Monday, July 8, 2013

Journey to my New Soap Box

My packaging for the longest time has been wrapping each bar of soap one by one with white dry wax paper, colorful ribbon then sticker tags front and back.  It is very economical but very time consuming.  I've always been searching for a more exciting, professional look new packaging idea.
I could order a whole bunch of custom made boxes from suppliers, but that needs a rather LARGE minimum order to get the price economical.  I do like the idea of soap in a box.  That would give the soap a more uniform look.  But as restless as me, I probably change my design way too often to make the pre-order worth awhile.
One day one of my soaping friends introduced me to this crafting machine that connects to any computer to design, print from any printer then send it back to cut.  It is a little pricey but I totally got excited by the flexibility this will give to my packaging need.  I can change my design anytime I want with no minimum order to worry about!
I started sketching my first box idea:
 Using a graphic program to draw and print, cut with plain old pair of scissors for prototype study #1:
Yes, it is very colorful, LOL, doing it so I can see how different planes come together.

I sent the design to cut with my new toy to test prototype #2: text choice is not good for cutouts... sigh.

Testing more fonts for cutouts and found the one that works pretty well:

Now thanks to my honey, I got some professional looking product photos!

12 comments:

  1. Your new packaging is awesome! What is this craft machine you speak of? I can't imagine it. So you print the box yourself? Where do you have it cut? I am also trying to find a good way to package my soaps. I don't sell, just giving away, but I love packaging and hoping to sell one day. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The new machine is called Silhouette Cameo, it has a program you can install onto your computer to let you design, print to whatever printer you have then put that print to Cameo machine to cut.

      Delete
    2. That sounds really cool! Thank you. :-)

      Delete
  2. Wow, Emily, I love your new packaging. It looks professional also artistic! I especially adore the cutouts, very nice. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW, I love it Emily...how cool is that?! Your new boxes are gorgeous, and I love the way it still is reminiscent of your previous packaging, which I really liked too. I love the way your name is cut out on the side!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love everything about your lovely soap boxes! You are so creative. Thanks so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stunning and so professional. Now a question who is shaky photo? LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's my hubby, he is very into photography and just started his new blog not long ago:
      http://shakyphoto.wordpress.com

      Take a look, some nice landscape photos from our travels.

      Delete
  6. Designing your own packaging is both challenging and exciting! It's good to see that you came up with an original design. Congrats on doing a great job! I'm looking forward to your next packaging idea.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You may not check this blog post anymore but I thought you might like to know while I was searching for box manufacturers that this company came up as representing themselves to have created your original box: http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Cardboard-bar-soap-box-decorative-soap_60122630994.html?spm=a2700.7724838.0.0.5FuPys&s=p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynnsy, thank you for your warning. I knew about the alibaba infringement, and I've tried to report it to Alibaba with no success. Alibaba rejected my request reasoning that I do not have enough evidence to prove that the design is mine. It is rather silly because my logo is printed right on the box. It is international and it's hard to force them to take it down without paying a lot of money for an international lawyer for this kind of cases. It's very unfortunate but there's nothing I can do.

      Delete

ShareThis