Labels that stay on a sticky jar
Updated
The three
A label coming away from a jam jar is almost always one of three things, and they want different fixes. Guessing between them is how people change adhesive when the problem was the glass.
- Residue. Dried syrup on the glass is a release layer. Wash and dry the jar first.
- Moisture. A jar labeled while still faintly damp from the canner will lift at the edges within weeks.
- Curve. A small jar has a tight radius, and a label cut too tall for it will tent along the top and bottom edges.
The sequence that works
Order matters more than any individual step. A jar that is still warm, or still faintly sticky from filling, will take a label that looks fine in the kitchen and lifts at a corner three weeks later in a cupboard.
- Process, cool and check the seals.
- Remove the bands.
- Wash the outside and dry thoroughly, including the base.
- Label, pressing from the center outward.
What has to be on it
The design is yours and the content is not. Everything required has a place and several items have a required type size, so the label has to be laid out around them rather than having them fitted in afterwards. Give a designer the constraints at the start and you get one round of proofs rather than three.
The statement of identity, the net weight in the right place, the ingredients, who is responsible, and the exemption disclosure if you are selling under one. That is on what the label must carry, and the label is the last place to discover that the product does not meet the standard name you printed a thousand of.
Before a print run
Everything above is cheap to get wrong on ten jars and expensive on a thousand. Test on the actual jar, with the actual adhesive, after an actual wash.
Fix the jar first. A label is specified to a jar diameter and height, so ordering labels before the jars means ordering twice.