How to print prepaid postage on a 4 x 6 inch self-adhesive label using a laser or inkjet printer

how to print postage on a 4 x 6 label with a regular printer

     I took a screen printing class (which was quite fun), and realized I could take the concept of registering a print and adapt it in order to print prepaid postage on a self-adhesive 4 x 6 inch label using a regular printer, either laser or inkjet, not a dedicated thermal printer.  Looks very pleasing, better than paper taped to a box, and less initial outlay than a thermal printer.  Registering a print in screen printing is figuring out where the ink will land, and marking on the work surface where the sheet of paper (or piece of cloth) should be positioned.

To print prepaid postage on a 4 x 6" self-adhesive label with a regular printer

1. select "buy postage" on your platform.  It gives an 8.5 x 11 pdf to print out on ordinary paper and use to mail an order
2. print the pdf
3. lay a blank sheet of paper over top and draw register marks (little corners) where you see the corners of the ink rectangle showing through the paper.  You could use the original copy but then you'd have a buyer's personal information sitting around, a privacy issue.
4. buy a package of individual 4 x 6 self-adhesive labels, Avery 5292, from an office supply store  
5. take the sheet of paper with the marks, lay down some double-stick tape (or tape formed into rings to make it double stick), and stick down a blank self-adhesive 4 x 6 label inside the corners. 
6. put the whole contraption into the manual feed tray, being sure to have it the right way up.  Print the label, selecting manual feed in the menu.  
7. peel the label off the plastic backing and use it on the package.  
8. Leave the plastic backing stuck on the paper, and store the paper for next time.

     That's it.
     At my post office there is a big drop box into which you can put prepaid parcels with domestic addresses, if they fit.  It is meant for people using the automated kiosk.  The clerk said it is fine to put parcels in there that have postage paid at home.
     USPS will also pick up parcels, from your mail box during regular pickup if the weight is under the restrictions, or from your home by appointment.
     I'm not sure how international postage would work since you need to add customs information.
     The clerk said it is fine to put a 4 x 6 label sideways on a box and mail it.  USPS just prefers that the whole label is on the top.
     What if you send a lot of parcels and want cheap labels?

To get 4 x 6" self-adhesive labels cheaply  

1. buy a large package of full sheet, 8.5 x 11 inch shipping labels 
2. got to a print shop with a machine that cuts paper to size  
3. give them a cutting diagram like this that shows how to get three 4 x 6 inch labels per full sheet label, in five cuts marked A, B, C, D, and E.  The shop should charge per cut.

how to cut a full sheet label into three 4 x 6 inch labels

     What if you just a need to send a personal parcel once in a while, and want to know how to print USPS prepaid postage on a 4 x 6" self-adhesive label using a regular printer?

To print USPS prepaid postage on a 4 x 6" self-adhesive label with a regular printer

1. get postage through USPS' Click-N-Ship online service
2. use the same trick above
3. when making your registration marks, ignore the USPS brand name at the top and aim to keep the "electronic rate approved" number at the bottom so the postage fits on the label

The clerk said this placement is fine.
     Both Click-N-Ship lets a seller get postage for USPS flat rate shipping and use a standard flat rate box.  Click-N-Ship does not offer first class postage.  
     You could use 4 x 6 inch labels, a word processor, and this printing trick to make yourself fancy self-adhesive bookplates.

To make fancy self-adhesive bookplates

1. open a new document  
2. insert a table with one row and one column 
3. go to table properties and specify a row height of 6 inches and column width of 4 inches 
4. fill in your rectangle with words, fancy font characters, a photo cropped to 4 x 6", or an image  
5. use the printing trick above to print the bookplate 

     As for how it would affect the book, I'm not sure how the adhesive would hold up over time or whether a label is acid-free for long-term storage.
     But we were talking about postage.

To print a small (1 x 2 5/8 inch) self-adhesive label 

and pay for postage at the post office

1. take an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of Avery labels style 8160, which is covered in small labels.  
2. go into your word processor, select Tools, then the Label function 
3. select "single label, row 1 column 1" for one address 
4. type the address in the field 
5. look for Avery style 8160 to select the right label format 
6. create your document 
7. print your document on the label sheet using manual feed 
8. delete the address in the document  
9. save the blank document for reuse 

     The next time you need to print an address, open the document, type the new address into one of the blank spots (a spot for which you have a corresponding label on the sheet that isn't used yet), then print the sheet using manual feed.  You can use the sheet repeatedly for just one address at a time.  Put your own return address on a full sheet of Avery labels 5267/8167.

     To address a Number 10 paper envelope right on the paper 

without any need for a self-adhesive label  

1. open your word processor
2. select tools, then envelopes 
3. select your size 
4. get the right format for the address by searching for it on the USPS site under zip code search
5. put the address in the big field on the document, then add your return address
6. put the envelope in the manual feed tray with the flap to the left on the underside
7. run the envelope through the printer using manual feed 
8. check to see if the address printed right side up or upside down, and next time be sure to place the envelope in manual feed correctly 

     I print envelopes this way when I mail expense receipts or membership cheques to treasurers of fibre arts guilds.  I think a printed envelope goes through the postal system faster than an envelope with a handwritten address.
     Hope you find this helpful.

Update: I hear that some people use a similar trick to print on PostIt notes.

How to Shop for Vegetarian and Vegan Yarn

     If you are a vegetarian or vegan knitter or a knitter concerned with animal welfare, you may wonder how to shop for vegetarian friendly yarn or vegan friendly yarn.  How to get what you want without pestering producers or middlemen and putting them on the defensive.  Anyone who sells yarn would love for you to tell them what you are looking for and ask if they offer anything like that.
     Be specific about what standards of animal care you would find acceptable, and just say, "Do you offer that in your products?"  Then they say just yes, they do or no, they don't.  No debating about the merits or ethics (unless you really feel the need).  Just, "This is what I am ready to pay good money for, how about it?"
     You may be interested in a previous blog post of mine about A Greener World's certification of humanely-raised fibre.  It mostly concerns wool.  Wool is not a vegan product because it comes from an animal.  The wool certified by AGW is not required to be vegetarian, that is, the flocks are not no-kill.
     You should be able to do an Internet search for wool yarn sellers who claim their yarn comes from no-kill flocks.  Juniper Moon Farm says that their Yarn and Fiber CSA products come from their own animals which "live out their natural lives on our farm" and are "never eaten."  Note that their other lines of yarn come from other flocks, flocks they don't manage and don't make any claims for.  Someone on Instagram said that Hooligan Yarns had yarn from a no-kill flock but I didn't find any claims on their site.  I did find them with Thistle Cove Farms.  Izzy Lane advertises wool clothing from the owner's no-kill flock of sheep.
     Be sure to verify for yourself what the seller means by no-kill.  The shepherd could be breeding lambs and selling them to shepherds without a no-kill policy.  The shepherd could mean that the main flock is no-kill but the resulting lambs are not.  They could mean that they still cull the flock to improve the breeding strain.  To cull a flock is to select animals that do not conform to breed standards or that do not display desirable qualities such as high fertility, and slaughter them to take them out of the gene pool.  They have breed standards not only for looks but also to ensure an animal's health; for example, to make sure you don't get animals with horns that curl too close to the jaw.
     From what I understand, it is challenging for shepherds to run a profitable flock on just the sales of wool alone.  Be prepared to support their premium product with higher prices.
     Or turn to yarn that doesn't come from animals.
     Even when buying cotton yarn, you may be indirectly participating in the meat and dairy industry because cotton seed meal is cattle feed.  Not sure about seed from flax and hemp grown for cloth.
     I like the linen yarn from Catnip Yarns and the hemp yarn from Hemp Basics.  I like Quince & Co.'s cotton yarn and linen yarn, with the Sparrow's structure more to my liking than Kestrel's.  These yarns are all considerably finer than a typical wool worsted knitting yarn or a common cotton yarn meant for knitting dish cloths.  Thus they take longer to knit with.

     You may find it helpful to read Amy R. Singer's book, No Sheep for You: knit happy with cotton, silk, linen, hemp, bamboo & other delights.  Armed with the information in the book, you can knit vegan or vegetarian.  You can commission a knitter to make you something that will meet your needs.  You can use the book to assess labels on ready-to-wear clothing.  

     Singer presents the general facts on fibre qualities, substitution, and yarn use, and she provides knitting patterns.  She doesn't talk much about the why of forgoing wool, whether your reason is an aversion to animal products, a concern for humane treatment of animals, an allergy or sensitivity, preference, or curiosity.  

     Her information on hemp production laws is out of date.  Production is now restricted and regulated in select states and prohibited in others, rather than universally prohibited in the United States as it was at the time of publication.  

     She considers bamboo yarn to be environmentally sustainable because the source material is renewable.  However, some would take issue with this since bamboo yarn is chemically processed.  

     Singer talks briefly about "peace" silk, where the silk worm gets to live out its natural life.  She does not give sources for buying it.  "Peace" silk is sometimes marketed to vegans but I don't know how suitable a vegan would find it for their needs if they do not use animal products, period.  Singer makes the distinction between Tussah silk, from the breed, and "peace" silk, from a process.  I don't think you can expect all Tussah silk to be "peace" silk, only what is labeled as such.  Singer points out that while Tussah silk worms are not hand-fed and kept inside like Bombyx silk worms, they are still farmed.
     What about claims that genetically-modified cotton kills butterflies?  I've heard those claims.  When I traced back to the study, I found that the research was done on BT corn, not BT cotton.  I'm not sure whether the same thing happens with BT cotton or if there were subsequent studies done on cotton.
     I am not vegetarian or vegan myself.  But I believe strongly in accurate informative labels (truth in advertising), an educated buying public, and voting with your dollars for what you want in the world.  

Yarn that's Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World

     A Greener World (AGW) has a directory of products that are Certified Animal Welfare Approved, certified by them.  According to their site, "It is the only label in the U.S. to require audited, high-welfare production, transport and slaughter practices."  They put an emphasis on animals being on pasture or range their entire lives.
     The categories in the directory include fibre for handspinning into yarn.  The directory allows you to search by proximity, if local fibre matters to you, or you can search the entire thing.  The listings I saw only referred to fibre or wool, they didn't specify forms such as yarn or roving.  I believe only one offered online shopping.  It sells yarn.  The rest provided a physical address.  Presumably you could write to to inquire about mail order, though you're probably meant to go to their farm gate to shop.
     If you know of a fibre farmer whose work meets the criteria, and who isn't certified and in the directory already, you can suggest her name to AGW here.  AGW also has other categories of vendors, such as farmers' markets.
     AGW's standards for sheep are here.  Mulesing is prohibited, and "The primary methods of preventing parasite infestations must be pasture management or rotation and bedding management and removal."  The standards prohibit tail docking, dehorning, disbudding, and ear marking by cutting or notching.  They prohibit any trap but a live trap for predators, with lethal control of predators as a last resort.  They prohibit the use of hot prods or electric shocks.  (I don't think this applies to electric fences.)
     I think the standards mean a flock of wethers is out: "Ram lambs may only be castrated when uncontrolled breeding cannot be prevented by any other management."  From what I've heard, ram lambs are often sent to slaughter while ewe lambs are kept for breeding.  I've also heard that traditionally wethers' wool was considered prized, as the wool is less pungent than rams' wool and in better condition than ewes' wool.  Ewes go through stress from lambing and their wool shows the results of that stress.  The one exception to the traditional preference for wethers' wool that I've read about was where ram's wool traditionally was kept for a certain purpose, I can't remember what, for some reason such as durability, but again I can't remember what.  I think that was in a Nordic country and might have been for nalbinding or rya rugs.  Anyway.  Notwithstanding traditional practices regarding wool production, and notwithstanding that a ram might rather be a wether than lunch, I guess AGW considers castration of rams something to be avoided.
     This bit was interesting: "14.0.6 Animals must not be displayed or offered for sale or transfer at farmers markets, swap meets or similar venues.  Note: Delivery or exchange of animals at a farmers market or similar venue when the sale or transfer has been pre-arranged may be acceptable."  Never would have occurred to me that anyone would try to sell a sheep at a farmers' market.  I have heard of people arranging for delivery of fibre animals in odd locations.

The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. - Proverbs 12:10 NIV

Fibershed Interview on Conscious Chatter Podcast

     Kestrel Jenkin's Conscious Chatter podcast has an interview with Rebecca Burgess, director of Fibershed.  S03, episode 118, "Fibershed + Regenerative Textile Systems," June 12, 2018, http://consciouschatter.com/podcast/2018/06/11/s03-episode-118-fibershed-regenerative-textile-systems.  Available on iTunes.
     Good stories, technical details, and the issues around the making of small batch, traceable, community-based, natural textiles, as always.
     Fibershed serves two groups: producers and buyers.  This podcast is focussed mostly on the production side of local cloth and leaves recommendations for buyers until the last several minutes.  Unless I missed it, Burgess did not cover options such as taking yarn from a farm and either making clothes yourself or commissioning a weaver or knitter to make you clothing with it.  It was more about looking for local ready-to-wear, wearing clothes longer and mending them, and recirculating used clothing.
     This is an interesting choice considering the success Burgess had with the Fibershed wardrobe she commissioned for herself.  In the YouTube video, "150 mile wardrobe: local fiber, real color, P2P economy," she says she never wants to go back to conventional clothes.  I'm not sure why she omitted the option to commission work.  Perhaps she considered the amount of time and money involved to be too much to ask.  She was able to fund the wardrobe through Kickstarter, through her Funding Fibershed - One Year-150 Miles campaign in 2010.
     Burgess is a weaver and natural dyer with a spinning wheel.  In the YouTube interview she says she commissioned the Fibershed wardrobe because she didn't have the time to make it herself, which is understandable.  Furthermore, she wanted the wardrobe made in order to build relationships with the ranchers, cotton breeders, felters, knitters, and mills in her region.