Make soap bands: cut, score, wrap, glue, adjust

The band is one long strip with four fold lines and a glue tab. Making one well is mostly about scoring cleanly and testing before you print a batch.

What the template gives you

The medium example: 184 × 40 mm strip, folds at 60.5, 86, 146.5 and 172 mm, glue tab in the last 12 mm.

From left to right: the front panel, a side panel, the back panel, the second side panel, and the glue tab. The fourth fold separates the last side panel from the tab. Optional PDF text sits centred on the front panel.

Materials

• Paper or light cardstock. Thin paper folds crisply; heavier stock looks richer but needs deeper scoring. Try a plain-paper sample before using good stock.
• A craft knife and steel rule, or a guillotine, and a cutting mat.
• A scoring tool: a bone folder, an empty ballpoint pen, or the back of a butter knife.
• Glue that suits your paper: a glue stick for paper, PVA or double-sided tape for cardstock.

Steps

1. Print and check scale. Print at 100% and measure the footer ruler. See the printing guide.
2. Cut the strips. Cut along the solid outlines. With several bands per sheet, cut the long edges first, then separate the strips.
3. Score the four dashed lines. Hold the rule along each dashed line and run the scoring tool firmly along it. Score on the printed side so the printed face ends up outside after folding, and fold every line the same way.
4. Pre-fold. Fold each score to about ninety degrees and open it again. Crisp pre-folds make wrapping much easier.
5. Wrap the bar. Centre the front panel on the face you want to show, fold the side panels round, bring the back panel across and tuck the glue tab under the front panel.
6. Check the fit. The hatched tab should lie fully under the front panel with a small gap before the next fold. The band should slide on and sit without slack.
7. Glue. Apply glue to the hatched tab only, press it under the front panel and hold for a few seconds. Avoid glue near the folds so they stay clean.

Adjusting the fit

• Loose band: reduce the extra length E (it is a total around the whole wrap), or re-measure W and D at their widest points.
• Tight band or paper tearing at folds: increase E by a millimetre, or use thinner stock.
• Tab shows past the front panel: reduce the glue overlap G. The tool already requires G to stay 3 mm short of the next fold.
• Band slides along the bar: that is normal for a belly band on a smooth bar; a wider band B or a slightly smaller E helps.

Batches

Set the quantity to the number of bands you need and the tool spreads them over as many sheets as required. The sheet count is shown before you download. If you add text, it is printed on every copy; the cut-and-score SVG is one plain band without text, for machine cutting.