Aged Specimen Jar Label DIY
The dining room is finished and I’m working on a full post, but in the meantime here’s a little how-to to make these labels. I had a lot of fun and hope this tutorial is helpful. I by no means fancy myself a copywriter and am completely open to suggestions for more label ideas. If I get some I will be more than happy to update the pdfs.
I found a great tutorial from The Craft Junkie and did a little tweaking. The project originally calls for printing on card/photo stock and then soaking it in coffee, but our ink will run when bathed. Hell, the humidity in the morning at the Farmers Market can make my stuff a little weepy. So I ran the ‘treatment’ and then printed. All images link to larger sizes.
1. Ball up your paper into a tight ball. I pulled it apart and balled it again. Stick it into a coffee bath. It originally called for instant coffee and water, but I used leftover coffee. We make rocket fuel and knew it would do just fine.
I played with it a bit and started to smooth it out as it began to absorb the liquid. Depending on the thickness of the paper, it can stay in anywhere from about a minute to about two minutes.
2. Once it is saturated to your desire, pull it out and let it drip for a few seconds. At this point you can hang it, lay it, or iron it between paper towels to dry. I chose the latter for expediency.
3. Once it’s dry – and it has to be dry – set it up in the printer feed and initiate printing. Be sure to set the printer margins to 0! The paper isn’t very flat so I made sure to stand by the printer and keep an eye on the feed.
4. Cut and glue to what you’re labeling. I used a glue stick for our project as several labels went on antique bottles and I need to get them off with ease. The ink got a little blotchy on the sides and in a couple places in the label areas, but I think it adds a little character.
Typos and such have been fixed since this was taken. 
Update 10.9.2013
I noticed the last time I made these that I wasn’t happy with the edges. Once they’re cut, the original paper color shows around the edges. This year I tried to fix the issue. Here are somecrappy quick cell phone images I took while making the new labels this weekend:
I noticed the last time I made these that I wasn’t happy with the edges. Once they’re cut, the original paper color shows around the edges. This year I tried to fix the issue. Here are some
I have the label files hosted in pdf format if anyone is interested in downloading them.
I hope this provides a little inspiration and I would love to see what others do with their labels!
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