Marking and resusing plastic labels

From: Jack Sullivan (jsulliva@eclipse.net)
Date: Fri Apr 10 1998 - 20:20:47 PDT


Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 23:20:47 -0400
From: Jack Sullivan <jsulliva@eclipse.net>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1220$foo@default>
Subject: Marking and resusing plastic labels

All of us are familiar with the plastic labels used for marking the
identity of plant specimens. I use a Sanford Series No. 3700 "Sharpie"
ultra fine point permanent marker for writing the info about species,
origin, date, etc.

It recently became necessary to reuse some labels that had become
cluttered with some tentative IDs of the plants involved. I found that
by immersing them in commercial rubbing alcool (40% aqueous isopropanol)
for about an hour, the "permanent" markings vanished and the labels
could then be reused after drying in air for an hour or so. This is also
a handy technique when rewriting the labels that have been bleached by
the sun.

Rubbing alcohol is a common and inexpensive fixture in many plant
hobbyist's work areas because of its effectiveness against mealy bugs,
etc.

-- 
Jack Sullivan



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