Laser Etched Spice Labels

A move to a new apartment meant the only good place to store my spices was in a small container in a drawer. The only trouble was that every time I wanted to grab a spice, it was a mini game of Memory. I decided to find a scrap piece of thin plywood and make individual labels for them and hot glue them to the tops so they would stick.

Quick project and a good fix!

Step 1: List Out Your Herbs and Spices

I wrote out a list of all my spices and created a simple Illustrator file with identical circles and the text for etching in the middle.

Map the cut and etch lines according to your laser cutter's settings.

Step 2: Laser Etch Your Labels

Depending on how big your spice cabinet is, this could be a relatively simple project without too much material involved. I found a scrap of wood from another project and created my Illustrator file to fit that scrap.

The scrap did have a small bow in it so I used a thin piece of metal to relax the bow.

Step 3: Before/After

I sized the tops to fit within the circular ridge which works really well for centering the discs with hot glue to hold them in place. The final result is nice, clean and has made cooking just a bit easier!

What else could you use these types of labels for?