Thursday, December 02, 2010

Removing Stickers from Books

My boys have too many books.  I never thought I'd say that!  I take a lot of books to our local used book store for used book credit, but they won't take book club books or Imagination Library books.  Our school librarian said she could take the Imagination Library books for the preschoolers, yay!

The problem is that the books now come with the address label on the book instead of the wrapper.  Not only does it have our names and address on it, but who wants a book with an address label on it?  And blacking them out with a marker looks icky.  Fortunately they are easy to remove.  You'll need an iron (I suppose a blow drier would also work) and some Goo Gone.  This works on any book with a shiny cover.


I set the iron on the lowest cotton setting and lay a tea towel over the book to prevent scorching.  You are warming up the adhesive, so leave it on for about a minute.


Work up one corner of the sticker (my thumbnail worked fine, but be careful, 'cause it's hot!) and carefully peel back the label.  If you're lucky you'll get it up in one piece.  If not, re-apply the iron until the adhesive is warm again.  You don't have to get it off perfectly, so if a bit of paper remains don't panic.  There will be some adhesive left on the book.


Apply some Goo Gone (I'm told lighter fluid also works, but Goo Gone smells better) to a rag, then rub it all over the remaining adhesive and paper.  Keep rubbing, and all the sticky comes off!  Wipe off any remaining Goo Gone.



Tah-dah!  Our books are ready for the preschool box at the school library!

3 comments:

adeviner said...

I have a suggestion for something which works better than goo-gone.

What you need:

A hair dryer or other air-blowing heating gun & cooking or baby oil.

30-60 seconds w/ the hair dryer directly blowing on the sticker and nearly if not all of the sticker comes off. This even works on really old stickers or scotch tape - but sometimes those old ones can be stubborn - so any of the sticky which is left, just soak it in oil for a few minutes and rub off with a paper towel.

I initially learned this trick from a coworker who used WD-40 for getting anything sticky or gooey off. He, like me, dislikes using goo-gone because it just doesn't work like its advertised to! The oil works far better and more cleanly too.

Calthine said...

I've never tried baby oil. Personally I like Goo Gone, it's worked on everything I've tried. The advantage of baby oil if you might have some in the house!

Mary Jo Spletzer said...

Hello,

What is the best way to contact you? I’d like to email you about a program sponsored by GOO GONE, one of my clients.

Thanks,
Mary Jo

email: mspletzer@marcusthomasllc.com

Related Posts with Thumbnails