Friday, November 16, 2012

The Secret to Easily Remove Labels with No Effort - Oxiclean!

                                                   OxiClean makes labels float right off!



I got this little jewel from my brewmeister husband. When he bottles his own beer, he collects beer bottles from neighbors, co-workers, anyone who would be willing to give them up. Of course they all have labels on them and scrubbing them off is a pain in the rear. One of his brew books let him know about adding a scoop of oxiclean to a sink full of warm water and dumping them all in to soak. Walk away and in about 30 minutes all of the labels magically float off.

Interesting. Because I always walk away from thrift store finds because I'm too lazy to get the labels off. Terrible, I know right? I have a "Sprinkle Party" (a second baby shower if your second child is a different gender than the first) that I'm hosting for a friend coming up. We're doing a Tea Party (a frugal Tea Party, so I'm sure there will be a post on that coming up) and there are so many amazing tea cups in thrift stores! Plus, you can use the tutorial found here to monogram them with sharpies and bake to make the design permanent. I went and collected enough white tea cups from the thrift stores to have one for each guest. At a cost of .49 to .99 cents per piece. Ahhhh, I love being cheap:)

One of my favorite pieces is a Dansk Tea Cup being sold for $8.99 commercially. I stuck a scoop of Oxiclean in the sink, dumped all my teacups in and came back in thirty minutes to all of the labels floating on top of the water. I stuck the teacups in the dishwasher and now I have perfectly clean, good as new teacups to monogram and bake.

My new project will be replacing all of my cheap Ikea dishes with vintage white pieces that compliment but don't match. Now that I don't have to struggle with getting the labels off.

31 comments:

  1. We will definitely have to try this! My husband brews beer too and is so tired of scrubbing the labels off. He's tried boiling water, steel wool, tons of dish soap, etc. It's a pain in the butt! Thanks so much for the tip :)

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    1. First soak them...then take off what you can. Then if there is "sticky stuff" use 99% isopropyl (not 50% Alcohol!!) and this stuff takes that sticky stuff off...I have even used it on the back of books...you just don't leave it on to get too wet. And I HATE those sticky, sticky labels! It works!!

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  2. Ok, so my hubby tried this last night and he said I HAD to tell you it was amazing! All the labels immediately came off and floated to the top, just like you said. He says a big thank you!

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    1. Happy to help! Easy brew nights for hubby means a happy hubby and peaceful night for us!

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    2. Try MINERAL OIL atop label, and allow to 'soak' enough time until label is easily removable. The key is patience!

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  3. Has anyone tried this on fine China with a platinum band and pattern? I have been avoiding unpacking the rest of our wedding China because each box set has 5 pieces...ALL with a label! To this point I have only unpacked and removed labels from 4 of the 12 place settings. Each box has taken anywhere from 15-30 minutes to remove all the labels and sticky residue. This technique would be a HUGE time saver if it is safe enough for fine China!

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    1. You can try acetone, but don't touch the gold. If comes off but you still have to work on it. If you can let it sit for a while it is easier.

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    2. Olive oil will remove adhesive residue and is safer to use on dishes. Peel off as much of the paper as you can then rub with oil. Let soak in and most adhesives rub right off.

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    3. I frequently use my hand-held hair dryer, set it to LOW, and heat up the label. While it's still hot (or warm) scrape it off carefully with a single edge razor, or box cutter. The heat makes the glue stick to the label, and not the plate or any other item, including children's plastic toys, placemats, etc. If all else fails, I scrape of as much as possible then use Goo Gone sticker remover.

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    4. Goo Gone works well on labels, too. Spray it on the label, let it sit for a few minutes, then take it off

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    5. use WD-40 - let it sit for about 1/2 hr then wash off.

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  4. sadly this technique didn't work for me on wine bottles. Maybe the labels were too big and sticky.

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    1. You can use rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball.(use a cotton ball works the absolute best) Tip the bottle of rubbing alcohol and partially soak the cotton ball then rub the cotton ball on the sticker and the sticker and the sticky come right off. nice to use on things like shoes when the department store for some odd reason puts the price tag on the inside of the shoe.

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    2. You can use rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball.(use a cotton ball works the absolute best) Tip the bottle of rubbing alcohol and partially soak the cotton ball then rub the cotton ball on the sticker and the sticker and the sticky come right off. nice to use on things like shoes when the department store for some odd reason puts the price tag on the inside of the shoe.

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    3. Just a tip...99% isopropyl works better *rather than rubbing alcohol* I think it's because it's 99% instead of 50%.

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  5. I have been using charcoal lighter fluid to dissolve the adhesive and have been very happy with those results. It is quick, but you have to wipe away the glue. I use paper towels. This method is probably much less toxic.

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    Replies
    1. Don't know what they use now, but for many years, well-known department stores used lighter fluid for cleaning crystal and china items. However, they were also putting labels on, not taking them off, unless it was being wrapped for a gift.

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  6. This is a life saver, so glad I found your post through Pinterest :) I have about 100 glass bottles, jars, etc to get the labels off of.

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  7. This is great, so happy I found your post through Pinterest! I have about 50 glass bottles, jars, etc to get the labels off of. Thanks!

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  8. I like the sound of this - great when you have lots of labels to remove. I sometime will use my hairdryer. The heat helps loosen the sticky glue and make is easier to scrap off. Good find, pinning.

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  9. If you do find items that are too large to effectively use this solution, you want an easy & non-toxic solution as well, you can use lemon essential oil. Just a drop works wonders, you can usually find it pretty inexpensively and it has a great, natural scent. You may, should you need to get rid of any oil residue, need to wash it afterwards.

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  10. This worked great on glass, but sadly had no effect on plastic, so the new thermal coffee cup my son got for Christmas and my 3-year old salad spinner will be wearing their labels a while longer.

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  11. Thanks for this tip. I always tried to get them off by hand, but then it left that sticky residue behind.

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  12. I have tried WD-40, corn oil, vasoline, olive oil, peanut butter, water, soap, detergent and stain remover to get labels off glass and plastic bottles. I have found that the most efficient and reliable is to first soak the label/bottle in warm, soapy water--don't scrape off soaked label. Next, place a folded paper towel over the label and pour olive oil on the towel liberally. Then, just leave it alone, checking back on it every few hours...or just forget it for 24 hours. Eventually, the label will just slide off with no residue. You will have to wash off the oil but you can do that pretty easily with a regular dishwasher or wash by hand.

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  13. I have to say, soaking in warm water to remove the label and then using olive oil with a plastic scourer to remove any non water soluble adhesive is the way forward. Your oxi-action (sodium percarbonate) will probably work on water soluble adhesives though.

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  14. An easy way to remove stickers with no mess is to heat them with a blow dryer, this weakens the glue, then you just need to pull it off while still warm, and it is GONE. I did it on small stickers and also did it on the large label kind that comes on boxes with your address on it that are impossible to remove, they all came off no tearing of the cardboard box either.

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  15. Glass or plastic - the best solution is "Goo Gone" spray gel by Magic Ametican Products. Works also on chewing gum, crayon, makeup, pcandle wax, glue, tat, bugs, grease etc...
    With the labels: get most of them first either by scraping, pulling them off or soaked with water, than put some of the Goo gone on paper towel ann get off the rest. Works all the time!

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  16. Glass or plastic - the best solution is "Goo Gone" spray gel by Magic Ametican Products. Works also on chewing gum, crayon, makeup, pcandle wax, glue, tat, bugs, grease etc...
    With the labels: get most of them first either by scraping, pulling them off or soaked with water, than put some of the Goo gone on paper towel ann get off the rest. Works all the time!

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  17. Sounds like a great idea, but in my country there is such a product, I can tell the components?

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  18. To help remove the sticky residue after you've pulled off a sticker/label: Using duct tape, wrap it around a few of your fingers to make an inside out loop of tape. Blot over the residue quickly and it should pick up the sticky residue. This doesn't work as well if the label has been heated, but it usually always removes the residue for me.

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  19. Could you direct me to the tutorial about using a sharpie to monogram and then baking to make permanent please? Thank you in advance :-D

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