On Thu, 2012-02-16 at 13:08 -0800, Randy Bush wrote:
an horrifyingly large amount of my time was spent trying to peel apart labels made on my portable brother label tape maker [...] is there a trick?
Some tapes have a split backing; bend the tape along the long axis and you can peel off both halves very easily. If you can't find such tape for your model of label maker, you will need fingernails and either a very good sense of touch or good eyesight. Fold one of the corners of the label, just a tiny corner, back towards the backing paper, then forward. The backing paper will come off that tiny corner. Use the aforementioned fingernails to get under the label at that point. It's usually easier to grip the label than the backing paper, because the label is a little sticky underneath. Some people say you should fold forward then back. Some people use a penknife instead of a fingernail. Another technique, that I've never been able to master: Hold the label, backing towards you, about a centimetre from the cut end, place the cut end at right angles against and across the underside of your right forefinger, pressing very lightly, and drag your finger down. Done right, the backing peels off and curls down your finger. Both techniques rely on the label being slightly stiffer than the backing paper, and thus bending less. Regards, K. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Karl Auer (kauer@biplane.com.au) http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer GPG fingerprint: AE1D 4868 6420 AD9A A698 5251 1699 7B78 4EEE 6017 Old fingerprint: DA41 51B1 1481 16E1 F7E2 B2E9 3007 14ED 5736 F687