# Label Tutorial Challenge-Ramona



## grapeman (Dec 13, 2007)

This is the spot whereRamona will present her Tutorial on creating a label from inspiration through complete label. With the holidays on us it may take a while to complete. She will let you know what software she uses so if you need an idea for a Chrismas present......... consider getting yourself her software. Have fun. Thank youRamona for participating and let the fun begin!










So without further ado here it is.


My choice for varietal is _*St. Pepin* _grape. I purposely chose this one so no one would have preconceived notions of what the label should depict.Here is a basic description of the variety and what can be expected from that wine. Just assume ABV of 13%.


Some of the following is from the Appelation America website
<H1>Varietal Character</H1>









</A> St. Pepin
You are all part of a band of native and French-American crosses that could easily be called the ‘Polar Bear Gang’. A lot of you are from Minnesota, and you’ve been bred to be tough and hardy. Many of your parents were imprisoned in labs for so long that they go by their identification numbers, rather than their names. Frontenac, otherwise known as the ‘heavy producer’, is the latest to join your gang. People of the northern states are glad that you now control the flow of wine. In the frigid northern winters, weak-limbed vines all too often never deliver.<BR clear=all>
<DIV ="h1-left2">
<H1>Appellations Growing St. Pepin Grapes</H1>


Appellations producing the most St. Pepin wines:
<UL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px">
<TABLE id=appellationList style="WIDTH: 540px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 ="smText"><T><T><T>
<T>
<TR>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Minnesota (State Appellation) </LI></TD>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Hudson River Region (AVA) </LI></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Quebec (Provincial Appellation) </LI></TD>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Illinois (State Appellation) </LI></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">West Virginia (State Appellation) </LI></TD>
<TD style="WIDTH: 50%">
<LI style="COLOR: #808080">Lake Wisconsin (AVA) </LI></TD></TR></T></T></T></T></TABLE>[/list]



<DIV ="h1-left2">
<H1>St. Pepin Grape Details</H1>


St. Pepin is a sister seedling of LaCrosse, which was also developed by Elmer Swenson. However, the similarly cold-hardy St. Pepin is a fruitier and earlier-ripening grape, which makes one of the best white wines in Minnesota. It is also used for juice. The grape is being grown experimentally in South Dakota and in other cold winter states.




Excellent wines have been made from St. Pepin as a varietal and also blended with LaCrosse. When well ripened, fruit quality is similar to Reisling. Selected by Elmer Swenson. 
Crisp flavors from adequate acids with a hint of apricot, pineapple, apple, and pear aromas, off-dry with a medium body; similar to Sauvignon Blanc.




Let's use an appropriate fictitious winery for this variety.
*Polar Epress Winery*




So now the challenge is for you to develop a nice label anyone would be proud to display.


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## rgecaprock (Dec 13, 2007)

I am at work and should be working but after reading Richard's introduction to St. Pepin wine......my minds wheels are turning. 
So I will begin by telling you my what comes to my mind for this label and with any label I've made I seem to begin the process this way:


It usually starts with just an overall feeling, something about the wine ie. type of juice, where it comes from. example: The South African Chenin Blanc gave me an impression of the climate and the animals of Africa so I decided to use Zebras as my subject.


Since seeing that St. Pepin grapes are grown in my homestate of W.Va. this is my starting point for an idea.


So this is a start....will be back soon. Ask me any questions along the way!!*Edited by: rgecaprock *


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## NorthernWinos (Dec 13, 2007)

Ramona...you don't like the looks of the people from Minnesota for on your label????


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## rgecaprock (Dec 13, 2007)

NW 


They are better lookin than those Hillbilliesfrom WVa....lol


Which makes me think......do I make it funny or serious?




Ramona*Edited by: rgecaprock *


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## Jack on Rainy (Dec 13, 2007)

Appleman, 
You setting for this tutorial is close to my heart! Frontenac is the town on the St. Croix river where my Swedish immigrant great grandparents landed to homestead! And Pepin isa large bulge(lake) in the Mississippi river just downstream from Red Wing MNnamed after the explorer Pepin. You don't suppose hebrought the grape too?


And Ramona! Make if funny if you want but I will be looking for some serious instruction. I need to learn how tomake my own lables. These post-its are falling off!*Edited by: Jack on Rainy *


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## rgecaprock (Dec 13, 2007)

Jack,
My Dad uses post-its too.Until I made him some labels.


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## NorthernWinos (Dec 13, 2007)

Guess St. Pepin needs many women to propagate... 



<TABLE width=400><T><T><T>
<T>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top ="main">*ST. PEPIN:*
Patented Elmer Swenson propagated variety claimed as cold hardy to -20 deg. F. (ca -29 C.). Is close American hybrid sibling to La Crosse variety. Suitable for making fruity white wine claimed to have Riesling/Muscat character, or as a good tablegrape. Ripens early in season. It must be planted near other grape varieties, eg. Swenson (Red) or its sibling (above), or other varieties that flower in the same period because it is a female pollinate and so requires cross-pollination. The consensus ratio of pollinator/pollinatee is about 1 male to 8 female vines. Some trials are currently underway in S. Dakota and other moderately cold-winter States. </TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top>



</TD></TR></T></T></T></T></TABLE>




Edited By Appleman: I added this picture from my grapes this fall to compare to NW's post.
Pepin is also a town in Wisconcin as is La Crosse......where Elmer Swenson lived and bred his grapes.*Edited by: appleman *


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## rgecaprock (Dec 14, 2007)

apple,


One thing I would like to do is change the winery name. I like to change the name at times to suit the label I have in mind. If that is a hard and fast rule I will go with it.....let me know.


Ramona


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## grapeman (Dec 14, 2007)

I don't have a real problem with that Ramona. The goal here is to teach others about label making and if you can demonstrate that better with a different name- go for it. I will let Joan know of this since she says she isn't monitoring your post so she doesn't get influenced by your ideas. Be sure to let us know what you are doing and thinking as you go.


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## Joanie (Dec 14, 2007)

Hehe.. I'm reading now that I know what I'm going to do. 




Hi Ramona!!!


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## rgecaprock (Dec 15, 2007)

I can start with one idea and before you know it....it becomes something entirely different. I've made a label based on the Polar Express Winery which makes me think of cold, winter, ice and snow. I used Art.com to search "winter" and found what I think is an interesting picture, more abstract than actual and manipulated into another version of the same picture. This label is fairly simple and I think I can show you the technique by printing the screen as I go along on PrintShop. Here is the label. I will show you the steps soon.
Ramona*Edited by: rgecaprock *


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## NorthernWinos (Dec 15, 2007)

Ramona...Is Estate spelled wrong??? Or are my old eyes giving out??? 


P.S..like it!!!*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## rgecaprock (Dec 15, 2007)

No my eyes are giving out.....Thanks I'll fix it!!!!


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

It's excellent as usual, Ramona!!!


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## Wade E (Dec 15, 2007)

Great job Ramona and thanx for helping us out!


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## jobe05 (Dec 15, 2007)

Man.............. Watching you guys (Gals) make labels makes me realize just how much imagination I *DON"T *Have!





I love that "frozen" look to the whole label, the tree looks frigid which represents the the breaks and the fragil nature of the tree (also the wine).

I like it


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## rgecaprock (Dec 15, 2007)

I want to show you step by step what I did but I don't know where to save the print screens of the process to a file that I can upload. Can anyone tell me how to do that? I did prtscrn then pasted in a word document but that's not seeming to work.


Ramona


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## grapeman (Dec 15, 2007)

I think that is what Joan did. Try and PM her for help Ramona. I tried it and it seems to work fine, but the files are a bit too big to upload. See what Joan did to get around it.


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

Ramona is having trouble getting screen shots small enough to post so she's sending them to me and I will post them for her.

Here's the opening page of PrintShop:


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

From Ramona:

From here I choose a label size. It would be nice if it it gave the
label dimensions instead of the Avery label number but I really like
this size and I also use the 5164, a smaller one.


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

From Ramona:

This will be your work desk for your label. Starting out with a
blank 3X5. By now you will have your images saved and ready to pull
over on to the work area and ready to get started.






</span>

*Edited by: Joan *


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

From Ramona:

I then click on the insert tab and insert from "file"some
of the choices of images I have saved to the computer. Then start
playing around with them and deciding which one I like the best and
has the most possibilities. I did notice that anything winter is
fairly monochromatic. Next I'll show how I changed the picture that I
used.




</span></span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

From Ramona:

Next I choose effects and one of the options is "crop". Here is
where I start cutting up the picture so I can piece it together they
way I want. Each time I make a crop I bring the picture in again from
my images in "file". So 4 times I've sent the picture to be
cropped.There may be a less time consuming way but habits
arehard to break.






</span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

From Ramona:

Now I have 4 pieces of the picture cut slightly different. The
last piece on the right was cropped from the top of the picture and
flipped upside down for the bottom of the picture.





</span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

From you know who:

The picture is put together and aligned, you can right click on
the picture segments and click on "position horizontally". Next will be
deciding on a background. These colors were a little hard to match
up...had to make several attempts to get a match. You will have
options for many colors then you can go to an area where you can refine
and match colors or blend shades.





</span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

For the background there is a specific area called "panel effects"
where you can choose colors and textures and even add your own pictures
as part of a background. But I found this option called "add a Shape",
easy to use.By using the square box and giving it an outline and any
color variation that you may want.The outline can be adjusted to make
a wide border if you like. I find that it is very easy to manipulate
and change and layer.


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

I opened up the squarebox over the entire label and right
clicked to move the layer. The option I chose was "send to back" which
placed the ground with the black outline behind the picture. Next is
adding text.....and there are many text options and sometimes I try so
many that I have to get up and get a glass of wine, come back and look
at it again until I find one that's "it".





</span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

I used the papyrus font which I like very much...have used it
alot. You can see that you can change the color, shape etc. to get the
effect you want.







</span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

_I used the "text box" option rather than the "headline"
option for the smaller text that I've added. You can say more in less
space. Used "Headline" for the winery name. I'll move it all into
position and align.





_</span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

Decided on a font, Edwardian Script for the wine name and ready
to move it into position. I'll use the "text box" to finish the other
text accept for the year. That will be last and then I'm finished!!





</span>


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## Joanie (Dec 15, 2007)

Ok, Here it is finished.....it may be slightly different from the
original since I re-created it and the colors may not be exact.



This has been a real pleasure and lots of fun to make the label and
hopefully show you what steps I took and my thoughts. I had trouble
trying to post the steps but thanks to Joan who has been helping me get
them posted for you for the past.....3 hours now....we were able for
finish. Team work is great especially when you share the same passion.
Please ask any questions you have. I hope this has been a help to
you........and I can't wait to hear what is under your tree this year.



Joan, thank you so much for posting this for me.



Ramona






It was my pleasure!
Your secretary,
MDA





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## grapeman (Dec 16, 2007)

Great job Ramona. It shows just how easy making a really nice label can be. It also shows that you can use software in a varied price range. The thought process is the same, just adapt to what you have.


Thank yo also Joan- great collaborative effort here.


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## s.arkvinomaker (Dec 17, 2007)

Great job both of you. What is the price range of these two programs? It is amazing the cabalilities of themboth. Which is the better of the two? Which is the more user friendly for us computer challenged folks.



This is a tutorial I know I will be referring to again for ideas.You girls are great at this I hope you enter more of your labels into the labeling contests. I agree with you though I think I get a great deal of pleasure out designing the label as well as the wine itself.


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## rgecaprock (Dec 17, 2007)

David,


My program is not expensive, at least it wasn't 3 yrs ago. It is fairly straight forward and not near as elaborate as Joan's PhotoShop but it gets the labels made.


Ramona


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## JWMINNESOTA (Dec 18, 2007)

Great job, this sure shows your creative side, I have Print Shop, couldn't make one like this in a million years.


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## Jack on Rainy (Dec 19, 2007)

Thanks Ramona, Amazing!


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## s.arkvinomaker (Dec 19, 2007)

Thanks Romona. I am not the most computer savvy person having a computer for only a year now. I have an adequate labeling program 
which beats the hell out of a posty note on a bottle



Yours an Joans labels are a work of art. Waldo could put out a nice label also. I love his Port Wine label he posted.


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