Labels

[littlebrew]

I spend a lot of time bottling for friends and family, and I need a label program, supplier, or something to develop an attractive format. In my opinion the presentation is about as important as the taste...not really, but it sounds philosophical     I think the "first impression" is really important to those who drink that commercial crap!

My secondary mission in life is to convert the nonbrewers.  I have to be careful handling the non believers!

Most of the commercial vendors charge up to $1.50 - $2 each for a run of 1500 labels.  This is ridiculous!  I have bottled about 2500 this year.  Got any suggestions?

Thanks.

Dave

[bonjour]

I label all my bottles, for some examples see http://bonjour-family.org/craft/CRAFTedLabels.htm
I use Microsoft Powerpoint, but any graphics program will work.  I print them on good 24lb paper and cut them with either sissors or a paper cutter, them place them on with a glue stick.  

The only problem is that if you want to place your bottles in a cooler with ice the ink runs.

Fred

[Shakey_Dog]

I also label all my beer.  It is fun and you are right about presentation.

I use print shop 11.0 and avery labels.  look at my link on the bottom.

Don

[Cosh]

OK, my two cents?  Standard inkjet printer, MS publisher and a Xyron 500 sticker-maker.  It's this simple little tool that adds a film of adhesive to the back of a piece of paper.  You can get removable or permanent adehesive.

If you want to make them really professional, you can add a one sided laminant (sp?).  It will also help the ink from running.

Lots of work for your beer, but as someone said, presentation of your hard work is important, but what do I know?

Mike

[BeerSmith]

I've been hoping someone with some artistic ability could create an HTML report template for printing labels directly within BeerSmith.

It would not be that hard - set up a background bitmap and then pick some pretty HTML fonts to create a template so the text shows up in the correct places on the sheet.

Unfortunately I have no artistic skill whatsoever.

Cheers!
Brad

[bonjour]

Give me a little time.

Fred

[bonjour]

Brad,

could you email me a BeerSmith logo, preferably in beer label size (I would prefer not grabing the small one on the page)

Fred

[BeerSmith]

Sure,
 I will send a larger one.

Brad

[Beer_Tigger]

My First POST!!!!

I've actually been wondering about labels lately.  I think I would use Avery labels as some of you are, but then don't you have the problem of removing them later?  Is there any printer compatible label paper that uses a water soluble glue?  Or something that soaks off easily?

What are your recomendations?

P.S. Shakey Dog: I'd love to hear the details on your setup.  It looks very economical, yet highly flexible.  (If you don't mind sharing)

[littlebrew]

Since my original post I have investigated all the recommendations for the group.  I have experimented with Power Point with some good results...but am stil experimenting.  Would like to purchase the other stuff as finances allow.

[littlebrew]

Sorry!! Got interupted.

The Avery labels are a real pain  to remove and are NOT woth the effort , UNLESS you plan on giving the bottles away.  The adhesive needs a "gum remover" and will contaminate the bottle if not THROUGHLY washed and rinsed.  Traces of the oily remover tends to migrate into the bottle.

I have tried muticycling on a dishwasher, but have had to use too much time & $$ with it.  At $2 a case for used 16 oz bottles, I throw the old away and wash the "new" used ones saving loads of time, expense, and elbow grease.

I only wish I could find an affordable label program.  

[Shakey_Dog]

Hot water and the back of a butter knife takes them off with ease.

That is what I have been doing for years with no problems.

Don

[tafair]

Another option maybe Avery's Design Pro label program ( free download from avery.com) I used the 5390 Insertable Name Badge (2 1/4" x 3 1/2") in landscape mode and get 8 labels per sheet of regular paper on my inkjet printer. Cut them apart (paper cutter works well) bband fasten the labels to the bottles with a glue stick. I find for most purposes this works well for me. The labels don't fall off or have the ink run unless they get wet.  To remove labels simple get the outside of the bottle wet when rinsing and slide the label right off.

You can put, text graphics and pictures into the labels in edit mode.  

[maltdog]

Glue sticks (Ross, Uhu, etc) work fine for attaching labels. Just make sure your bottles are dry and unchilled when gluing. The labels and glue come off easily with a little hot water.

Even without software, you can insert downloaded, scanned, or digital camera pictures into an excel worksheet and jazz it up with wordart. I still make maybe half my labels that way. Also, there are tons of free font websites out there.
Copy the finished label to make an array of a dozen or so on a page. Then print at home, or take a disk to your local Officemax or whatever. Cut apart with an Xacto and a metal straightedge.

[windrider]

Depending on how fancy of labels you want, Avery has some Removable Labels that make removing them a snap.  I found some of their small ID labels at the local store and used them just so I knew what I had in the bottles, when I bottled them, etc.  They of course weren't fancy, but served the purpose I wanted and you can just peel them right off the bottle without leaving anything behind in a snap.  Of course if you get them wet they'll come off even quicker. heh   I noticed on Avery's website they have some larger lables that are 3-1/3"x4" which you could add a little graphic too if you wanted along with some other information if you want to get a little more fancy and they are still the removable type so easy to take off.