are cut out. I like to sew though, so it was just a thought.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Amber, wholesale them to Peggy  You have to move to bulk uline.com etc. perhaps PJ knows a source? Her kids originally stamped all hers, I do not think they do anymore, maybe the next move for you is to have yours stamped by the company you purchase them from?


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Amber, If you want to sell them to me for that price (.16) I'll buy them.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

I just ordered them from ULINE. 17 cent each


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

Do stick on labels stay on the muslin bags?


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

we stamp them with ink and insert a business card.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Love uline.com I get all my bulk purchases from them, excellent customer services true one stop shopping for me! Vicki


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

Vicki, what all do you get from Uniline.com?


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

Dorit said:


> Do stick on labels stay on the muslin bags?


 yes


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

In cases, tape, soap bags, twist ties, paper bags for holidays, boxes that exactly fit my lotion bottles for wholesale, I bought my mats for my new soap room, I bought the spill savers for under my barrells of oils, I bought perscription goggles through them (yes I have bifocal goggles  I bought gloves I hated and donated them to the High School..buckets, bottles for shampoo and creme rinse. I ordered that huge massive bag of peanuts for fill, don't ever do that  Everything you order comes with peanuts or bubble wrap, I have enough to last a lifetime!!! 

My husband uses them for our business, so I am always adding stuff for me onto his orders. I am going to use them for several of my shelves and bins in my new soap room, their colors are bright and cheery, and I am ordering their rolling mail bin, I haven't found one like it I love like theirs and theirs fits between my shelves for packaging. Vicki


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

Thanks Vicki, I overlook them bc they have so much, but I will reinvestigate. I am doing better than I ever dreamed of and am thinking of doing some major redisigning of my art studio into a soap shop. Am grapeling with storage of supplies and boxes of soap, storing FOs etc. The only thing I don't have is a sink. We have a gravity septic system and I don't want to throw wash water into it, anyway anyone with hints and "wish I had done it differently" and don't mind sharing, I will love to hear of it. Thanks Dorit


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

You want to do a grey water line, add your washing machines and kitchen sink, dishwasher and showers to it....you need at least bathroom sinks for enough water in your septic. Couldn't do what I do without a sink. And for your saftey having lots of running water in an accident is the only way to neutralize water or soap that isn't saponified yet.

Never commission. Do baskets for door prices for anything you can think of...the chamber of commerce dinners in your town, Boy Scout silent auctions, teachers days at the local school, giving away a bar of soap to add to each teachers basket gets you repeat sales as they ohh and aww over your prettiest soap. Think outside the box, and remember your neighbors are not your customers!

Cure closets, I am itching to use mine, it has a bathroom vent with light, plus is wired to a dehumidifier that will empty under the house so no more emtpying...it will close tightly which will greatly end so much scent in the room which is overpowering to some customers. It is super insulated so it will not heat up the room. I am using bread racks on wheels with two racks going will hold 2,000 bars of soap. I copied it from a cure closet I saw 2 years ago while visiting Tamera (and family) in Mississippi.

Get a commercial stick blender.
Get commercial mats to stand and walk on.
Wear gloves and goggles always.
Try to set your basic line and start buying 5 pounds and then 10 pounds of scent, enough to last you the whole year.
I would never recommend bars as large as mine, everything is custom.
Move to 50 pound bags of lye, really rethink if you are melting lye into milk. And your milk just before trace.
Save soaping time for fun, I have started a speciality line, well most of the soaps are soaps I have done for a long time just never on the website....you can't just soap your line every day as an artist. So do leave yourself some time to experiment. Sure they never may make it into the line, but they sell just as well. Vicki


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

What is a grey line? I have a make shift dehumidifier going with stainless shelves covered in heavy plastic sheeting with a unit that empties out via hose to outside. Love it but a closet would be better. I agree, a sink is a must. Great idea of fatigue matts. I already buy oils in 50#s and have discovered that shlepping to New Orleans to save on shipping is ludicrous considering the price of gasoline. I've also taken some more advise and now have an inventory and have been checking off items as they sell. I was surprised how I had missed two big sellers! I'm so happy, I feel that I am getting a handle on this venture, something new since I usually fly by the seat of my pants. Thanks all for generous time and feedback. Dorit


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

A grey PVC pipe that runs out to a dry well....it can be as simple as the hole we dug for all the wash water and such to go out on the property, or a friend of mine burried a 55 gallon drum filled with gravel and holes so the water would seep into the ground...instead of having all this water go into your septic.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Vicki, can you post picts of your drying cabinet and bread racks?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Ok it's under construction and I am getting ready for the haul but will have husband go snap a few.....he thinks I am out of the mind hauling the bread rack out to mock it up 

I also put the photo of the wall beside it, the metal on the wall and around the closet is old, it's rusted and was painted at one time, then acid washed, it will be sprayed with polyurethane so super easy to keep clean, and will not absorb moisture or scent. The post in the center of the room that will be at the end of the bar (both to work at but so 6 can fit for soap classes) is a cedar 8 foot tree and then in the sawmill husband cut boards out of the bottom of that tree for siding on the far wall. We also will be using a red oak and some board and batten pine, so it will be a very old space yet brand new. The table for the bar is one he made years ago out of a 10 foot door when the president of UT didn't like the door into his private study. The ceiling is new metal that is painted bright white, it is for looks only it is not actually the roof.

The white door takes you into the bathroom down the bedroom hall, so no more customers tramping through the whole house to go to the bathroom. And I doubt it will remain white 

One of the cedar trees had knots in it, so when they show up in trim, baseboards and siding we will be putting brightly colored photos up of eyeballs in the knots, like they are peeping at you. I wanted a really artsy space and not just a plain sheet rock and lineoleum room. Kind of using everything I have seen in our travels and antiquing jaunts in one space. Vicki


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

very cool thanks!


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

I love the eye photos. Where will your dehydrator sit? Mine pumps out hot air does yours, if yes will all of it exhaust into the attic?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

It sits in the wall behind the racks, it is not actually in the closet just the front of it with the controlls etc, so it doesn't take up space in the closet. The wires you see are actually for a vent fan that will take hot hair out to under the house, the lights and for electrical plugs. Yes all dehumidifers heat up the room, which is nice in the winter, but not in the summer. 

I loved these bread racks, all we normally see here are bun racks...with bread racks although they will be filled at the work table, I can not only see what soap it is but reach in and grab bars if I need it for quick sales. Vicki


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Vicki, we use these racks also. But where did you get the holder for the rack?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

We have this HUGE surplus store, it's kind of a weird secret place, phone number to call to get the gate to open, you have him on the phone for prices and it probably takes 3 or 4 hours to walk through and hunt through all the buildings, busses, bread trucks....they have conservatively 20 different kinds of racks and 100's of each ones, toliets (1000's of toliets) IV stands to 50 jacuzzi's stacked up...you have to love to hunt and you have to go when it is not hot. The guy hires local bums to live there in the trailers, they sit around in the shade in the fans and don't help you unless you walk all the way back and find them...I will be going soon to hopefully find top cabinets, chairs for my bar area for classes, a metal locking cabinet for my scents and see if they have any of their glass tiles for my countertop accent pieces left. You can tell most of the stuff comes from demolitions of apartments, hotels, dorms, hopsitals, doctors offices, resturants etc. 

I have hunted google trying to find them, dead ends only, I have asked my local bread guy who delivers to my son in laws families resturant, dead end...they act like you are trying to get them to steal one.

There are square dollies around but none of them were exactly the right size online. It is the one thing our local auctions do not have, and weirdly I couldn't even find them new. I do love the racks that soap equipment carries, but these were just $25 for each one complete, can't beat that. 10 racks with the dolly which just in single layer will hold 1,000 bars, you can't beat that. Vicki


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

That place is a shopaholic's dream vacation. Lucky you. I actually considered driving over to furnish my soap room (silly me). But did some figuring and made a decision to only make so much soap. I do not have the ambition to get so big that it is no longer fun. 4 goats and a few farmer's markets and I am happy.


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## a4patch (Oct 7, 2009)

Vicki, I laughed out loud at the description of this place.


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