The Auswine Forum

For my kids births I bought magnums of Lakes Folly, 1989, 1991 and 1996. I got all four grandparents to sign the front label.

Sadly only one grandparent remains and we have drunk the 1989 and 1991 at the 21st's of our eldest two (the latest being last night).

Whilst our two elder kids love and respect the effort made, the empty magnums are too large to keep around them, so does anyone have any bright ideas on how to remove the labels? The signatures are made with permanent markers and the labels are glossy. We thought we may frame the signed labels.

I was thinking to scrape them off with a razor blade, similar to the rego stickers? Perhaps I should practice on another bottle's label first. Any other thoughts? The labels seem well stuck on. If it is deemed too risky we will just keep the bottles intact.

Cheers,

David M.

Send Rudy an email, I'm confident he's got the methodology down pat.

rudyk@larc.com

Razor blade would be risky.

You could carefully try the hairdryer heat removal method, or look online for something I recall seeing a while back. Japanese I think, a special kit designed so you can 'keep the famous labels from your special bottles'. Seemed to work well by all accounts.

Good luck, nice concept having them sign it.
Cheers
Tim

I've seen lots of people using these in Japan. Can order to Australia.

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/okai ... em/885918/

Most labels can be removed by putting the bottle in the oven at about 100c for 15 minutes or so. This softens the glue and you can peel the label off with a knife and stick it (the glue comes with it) on something else. Remember to remove the capsule first. I have one wall in my cellar covered in several hundred labels.

There are some labels that use a different sort of glue that this doesn't work for. I know that Wynns labels don't work. Hopefully the Lakes Folly labels will be OK. The good thing is if it doesn't work there is no damage done. If it doesn't come off easily don't keep trying.

The oven idea sounds like a winner.
I was going to suggest dissolving a dishwasher cube in some hot water, and soaking it in that, but that might harm the label a little more than the oven method.

I remove labels by filling the bottle with boiling water and waiting 3 or 4 minutes. 90-95% of labels will come off with just a little help from a razor (scraper) blade. You'll know straight away if they aren't going to move. Like Sharkey said, it depends on the glue used. I have found that the older the bottle (say 80's and 90's), the harder the label is to remove.

Good luck, as it sounds like a nice keepsake.

Cheers
Ian

If it's a glossy label it's likely to be pressure sealed in which case the hot water inside the bottle method should soften it and you can slide it off with a razor blade. Majority of modern Australian labels come into this category. I'd definitely try this first.

If that doesn't work or it's a bit older it will probably be water based glue in which case you need to soak the whole lot so the label softens and can be slid off, which might not do much for the signatures. Apparently a bit of oxygen soaker in the water helps (otherwise known as Nappy San) - I have this on good authority from one of the old blokes at the brewery After that, you need to dry and press them to keep them flat.

Success!!

I poured boiling water into the bottle, let it stand for a minute or two and used a razor blade to lift a corner and very slowly and carefully peeled away concentrating along the side, not the top. Very occasionally I would need the corner of the razor to cut thru a small part of the label that didn't lift, but slowly but surely off it came. The bottle was bloody hot though!

Anyway, the label then curls up, so I stuck it down on some paper and smoothed it out and all was good Now all I need to do is get a frame and we have a lovely momento.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Nice one hacker, glad it worked out.

Now that Rudy kurniawan is off the scene, your skills could be in serious demand

Can't conceive of a more appropriate label.