Printing waterproof labels
I’m printing cotton paper labels for our Soap, body products and Birch products business www.littlebirchfarm.com and need to protect the paper and print. My first thought was to varnish the label after printing but I’m unsure how to do it, or if it will work. My thoughts were to either a) use a brayer to apply the varnish after printing or b) apply the varnish using my C&P with a solid form cut to the size of the label being printed. I’ve seen other threads here about varnish but they all seemed to be more about giving the paper a sheen rather than for protection. Has anyone had any experience with this?
Thanks in advance for any help
Steve Nartowicz
Paper Stone Printing
P.O. Box 137
Chesterfield MA 01012
413-834-0930
www.paperstoneprinting.com
I varnished some wine bottle labels like that in the past. Took a linoleum block, cut it to size and shimmed it to the proper height and locked it up. Ran a Hurst Varnish, I believe. I don’t think it will make them waterproof, but it did help resist the water. You could try a couple of coats…
Steve, what are you protecting the paper from, maybe i don’t want to try your soap? i don’t think you need to varnish the labels. if i were you i’d wrap the label around the soap then shrink wrap it, I once printed tags on tag stock only to have the job bounce because they were going to use them on fish. To solve this the tags were printed on tough-text stock with tough text ink, you can’t even tear that stock, the static is unbelievable, the ink dried faster than you could put it on the press. this might work for your soap, but i would go for some shrink wrap. Dick G. ps. i heard you still have snow out there.
I print on tough text paper everyday.. works really well.
What I do is print them yellow, since it doesn’t come in yellow. Then I over print in black. They are used for water heater warning. can you believe one of the warnings is Do Not use extenstion cord to connect electric to this unit.
Thanks for the info Platen Man & Theo - Dick, the last of our snowbanks finally disappeared 2 weeks ago but then we got 2 more inches last Saturday. That finally melted on Monday, now black fly season is in full swing - little buggers will drive you insane! About the labels - is tough-text a cotton paper? I want to use only cotton for the labels. I guess I was a little vague with my first post. We don’t need labels for the soap, I print Birch bark labels for those. We’re just concerned about someone using one of the hand creams then smudging the ink on the label or having cream soak into the label after multiple uses. Hope all is well at the other side of the state Dick!
Steve