How to make the card waterproof?

Aug 14, 2016 9 Replies

Hi,


I am growing a little fruit tree in my garden and would like to bind a paper card to the tree. My problem is how to make the card waterproof?


Thanks alot for your advice.


Tell us about your tree, what kind of fruit tree, approximately how old? Assuming a tag to ID your tree this may be just what you're looking for:

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BTW, "alot" is not a word, I think you meant a lot, two words.

Two suggestions:

  1. Do not use paper. Use aluminum (aluminium?) foil. Place it over a magazine or newspaper and use a dull pencil to write on it. Be careful not to pierce the foil. You might want to fold a larger piece of foil in half to get a thicker medium.

  1. Use paper incscribed with a black, broad-pointed pen. When your writing is quite dry, you will need a cloths iron. Place several thicknesses of newspaper on an ironing board. Place a sheet of waxed paper on top. Place your inscribed paper on top of that. Complete the sandwich with more waxed paper and then severl thicknesses of newspaper. Iron the sandwich with a very hot iron. The wax will melt and penetrate your inscribed paper, making it waterproof. The newspaper is to prevent the wax from melting into the cover of the ironing board or from fouling the working surface of the cloths iron. (However, my mother would occasionally run her cloths iron directly over waxed paper while the iron was cold; she said it was to improve how the iron would glide over the clothing she was ironing.)

how long does it have to last?

plastics degrade in sunlight, metals rust or oxidize, stones get acid etched or freeze-thaw cracked, wood rots...

carved in a good quality stone or etched in something gold plated would be the longest lasting. :)

it is much better to put a number on a drawing and keep the drawing/maps inside and then keep the label in a laminated page or pasted to the page.

songbird

Unless you're operating an arbortorium for public display why do you need to label one little fruit tree? I've planted more than fifty different trees on my property and need no labels to remind me what tree it is. However I keep a journal with the Latin and common names, where each tree was obtained, cost if any, the date I planted it, any notes, and I photograph each tree, the day planted, when in blossom, when in full leaf,and when in fall color, fruit trees laden with fruit and any other interesting situations such as covered with birds, snow, frosted with ice... this way I have a visual record of each tree's progress.

Why the lies Shelly?

You live in a public housing hovel.

waterproof?

Ditto to that, if you already have a certain paper card you want to use. If the ink is not waterproof, use a color laser copy.

If you can use another material, hobby stores have really thin wood. Or if you want a rustic look, scrap wood. Burn the message with a soldering iron or wood-burning tool, then coat with a an outdoor clear coating.

Brooklyn1 harvesting...

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BwHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!

Brooklyn1 harvesting...

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BwHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!

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