Labels

[TahoePowderHound]

My wife recently bought a Cricut crafting machine, or as far as I’m concerned, a beer label maker! I played around with it and came up with a few labels for some of my beers and mead.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

Very nice Hopnado and No Sail Stout in particular

 

[stillcolo]

Very nice work!

 

[Dycksons]

Nice work!

 

[Backyardbrewer]

My wife also has a beer label maker aka Cricut. What was the process? Design print and cut printer paper and use milk/gelatin? Does Cricut have label paper?

 

[Amadeo38]

Also in the “wife has a cricut” club and curious about your process to make these.

 

[TahoePowderHound]

I use the Cricut design center to create the label. It’s the easiest to use software I’ve found to make a collage for a label. On the right hand side there is a tab with the stats for each image on the mat. Toggle each image from “cut” to “print”. Then I simply load my printer with Avery full-sheet sticker paper. Send image to printer and you can print a stack. Then place those pages on the cutting mat and feed it into the Cricut and it will cut them out for you. It might be faster just to use a sliding cutter if you’re doing rectangle labels though. But for oval labels the auto cut is awesome.

One problem I have with the Cricut is that because it automatically prints the pages to be cut in the Cricut, it wastes a large margin space with cutting guidelines for the sensor to read and orient itself. This means you can only fit one 4” tall rectangle label per page, even though the paper 8.5” wide. Seems like a huge waste of paper.

4” seems to be the preferred size of the label IMO but to save paper you can make them just over 3” and squeeze two labels per page. Or you can get 2 large ovals and 2 rectangles per page which is cool too.

As far as the label paper from Avery, it’s great because it peels off without any residue. However the paper I got was “no gloss” so it’s a mess when it gets wet. I recently ordered some high gloss paper from a random website I found at a good price which I’m excited to try. Another option would be to look for some sort of vinyl sticker sheets if you have a printer that can handle it.

Happy labeling!

 

[deadhead]

Very cool!

 

[Amadeo38]

Thanks for the detailed response!

 

[Kuvasz Vizsla]

My wife recently bought a Cricut crafting machine, or as far as I’m concerned, a beer label maker! I played around with it and came up with a few labels for some of my beers and mead.

Would you know where I could get an inexpensive labelling machine? I need to apply die cut labels on a small 36 can batch of ale.

 

[TahoePowderHound]

Would you know where I could get an inexpensive labelling machine? I need to apply die cut labels on a small 36 can batch of ale.

I only know about the cricuts, and they’re great machines. Their entry level priced machine, the Cricut Explore One is on sale on their website right now for $179 down from $249...

 

[Kuvasz Vizsla]

I only know about the cricuts, and they’re great machines. Their entry level priced machine, the Cricut Explore One is on sale on their website right now for $179 down from $249...

Thanks a lot! I will check them out.

 

[Kuvasz Vizsla]

The cricut machines can create stickers, but I need a round bottle label applicator.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Would you know where I could get an inexpensive labelling machine? I need to apply die cut labels on a small 36 can batch of ale. [...] The cricut machines can create stickers, but I need a round bottle label applicator.

So you have labels that are not sticky? If so, the gizmo you are looking for is a Xyron. It adds an adhesive backing to paper products. I have also read reports of using milk as a label adhesive, but I have not tried it myself.

 

[jobuzo]

Great labels, A buddy showed me Canva, it has templates and he makes them the old fashioned way on a printer, pretty easy he says. I have not tried yet, but it's another option.

 

[TexasGuy]

@TahoePowderHound How did the glossy paper work out? Were you using an inject printer and if so, did the ink run with glossy paper?

 

[bwible]

Thanks - I heard of Cricut before. I make my own labels in Photoshop and I print them on my printer on regular paper. Then I painstakingly cut them out with scissors by hand.

I put them on the bottes with FastLabel.
https://www.fastbrewing.com/products/fastlabel
These are basically little plastic shrink wraps you put over the bottle and stick your label inside of. Then they tell you to finish the shrink by quickly dunking the bottle in boiling water. Just very quickly in and out.

I’ve used them for 7 or 8 batches at this point. They work great. Plus I like that after they are sealed they are waterproof. When you’re done, all you do is peel the plastic off and the label falls right off, as its not held on with any glue or adhesive. That’s the best part. Not scraping off labels.

 

[TexasGuy]

@bwible That's fairly close to a perfect solution. I've been googling shrink wrap solutions for a few days and had not come across this. Thank you.

 

[bwible]

@bwible That's fairly close to a perfect solution. I've been googling shrink wrap solutions for a few days and had not come across this. Thank you.

I know. Wish I had thought of it.

 

[TahoePowderHound]

@TahoePowderHound How did the glossy paper work out? Were you using an inject printer and if so, did the ink run with glossy paper?

The labels in these photos were not on gloss paper, but they got soaked and ruined even with the smallest amount of moisture. I have since moved to gloss sticker paper from onlinelabels . com.

That website sells a ton of different options for every printer type. I use an inkjet so ordered gloss paper for that and it prints great with no smears. I do have an annoying issue with the wheels being unable to feed the paper through my HP printer half the time because of the gloss. Some printers don’t do well with gloss and others do, just depends what you have. Attached are photos with the gloss paper I’ve been using.

 

[bwible]

@bwible That's fairly close to a perfect solution. I've been googling shrink wrap solutions for a few days and had not come across this. Thank you.

Note they sell 2 different sizes - for 12 and one for 16 oz bottles. Wear gloves or use a towel or potholder when dipping. I had one neck snap off of one bottle after dipping as I was putting it back in the case. Just one the whole time I’ve been doing it. I wasn’t using anything and I got a cut from that. Probably a freak but it happened one time.

It takes a little practice but you’ll develop your own routine. I line up all my bottles and sleeves with the label positioned inside first while water is heating. Then coninuous dip one right after the other.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I use a color laser printer, plain paper no runs.
Then use a glue stick of school glue, they easily come off when wet.