"I HATE Labels, And Never Knew I Felt As Strongly!" Topic

And I mean REAL labels, the sticky glue kind. :)

I made a quick paint experiment with cheap felt sheets I bought from a local craft store (Michaels) for 39 cents each.

The sheets are 9" x 12" and the sticker says they are "Copper Canyon". I wanted that background color for a 15mm off-world (Mars-like) project that I've been working for some time.

In this next photo, the one on the upper left is without any paint. The one in the upper right is with a very light spraying (and in a figure 8 fashion) of Rust-Oleum "Weathered Wood" that I had on hand. The one at the bottom is done with "Weather Wood" and then with Testors' "Moss Green" textured paint, and again with the "Weathered Wood", all applied very lightly and in a fast figure 8 fashion:

Here are the paints:

Close ups of the one with only the "Weathered Wood":

Close ups of the one with 3 light sprays, "Weathered Wood", "Moss Green" and again "Weathered Wood":

As you can see, the sticky labels ruined the effect. I did not notice it immediately but, as the paints dried, the outline of the labels became more and more visible. And many of the fibers rose up.

I was hoping to use the sheets with the label side up, so that my new "Tundra" neoprene game mat from Frontline wouldn't come into contact with any glue residues.

QUESTION:
So, other than adding extra flock there or placing bushes or bases on that very spot, is there ANYTHING at all that I could do to remove stickers without leaving any residue that would change the properties of the paints … and in a way that would not permeate down to the side that makes contact with my brand new neoprene mat?

I'm not trying to salvage these painted pieces, I'm just thinking about what to do with the other unpainted pieces that I have left.

Thanks

Dan
link
TMP link
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PS. I only spent about 10 minutes doing this (if that long), but that was enough walking and squatting to make me feel it on my back and hip all day. :(

PPS. In case you are wondering about my reference to flocking … to prevent any warping or shrinking of the felt sheets, I had planned to apply (lightly) some spray adhesive and then apply some foam flock material in some spots:

YouTube link

Dan

Oh man. Yeah, that's annoying.

Good for this, though:

That is sure disappointing, but if you could always plan on placing a piece of terrain over that spot they would still be usable. A pile of rocks would certainly not be out of place on any planet.

It's just something underground: link

Granted, something artificial (made, not naturally occurring), but it's something that can happen IRL.

Coopman

You might be right about using rocks and other things to cover those spots. I just took these other pictures:

It's funny how the white of the CD pieces darkened everything else in the photos, specially the colors on the felt material.

Dan
PS. I had never used felt before, much less painted it. So now that I'm noticing how every speck of dust sticks to the material, it might be time to consider a different one altogether. :)

Lion and Darthfuzzywig,

LOL. Maybe I could say that it's a hidden Martian temple or an ancient bunker, or perhaps even a tomb!

Dan
PS. Or the giant square-ish door for a huge robotic trapdoor spider weapon gone wrong, waiting for kill any organic lifeform (martian or human)! :)

Picture #9: 1st time I've seen a boneless skinless chicken breast used for scenery. Brilliant! !!

You could try emailing the company to find out how to get the label residue off the felt (I'm sure it's come up with them before.) Not sure I'd tell them about painting over it. ;-)

Otherwise I'd use a q-tip soaked in mineral spirits or Goo-Gone to saturate the label before removing it.

But judging from the photos, it looks more like the surface of the felt was raised while removing the labels, changing the texture in that area & the paint made it much more visible. Might try compressing the area to flatten it?

@Zeelow,
Well I don't know where you've been buying your chicken but that CD is too small for a chicken breast, at least in these parts. Our huge Texan free range chickens are big enough to chase off most dogs. :)

@Zephyr1
Let me see if I can try again, flattening a bit more aggressively the area before I paint it. Thanks.

Dan

Okay then.

I flattened like crazy the area where the label was, and applied a lot less of the textured paint, and …

That's 10 minutes after painting, which is when the outline of the other labels became noticeable.

I don't know about you guys, but I NO LONGER SEE THE LABEL OUTLINE! And such an incredibly simple solution too. :)

Thanks a million, you guys.

Dan

Cool. I was about to suggest using a beard trimmer to shave down the fibers that had been pulled up by the label.

I was going to suggest leaving the label on and painting the opposite side of the felt.

Have you ever tried using a heat gun (or hair dryer)? Gently warming labels will typically soften the adhesive and make for a cleaner removal.

Could have left it for Martian crop squares….

Good idea! I'll give that a shot next time.

Also, and mostly because I had never worked with felt before, I just realized that I should have cut it before painting it. Cutting after painting leaves an edge of the original color all the way around.

Dan

You might as well try to flatten the ones you already painted & give them a shot of paint to blend in. Can't hurt… ;-)

That's fine. I cut the good pieces in the shapes I needed. Plus this was meant as an experiment, my first test on a new material (for me). Now I need to see how they do in the next step … the flocking using spray adhesive.

I ended up using all the felt pieces my wife bought for herself earlier this week, before her trip to Mexico. She comes back Tuesday, so between now and then I'll have to run out and track down the exact same cool felt sheets to replace them. :)

Dan

That looks excellent. Glad you were able to fix the label issue.

Roman Villa? They had the same issue in the UK with this hot, dry summer revealing all sorts of previously unseen archaeology!

+1 bobspruster