You’ve made 12 products to test your new business idea.
Excellent.
Now apparently you need a Cricut, a label printer and 500 professionally printed labels.
You really don’t.
If you’re making products in small quantities, there are several ways to create professional-looking branding using the printer you probably already own.
And sometimes you don’t actually need a traditional label at all.
Do You Need a Label Printer to Make Product Labels?
No.
Dedicated label printers are useful, particularly if you’re producing large quantities of identical labels. But they’re certainly not essential just because you’ve started selling something.
If you’re producing handmade gifts, craft products, gift boxes, wedding favours or small batches of products, your existing inkjet printer combined with the right printable media may be perfectly adequate.
The trick is choosing the right material for the job.
Option 1: Traditional Printable Labels
Let’s start with the obvious solution.
You can buy sheets of adhesive labels designed to go through compatible home printers. Create your design, print it and stick the finished label onto your packaging.
This works particularly well for:
- Boxes
- Envelopes
- Paper bags
- Mailing packaging
- Product information
There’s nothing wrong with this approach.
The only drawback is obvious:
It still looks like a label.
Sometimes that’s exactly what you want. Sometimes you’d rather your branding looked as though it had been printed directly onto the product.
That’s where things get more interesting.
Option 2: Rub-On Transfers
Imagine you’ve made a beautiful wooden presentation box.
You don’t particularly want to stick a large rectangular label across the lid. You simply want your logo sitting directly on the wood.
For a suitable surface, dry rub-off transfer paper can offer an alternative.
Instead of leaving an entire conventional label attached to the object, the printed design is transferred onto the surface.
You could create something as simple as:
MADE BY SARAH
[CITY], ENGLAND
Add a small botanical illustration and the finished branding can look much more integrated with the object.
Rub-on transfers can be particularly interesting for suitable:
- Wooden boxes
- Gift boxes
- Decorative containers
- Product displays
- Signs
- Handmade craft items
And because you’re printing them yourself, you don’t have to order hundreds.
Option 3: Waterslide Decals
Another possibility is inkjet waterslide decal paper.
Waterslide paper lets you print detailed artwork onto a sheet before transferring the decal onto an appropriate smooth surface.
Depending on the particular product and surface, this can be useful for decorative glass, ceramics, models, smooth containers and promotional objects.
Again, the object itself doesn’t need to fit inside your printer.
You print the artwork first and transfer it afterwards.
Sticker, Rub-On or Waterslide?
The best option depends on what you’re trying to achieve.
Use a conventional label when you actually want a label, particularly for information such as ingredients, instructions, barcodes or product details.
Consider a rub-on transfer when you want branding to appear more integrated with a suitable surface without an obvious conventional sticker surrounding it.
Consider waterslide paper when you want to transfer detailed printed artwork onto an appropriate smooth surface.
There’s no universal winner.
The product you’re making should determine the printing method.
But Don’t I Need a Cricut?
Cricut machines are extremely useful.
But there’s a strange assumption in the craft world that the moment you want to personalise something, you need to buy one.
You don’t.
A cutting machine makes sense when you need the things a cutting machine does well.
But imagine a tiny logo containing fine lettering, several colours and detailed artwork.
Printing that image and transferring it can sometimes be considerably simpler than cutting and weeding every individual element from vinyl.
Small-Batch Printing Has a Huge Advantage
Here’s something people starting businesses often overlook.
You’re probably going to change your mind.
Your first logo might not be your final logo.
Your packaging may change.
You might decide the font you loved three weeks ago is actually horrible.
That’s normal.
But it’s considerably more painful when you’ve just ordered 1,000 professionally printed labels featuring it.
Printing small quantities yourself lets you experiment.
Try version A.
Try version B.
Put them on the actual product.
Show them to customers.
Then, if your business grows and you’re eventually producing thousands of units, bulk professional printing might make much more sense.
You haven’t committed too early.
Make a Prototype Before Ordering Hundreds
Even if you eventually intend to order professional packaging, home printing is useful for testing it first.
Print your branding and apply it to a plain version of your packaging.
Then physically hold it.
You might suddenly discover:
- The logo is too small
- The colours don’t work
- The font is difficult to read
- The design feels cluttered
- The product name needs more emphasis
A computer mock-up can only tell you so much.
A physical prototype is different.
Branding Isn’t the Same as Required Labelling
There’s one important distinction.
A decorative logo or transfer doesn’t necessarily replace information you’re legally required to provide.
Depending on the product and where it’s sold, there may be requirements covering ingredients, allergens, warnings, quantities, safety information or business details.
So think of decorative transfers as branding, not automatically as a replacement for regulatory product labelling.
Start Small and Scale Later
Professional doesn’t always mean owning more equipment.
If you’re producing thousands of identical products every month, specialist machinery or professionally printed labels may make perfect sense.
If you’re making 15 products this weekend?
Probably not.
Products such as Gecko Paper dry rub-off transfer paper and inkjet waterslide decal paper give small businesses another way to experiment with branding without immediately committing to expensive equipment or huge print runs.
You don’t need the perfect packaging system for the business you hope to have in five years.
You need a good solution for the products you’re making today.
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