@needrain
@purpleinopp
Stinker Sticker Solution: Scrape the sticker with a knife (careful not to damage pot) a few times across the face.
Peel off as much of sticker as you can from the edges.
Using Olive Oil, or a product called 'Goof Off (find it in hardware store),' saturate the sticker and let it sit for a bit. The oil/'goof off' will dissolve the adhesive in the sticker and you can slowly work to remove it. Once removed, use dish soap to wash away the residue. Goodbye Sticker Sadness!
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Does this work on a clay pot? Seems like it might leave a permanent discolored area on the porous surface. The glue from the stickers does that even when the sticker itself is long gone.
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Yes, it does work! And the residue will come off. The oil or Goof Off will dissolve the glue residue. It's basic principle of Chemistry, 'Like dissolves Like." Oil, and glue are both non-aqueous (not woter soluable) compounds (which is why glue works to adhere so well, even in rain when sticker gone), and therefore oil can "dissolve" the glue.
Then, the Soap (wich has a hydrophilic end and a hydrophobic end to the molecule--a "water-loving" end and a "water-hating" end) attaches to the oil/glue solution(hydrophobic end), and the water-loving end of the soap molecule (with glue-oil attached to the other end) gets rinsed away with water.
Quick Recap: dissolve the glue with another non-aqueous"Like" substance. Then use a Soap to attach to that so it can be rinsed away with water.
I try the olive oil first on clay or terra cotta pot labels. I go thru the steps all the way to rinsing. Then i assess, and repeat from beginning if necessary. If you soap and rinse it quickly, the oil wont have time to penetrate the terra cotta/clay. Notice that the adhesive has not necessarily "penetrated" the pottery to create a permanent stain, you just havent gotten all the glue removed from the surface.
When the olive oil doesnt work, I bring out the big guns, the Goof Off.
Remember, just because the sticker is gone (often made of paper which DOES dissolve in water), doesnt mean the glue is gone with it.
The purpose of scratching at the label and peeling off as much as possible is to "expose" the glue used to hold the sticker in place. The label on its own won't "stick" to the pot. The glue "sticks" to the pot and label, both.
Expose the glue, dissolve it with a "Like" substance, and wash away with a soap and water.
