Labels on the back of products

[John Jackson]

I was wondering if most people here put labels on the backs of their engraving products like name badges, desk name plates, etc.?

I was working on some for a local school and they sent me a desk name plate and a name badge over to get the style and colour. On the back was a sticker from their original supplier, which was about 0.33" high by maybe 1.25" wide, gold foil with black printing.

I inquired about getting some made with local printing companies and none have dies that small, and the price was high ($200 for 1000 labels, plus taxes). Most online companies think that return address sized labels 0.5 X 1.5 are the smallest anyone should ever want.

So for those who label your products, what kind of labels do you use?

Thanks,

John Jackson
Russell, ON

thingsmade.ca

[David Fairfield]

Its a good idea to help advertise. You can have a little sticker made up very inexpensively if you go with one of the companies that prints return address labels. Instead of your address, you provide your business name email whatever. Cost you about a penny each and you have a choice of fonts and colors. Dave

[Joe Pelonio]

I used to be a dealer for Kaeser & Blair when I had a retail shop and got great wholesale prices on a roll of screenprinted
stickers. Made many sales of magnetic business cards, pens, caps and mugs. Gave it up when I got the laser and pushed engraved items instead. You should be able to find custom stickers for a lot less than $200, I have seen the roll version (1,000) online for as little as $97 with no setup charge.

[Mike vonBuelow]

If 1 3/4 x 1/2" is OK, you can make your own with a inkjet....uline dot com item # S-15183

[Joe Pelonio]

If 1 3/4 x 1/2" is OK, you can make your own with a inkjet....uline dot com item # S-15183

Unless you do a lot of outdoor signs, then screenprinting will hold up a lot better.

[John Jackson]

I am in no rush, I just want to find SMALL stickers. Return address size is too big for something like a 0.75 X 3.0 name tag by the time you put a pin or magnet on the back. These other ones I saw were about a third the size of a return address label. I remember similar stickers on many products which were oval in shape and said "Made in Taiwan".

[John Frazee]

I make my own. I use the Avery labels, 80 per page that are 1/2x1 3/4. Depending on where it goes I use clear or white. The ones I'm using right now I printed my info along with the US flag. Cheap advertising.

[Rodne Gold]

We make our own with a large format print and cut machine , "supplied and engraved by toker bro and a tel no and website ..very small , about 7mm x 15mm.
You can do yours cheaply , use a self adhesive inkjet vinyl (actually laser friendly polyester) from Papilio , print and then laser kiss cut em. Get it right and you then have a facility to print and die cut stickers , add some doming and it opens you to even more opportunities.
You can also use that laserlight material , engrave and kiss cut , but its more expensive

[Mike Lysov]

The cheapest way is to make a rubber stamp and stamp your products instead of labeling them. The greatest one is to etch them.

[Mike Null]

Those little labels were responsible for building a 5 figure segment of my business.

I originally purchased them but they were expensive. Now, depending on the item I make my own or I hot stamp some things. I never laser engrave--but I have seen them.

[James Rambo]

I do a quick engraving onRowmark Laserlights (self stick foil with black background)

[walter hofmann]

Hi there
I engrave directly on the backside my logo.
happy hollidays
greetings
waltfl

[Martin Boekers]

You should be able to find small labels, check with a local scrapbooking shop they may be able to help.

[John Jackson]

I will be getting a plotter shortly to cut sandblast mask with - I will be able to make my own stickers any shape size or colour I need then!

Thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions

John

[Joe Hillmann]

Most of what I do gets a label on it. I buy the best ones I can get, I would give you the name of the company I get them from if I could think of it. I engrave on lots of kitchenware. And I have people calling me every week saying they got my contact info from the back of someones else's engraved pan. I also have people call me and tell me they got my info from the back of a cakepan they have had for 10 years and the label was still readable.

If I remember correctly I think I am paying about $.18 per label, which at first seems pretty expensive but it turns out to be my most cost effective way to advertise.

[Albert Nix]

I am with Rodne, I use the Roland for mine. We almost always have a short piece of vinyl left on a roll so I use it to print sticks on. Cost almost nothing to make. Find someone with a wide format printer and I bet they will be glad to find a use for scrap. I stick them on everything that moves.

[Bill Cunningham]

I usually engrave the back of my badges with my info, other stuff gets a sticker .375 x 1" gold foil w/blk print.. I buy mine at discount labels . com and usually order them at the same time I order labels for customers, and they just come in the same box.. Been using them for over 20 years.. Good company..

[Mark Conde]

I just ordered a bunch of 1.5" circle sized stickers from VistaPrint for about 2 cents each.

[John Jackson]

Thanks Bill!

I have been out in the garage for the past two days trying to assemble a princess auto sandblasting cabinet. I just keep reminding myself how much I am saving...

Next time I am driving through Barrie I should come and see you!

[Bill Cunningham]

Thanks Bill!

I have been out in the garage for the past two days trying to assemble a princess auto sandblasting cabinet. I just keep reminding myself how much I am saving...

Next time I am driving through Barrie I should come and see you!

I built one of those a few years back.. It might be too late, but when you assemble it, run a bead of silicone sealer on all the joined surfaces before you screw them together. Without this, it will leak like a sieve. Particularly if you are using 140-200 blasting medium for glassware. And, buy the light for the inside, you will need it.. That sealer stuff they advertise on T.V. when you want to put a screen door on the bottom of your boat, might work if you didn't seal the joints as you assembled them..

[John Jackson]

Yes - I had the advice on the silicone from several places including the guy at Princess Auto that helped me load the box into the van. It seems funny now, but at the time I was getting quite frustrated trying to align all the panel holes, place bolts through one side while placing nuts on the other, not being able to reach both sides at once, and all the while getting slathered in smeared silicone seal. I am making my own light for it using a CFL bulb in a pickle jar. That way if the abrasive does in one enclosure a new one is about 50 dills away. I will post a picture here when I am done.

Do you cut mask with a plotter? If so which plotter do you have and what is the thickest it will cut? I was planning to get a Graphtec CE5000-60 but I am concerned that the 10 mil thickness and 300g of force won't thick enough resist to do rocks.

[Mike Null]

John

Call the supplier. he can tell you or demonstrate the thickness. I cut 7 mil stuff with no problem--that is what I use on rocks but these are small river rocks and I do few just for my own amusement.

[John Jackson]

Thanks for that advice, Mike!

The dealers are in Toronto, about 4.5 hours away. I will be down there mid February for other reasons and it would be nice to come back with a plotter. Just trying to do my homework first.

I think for something like a pet memorial, or a memorial brick (Granite), I believe I need to more than "etch the surface", which leads me to thicker masks, and it sounds like the CE5000-60 is right on the dividing line. For about the same price as a new CE5000-60 (+tax) I can get a used FC7000 or FC8000 with tangential, 50 mil thicknesses, and 600g downforce. The catch is the used ones tend to be out of sign shops and are for 54" -60" widths. My idea was to put the plotter at the end of the bench or beside it, not replace my work bench!

[John Frazee]

Speaking of labels. A really cool thing happened yesterday! I stopped in a big flea market and was walking through checking out the junk. I ran across an old wooden shelf that looked so familiar. I picked it up and looked at the back.... YES! it had my ink stamp marking on the back from over 15 years ago! I had a wood shop before we started our trophy shop. Then, I saw a trophy with the "horses rear" figure on top. It was missing the year date but looked at the bottom and it still had our Avery label! I took pictures of front, back and bottom of both items. I hesitated posting about the trophy being that it sounds too far fetched being that I found two of our old items!!! Over the years I have gone through times that nothing left here without a sticker. At times I've gotten sloppy and short of time and skipped that step. After this weekend, I have to go back to the stickers. I told the sellers my relationship to those peices but didn't inquire as to the costs.

[David Rust]

Mark,
I must be looking at the wrong stickers... The ones I found are at this address (not a link) w^3.vistaprint.com/circular-stickers.aspx?pfid=AB9&xnav=TsrItem&xnav=TsrItem

I looked at Vistaprint and found the 1.5" circle stickers at 12.5 cents to 16.5 cents each plus a one time $4.99 charge to upload a logo, plus shipping.... (5 sheets of 24 each = 120 stickers at $19.95, $19.95/120= 16.5 cents or 200 sheets of 24 = 4800 for $599.99. $599.99/4800= 12.5 cents)
Did you have a coupon? can you post a "text" link to the stickers you ordered?

Thanks

[Mark Sipes]

For a short run -- 500 labels 10.95 + shipping 4 lines Text ----- not bad ..

http://www.artisticlabels.com/Gold~Foil~Rolled~Address~Labels~with~Elegant~Dispe nser~HFVJ

[Mike vonBuelow]

checksunlimited . com/ ProductDetail.aspx?vpid=482

[Mike vonBuelow]

another, untested, source here >> customstickermakers (.) com

I'm also looking for a source if you can't tell

[Bill Cunningham]

Thanks for that advice, Mike!

The dealers are in Toronto, about 4.5 hours away. I will be down there mid February for other reasons and it would be nice to come back with a plotter. Just trying to do my homework first.

I think for something like a pet memorial, or a memorial brick (Granite), I believe I need to more than "etch the surface", which leads me to thicker masks, and it sounds like the CE5000-60 is right on the dividing line. For about the same price as a new CE5000-60 (+tax) I can get a used FC7000 or FC8000 with tangential, 50 mil thicknesses, and 600g downforce. The catch is the used ones tend to be out of sign shops and are for 54" -60" widths. My idea was to put the plotter at the end of the bench or beside it, not replace my work bench!

There is a trade show in Toronto this weekend. The Imprint Canada show at the Congress Centre (North Building) Starts on Friday Jan.11 10am - 5pm and Sat. 10am - 4pm. Most of the laser manuf. will be there as well as large format printers.. I don't know about plotters, but would be surprised if there were none..