Hello everyone!
My name is Elisha and I'm from Kenco Label. I have been in the label industry for over over 2 decades and work with thousands of business all over North America. I work very closely with many E-Liquid brands providing labeling solutions for many of their various needs. This is my AMA
Below are just a few of the topics I am extremely familiar with, but you may ask me anything!
- Label Printers
- Label Materials
- Label Adhesives
- Label Applicators
- Label Software
- Label Design
I am now available to start answering questions. If you missed the AMA, please don't hesitate to send me a PM.
Can you tell us what you know about adhesives and how/if they leach through plastic? Are there types of labels that uses a less "leachy" adhesive? Have there been any studies done that you know of?
Almost all of the adhesives we use are "non corrosive" and would not leach through other medias. ( plastics, glass, etc...) The reason for this is that many of our labeling products would be used on food products as well as products for everyday use in the home. Leaching could cause some serious liabilities for label manufacturers.
There are rare exceptions to this however, but we only use those adhesives for special requests, mostly military and/aero space applications.
As for studies done, there aren't any that come to mind, but I'm sure there are a few.
Ok, that makes sense about your labels. But, for example, just some standard buy-at-the-grocery store labels like Avery, would they be using a "corrosive" adhesive? Or is non-corrosive pretty much the industry standard?
In addition, is there BPA in my thermal labels going through my DYMO printer? I use one for postage/shipping and recently saw that some people have started using them for labelling ejuice. I buy my postage labels from the place everyone else does, discount thermal labels. I would probably buy ejuice labels from the same place.
Almost all thermal labels made in the US are BPA free. We have'n't used or seen a BPA thermal metals in many years, and you would be hard pressed to find one.
With that said, I would be cautious if purchasing labels made in china. They don't have the same FDA regulations we do and some of their products could contain harmful materials.
I have a Brother p-Touch that is OK for basic labels, but obviously doesn't do colors or anything fancy. What's the entry-level price point for a printer that can do professional-looking one-off labels? (One-off as opposed to printing an entire sheet each time).
As far as entry level full color printers that can print "one off labels" you have several options.
- Primera LX400 (cheapest option)
- Primera LX900 (midrange option)
- Primera LX2000 (not available on the market yet)
These are roll fed pre die cut labels that can be made in almost any size and shape in over 20 different materials. This is what most e-liquid companies are using to print their full color labels. There are larger printers that use different ink technology and materials for larger quantity runs for in house printing. Those I would recommend for production runs of 20 thousand or more labels a month.
What does one of those bad boys run? And how much is label stock?
The printers new range from $1000 - $3800 new. The labels vary greatly in price as the size, and material play a big part.
The biggest advantage to using something like this is that once you are done printing you can apply your labels using an automated label application machine. Imagine if you had to hand label 10,000 bottles!!!
EDIT
If you are just starting out, try and find a refurbished model or check out eBay.These printers are work horses and are built to last.
id like to know this as well. also the price of one that can do a full sheet
why do some labels peel right off of glass bottles, leaving no glue residue or pieces of label, while others don't?
This could be 1 of several issues.
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Some label materials use a "removable" adhesive that would leave little or in most cases no residue. The problem with these labels is that they have a poor shelf life and will fall off many products after a short period of time.
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A more likely scenario is that the label material is using a standard acrylic adhesive, but the label stock material is a "synthetic" based material, usually a polyester, vinyl, or polypropylene. These synthetic materials do not tear and can be pealed of in 1 piece most of the time and the adhesive will usually come along with it. Paper labels are not durable enough in most cases to be peeled off and will leave behind adhesive as well as the paper material itself.
A easy way to check the difference between a paper and synthetic material is to do the "tear test". Paper labels will rip like paper, while synthetic materials either won't rip/tear but instead stretch.
Can I get a sales rep to contact me?
I am currently using a laser printer to print on frosty clear polyester laser labels in runs of 500-1000 a week. We sell both direct to consumer as well as wholesale. Each label has unique information to that batch or even single unique bottles so I sometimes end up having to make a sheet with a many different types of labels on the sheet. I find that this is extremely time consuming and was wondering if there was a better software option than doing each unique nicotine level, date, pg/vg ratio, and bottle size one at a time in photoshop.
I would recommend a program like "nice label". It's a bit pricey, but it will be VERY versatile when making labels with variable data.
Another option would be to get all your labels pre printed in bulk with a blank space where you would put the variable data. (flavor, PG, Batch#, etc...) You can then run your labels through a Thermal Transfer printer like the Godex RT700i.
Do you sell labels that I am able to import my own design on, and if so where? I'm transitioning into selling to local stores soon and have been looking at vista print for the sole reason that I can't find anywhere else to go.
any local print shop would be cheaper. vista print is hella expensive
This a misleading statement. Many local print shops do not have the same capabilities as a larger printer like Vista print. Depending on your quantities, art, and materials, vista print could be much cheaper than a local printer. It is in my experience that local"mom and pop" print shops are usually on the higher end than online label manufacturers.
What's the best way to get a label printed that is water proof, or juice proof for this sake, and printed at a good dpi so the logo and everything is crisp? Is there a company that can do this?
This is a complex question and I'm glad you asked.
For a label to be waterproof, it would need to be printed on a synthetic material (polyester, vinyl, polypropylene) It would also need to be printed using a durable printing technology. Laser, UV, and some pigment dye printing are the best options. If you are going to be using inkjet or flexographic printing, you would need to laminate your label to protect it from smearing the print.
Most at home desktop printers can print upwards of 600 DPI or more. DPI plays less of an important roll in printing than most people would think. Your art work is the most important aspect of a good looking print. We always recommend you create your art work using a vector based graphic program like adobe illustrator. This will allow you to create a scalable graphic that can be adjusted to any DPI setting your printer is capable of.
You can learn more about it here
I'm also interested in weatherproofing inkjet labels.
I've noticed some label vendors selling weatherproof inkjet labels. Are these the real deal?
Instead of using laminate paper to protect inkjet label prints, can a regular clear,polyester label be applied over top the inkjet printed label? For example, I'd print on a white weatherproof matte inkjet label, then apply a clear glossy inkjet label on top to further protect the print.
Thanks for the AMA.
Weatherproof inkjet labels is kind of a misconception. The material could be weatherproof i.e., polyester or BOPP, but the inkjet coating on top that holds the ink is not. It will start to run after getting wet and your labels will start to smear.
You can laminate an inkjet label to make it weatherproof, we sell a die cut clear BOPP to match the label size of your inkjet labels. This will protect them from almost anything.
What would you recommend for a hobbyist in terms of label printing for my own use?
For black and white, I would recommend a Demo Label Writer 450. Super easy to use and the labels are DIRT CHEAP. For full color printing, I would recommend laser/inkjet labels. Laser labels are going to give you the most durability especially on a synthetic material. If you can't afford a laser printer, take them to a print shop and use your own laser label sheets and have them print your vector based graphic file. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Dymo*. I use one of those, it's great. Actually got it free on Amazon haha.
What's the best way to remove a large variety of labels from a large number of bottles of different materials? I believe homebrewers use star-san, but does that work on just about everything?
Sadly, you don't have a lot of options here. You would most likely have to manually peel off each one. You could try a chemical bath, but many acrylic adhesives can withstand abuse form these chemicals. Not to mention if the label material is a synthetic or laminated, this would make it even that much harder.
If you plan on reusing and relabeling bottles, we recommend our estate material. It has a special FDA adhesive that when placed in a water bath over 100ºF for 10 minutes, will make the adhesive dissolve completely. Thats why many of our wine customers use these labels on their bottles.
I haven't tried it for this yet, but when I have to strip something, I use Simple Green. It's safe for plastics, metals, and glass. It's also environmentally friendly. I used to use it to strip acrylic paint and primer off plastic models (warhammer 40k, mostly) and it never damaged the plastic.
Let's say I want crystal clear labels with white or black text, depending on the juice color/bottle color to go on glass bottles. How would I do that at home?
Printing white on a clear label stock is incredibly complex. Most printers on the market today don't have white ink as most printable media is already white.
You would need to print on specialized printing equipment or have them run through a flexographic printing press.
We do make clear materials that can be printed on by thermal, inkjet, and laser materials, however they are not fully transparent due to a special coating on top to hold in the ink. Here is an example of a "printed at home" clear label
A local printer here in Australia asked for a "print ready pdf with 3mm bleeds and crops". What's that mean in English? I have my labels in Photoshop, so bleeds I have sorted.
In basic terms, lets say that your label is a 4" x 2" round cornered rectangle (sorry, I don't really use metric) they want you to create a 4.125" x 2.125" art file and have a extra layer to show where the 4" x2" label actually rests within the art work. That way they can print past the edge and then die cut it. Since you bled past the edge of all the sides, you will have a "perfect bleed". If you need to see an example of this, let me know! Also, make sure your photoshop file is a minimum of 300 DPI The higher the better when printing.
I have a LX900 and I have no idea what I'm doing... glad I'm not the only one haha
Hello Elisha, I could use a little help. We purchased a Primera LX900 about a month ago and we love it. But, I can't figure out how to get the cost per label feature to work. It always has and continues to says 'Estimated Total Cost: Infinity per label' I have followed the instructions on the owners manual to the tee. Everyone in our shop has tried to figure it out. We have the cost of the cartridge and have input it where it says to and followed the rest of the instructions. But, it continues to 'Estimated Total Cost: Infinity per label'. Can you help?
I would visit www.primeralabel.com and check out their support menu and click "contact us" Call them or use chat. The will help you out over the phone at no charge and they have great customer service. My guess is that the drivers are a bit off. I would try removing the drivers completely and downloading the latest drivers from their website and reinstalling them. That might fix the issue. Let me know how it goes!
Hi u/tobaccowhacko! What should appear on your e-juice labels? What are the best and cost-effective printing options?
Hello /u/pacificbarcode01 this AMA ended over 7 years ago ;)
but to answer your question... It depends. LOL. A lot has changed in 7 years since my AMA but basically you need to see what your needs are. How many labels do you need/want. What is your budget, and what regulatory requirements are there if any. Once you know all that, you should be able to speak with a label expert and determine the most cost effective option.