THE JOY OF NEW BOTTLES

Last week pretty much epitomized my month of November, with an orchid show and sale all day every day, theatre performances every night, and not much sleep. The last month of the day-job marathon begins again tomorrow morning, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to post between now and December.

The one bright spot in it all is the new bottles. I packed my first wholesale order of new bottles last week, and it was a wonderful experience to be able to take bottles from the box and fill them without having to print, cut, and apply labels. The boxes are as wonderful as the bottles, a perfect fit, with labels already printed on them. I just have to pop them open and put the bottle in! I’m beginning to think that the extra expense is offset by the fact that it’s less work to prepare stock and fill orders. Customers will also have a nice label that isn’t affected by liquids, and a good box to keep their perfume in.

In the process of filling and boxing perfumes, I discovered that the outside of the boxes can be cleaned with alcohol if needed. I was able to remove some stray glue completely by rubbing the box with alcohol. The box looked perfect afterwards, so it seems that the finish is resistant to liquids as well as mechanical damage.

I never thought I’d do it, but I’ll probably end up eventually going to screen-printed labels and custom boxes for everything 30 ml or larger. 

BLACKBIRD’S LAUNCH

This is an exciting week. Tomorrow is the big party to celebrate Olympic Orchids third anniversary and the launch of the perfume I made for the Blackbird store. It’s a big day in a lot of ways because it marks several important transitions. For me, it marks the transition from the first, experimental, years of establishing my business to the realization that it’s here to stay. Something has been created out of nothing, and now there’s the task of polishing and perfecting every aspect of the operation and allowing the natural growth process to take place. 

For Blackbird, it’s the last event before they move out of their Ballard clothing and perfume stores and into a mostly online retail and wholesale format. It’s possible that the brick-and-mortar Apothecary will be reinvented in a new way, in a new place, but that’s for the future to decide.

For the Northwest Indie Perfumers Circuit, it’s also the last event in the Blackbird space. I hope the circuit will continue in another venue but, again, that’s for the future to decide.

Every end is a new beginning, so I hope that all of the new beginnings, whatever they are, will be successful.

My first-ever screen-printed bottles came from the printer day before yesterday, and a batch of them are filled and ready to sell. They look great! It’s really different just being able to grab a bottle from the box and not have to spend time putting a sticky label on it, trying to get it centered. The labels aren’t the final version, but they’re good enough to make me believe that printing on the bottle is the way to go.  All of the merchandise and props have been delivered to Blackbird, and I just went shopping for snacks. We’re good to go!

I would like to invite every reader in the Seattle area to come to the party tomorrow evening. Once again, it’s from 6:00 PM until it finishes, at 5404 22^nd Ave NW, in Ballard. There will be food, drink, good company and some nice door prizes!