> I'm very close to having finished my first semi commericial poject 
> [ amatuer
> but to sell on ebay ;-) ].

For interest, what's the approximate target price?
And, what does it do?

> My problem is how do I present this in the box and make it look 
> worth the
> money?

A low volume low cost labelling method that can look surprisingly good 
is to use a laser or inkjet (or other) printer to produce "front 
panel" and then overlay this with "contact" plastic covering such as 
is intended for use on book covers. This comes in various 
qualities/weights and use of a better quality one is probably advised. 
This label can be attached to the box with the adhesive of your 
choice. PVA glue works well for many plastics. Care needs to be taken 
with glue consistency (wateriness) as you can affect the label from 
soaking if too wet and it won't spread as well if too thick. A bit of 
experimenting can produce quite creditable results. This is somewhat 
akin to laminating except the top layer is stuck on and the bottom 
layer is the box.

Dealing with edges can be an issue. If you print the label on a larger 
than final piece of paper (usually what would happen anyway) and then 
apply a piece of "contact" larger than the finished label you can trim 
it to size so that the plastic comes to exactly the edge of the label. 
This looks good BUT the edge is open to water intrusion. This often 
does not matter but may in some cases. For straight lines a steel rule 
and sharp knife and some experience is a good idea - or a guillotine 
or roller trimmer. Scissors may be OK if you have better 
hand/eye/brain coordination than I have.

There are many grades of PVA glue - use a good one. Some have 
anti-mould in them which can be useful. Other types of adhesive may 
work well for you. You could use water resistant paper etc to improve 
resistance to water penetration. I haven't tried using silicon rubber 
as adhesive but suspect that it may do a superb job if you can 
tolerate the need to hold the job together for some hours.

If best environmental performance is more important than ultimate 
looks then you can cut the plastic larger than the printed label so 
there is a sealing edge around the outside. This can look less 
"professional" but BE more professional. Alignment can be 'fun' when 
done this way.

Inkjet ink will fade in time in high UV environments. Appropriate 
choice of paper, ink and plastic covering will help reduce this.

Labels made with this method can include photos and other artwork and 
scanned material. The end result can look so good that minor defects 
in execution or the method are largely minimised. Holes can be cut or 
punched through the plastic/paper label before fitting or afterwards. 
If done afterwards tidiness of edges may be a greater challenge.



        Russell McMahon

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