How to Organize a Flavoring Collection?

[aikanae1]

I love this nostalgia. I learned to type during the early word processor days. Lotus? It was such a relief to me that I didn't have to type "perfectly" and could just change it. Back then, word processing was a career and could make good money working for lawyers, architects and the like. A lot of the secretary's were afraid or refused to learn computers. We'd go in at night to do the word processing. One floppy for the OS and the other storage. Remember tetris on Dos 3?

Are you talking about the old clamshell Mac's? Those are going for some nice $ and people keep upgrading them. Same for the old Lombard's. There's a big community of the early Mac folks online. A lot of city's have Mac user groups that share early mac hardware and programs. I still cling to Word Perfect and need a mac pc to run it. One of the benefits to intel Mac is it runs windows natively. No emulation needed so it's easy to do both as long as you've got the space. It's been awhile but it's either Low End Mac, or Every Mac that has links to older gear (and new stuff). Also google for the nearest mac user group. That's where I've found someone to work on my stuff without charging an arm and a leg (both mac and pc). I still want an old clamshell. If you lived closer I'd pass on an old snow that's just taking up space (classic and intel). My mac's never die. I was thinking of a fish aquarium...

Handwriting is still alive. It's a niche. There's big groups getting into fountain pens. I was raised on those so I'm glad to see the renewed interest. There's some new ones on the market for under $10 now that are spectacular. Pilot, chinese and Noodler's. They never die either. I think it's backlash to the disposable focus and it's greener. I tried handwritting a professional letter and couldn't do it. I make too many mistakes. They are note and sketching tools.

I was in at Michaels looking at "shadow box" frames (they were having a 60% off sale) and the depth of those would be perfect for flavorings. I just need a way to add narrow shelving (ideas?). Later, I could find a frame at a thrift, add hinges and keep it dust free then. I was thinking of doing something like that to display and store drip tips.

 

[Janet]

I tear my labels from brown paper and scotch tape them. I personally like how they look. Oh yeah, I used IBM Selectrics. They were quite the machine. Had several different balls for the fonts. I could blaze at 55 wpm ha ha. Did your hospital have the big printers with the green and white striped paper? Things were loud.

I like brown paper, especially when it is torn to resemble deckle edge paper. Nice idea for labels! Maybe I'll start doing that. Hey Mr. 3M, what is the best kind of Scotch tape to use for this application? I want it to be easy to peel off bottles when needed.

The IBM Selectrics were quite the machine, weren't they? 55 WPM is pretty good! Those gigantic things must have weighed about 30 pounds. I had several font balls too - and used to mess around and force 12 pt font ones to type at the 10 pt setting so the letters were sort of squished together. I am such a rebel! I did like the "erase" ribbon which was basically a strip of Liquid Paper or Wite-Out. Still needed that Wite-Out though for fixing mistakes not caught on the same line or for the dreaded multiple-part forms, especially the occasional ones with carbon paper (ewww, carbon paper!). Oh Wite-Out - new bottles were great, but it quickly became dried out and gloppy in the bottle, so we added Wite-Out thinner (or maybe Liquid Paper thinner) which I'm pretty sure could be abused by sniffing it for too long. Anyway, it never made a bottle of the cover-up liquid like new again. I remember a guy originally from India, who was head of the accounting dept. He would come to my desk occasionally to ask for Wipe Out - haha! Maybe I should submit an idea to the company who makes Wite-Out to rename it Wipe-Out!

Green and white striped paper! With track holes on the edges! Of course I remember that big paper - we had special binders to hold volumes of stat reports on that paper - man oh man they were heavy and awkward to lug around. Epson printers! Dot matrix I think? Great printers! I kind of miss that sound. We had label paper for them too - about 4 -5" wide. Sometimes a rogue label would get its corner peeled off and jam the printer a little. Once in a while the paper came off the track and if I weren't watching it closely, there would be a section with a whole lot of printing from the printer going over the same spot again and again, usually at an angle over a good chunk when one track kept trying to feed the paper through. Gaaah! Anyway, these were the closest happenings to paper jams I can remember on those printers and weren't a big deal to fix. The big Xerox copier a lot of people used that was near my desk was a whole other story though.

 

[misswish1]

I just found out if I buy anything from Amazon between July 1 - Sept 30, I'll get a decent discount by using my DiscoverCard. I can find lots of nail polish racks on Amazon, but not the ones I found on Ebay (ones like Azyre posted). I would prefer them in white to go better with my kitchen. I still have not spent a long time hunting though. Maybe they are there somewhere. If anyone knows where/if they are on Amazon, please post. - Thanks!

Janet - if you can't find them in white, you could always spray paint them. Cheap and easy to do. Glossy white, you would be able to damp wipe when needed. I like the idea of the little foam spacers! Again, cheap and easy, just my style lol.

 

[aikanae1]

I saw a pic the other day where they used universal duct tape as DIY labels. It gave the bottles a strangley appealing industrial edge.

 

[john333]

I like brown paper, especially when it is torn to resemble deckle edge paper. Nice idea for labels! Maybe I'll start doing that. Hey Mr. 3M, what is the best kind of Scotch tape to use for this application? I want it to be easy to peel off bottles when needed.

The IBM Selectrics were quite the machine, weren't they? 55 WPM is pretty good! Those gigantic things must have weighed about 30 pounds. I had several font balls too - and used to mess around and force 12 pt font ones to type at the 10 pt setting so the letters were sort of squished together. I am such a rebel! I did like the "erase" ribbon which was basically a strip of Liquid Paper or Wite-Out. Still needed that Wite-Out though for fixing mistakes not caught on the same line or for the dreaded multiple-part forms, especially the occasional ones with carbon paper (ewww, carbon paper!). Oh Wite-Out - new bottles were great, but it quickly became dried out and gloppy in the bottle, so we added Wite-Out thinner (or maybe Liquid Paper thinner) which I'm pretty sure could be abused by sniffing it for too long. Anyway, it never made a bottle of the cover-up liquid like new again. I remember a guy originally from India, who was head of the accounting dept. He would come to my desk occasionally to ask for Wipe Out - haha! Maybe I should submit an idea to the company who makes Wite-Out to rename it Wipe-Out!

Green and white striped paper! With track holes on the edges! Of course I remember that big paper - we had special binders to hold volumes of stat reports on that paper - man oh man they were heavy and awkward to lug around. Epson printers! Dot matrix I think? Great printers! I kind of miss that sound. We had label paper for them too - about 4 -5" wide. Sometimes a rogue label would get its corner peeled off and jam the printer a little. Once in a while the paper came off the track and if I weren't watching it closely, there would be a section with a whole lot of printing from the printer going over the same spot again and again, usually at an angle over a good chunk when one track kept trying to feed the paper through. Gaaah! Anyway, these were the closest happenings to paper jams I can remember on those printers and weren't a big deal to fix. The big Xerox copier a lot of people used that was near my desk was a whole other story though.

So funny, I know exactly what your talking about at every instance. Forget and leave the wite-out bottle open and oh crap gonna gunk up. So what's your record for number of carbon papers for one letter ha ha. 3M scotch tape - I know next time I remember i'm going to get the widest they make. Tired of using three pieces to cover one label!

 

[Arriss]

I fold sticky note paper, secure with clear scotch tape, a few other times I used file folder labels, Lol !!

I saw a pic the other day where they used universal duct tape as DIY labels. It gave the bottles a strangley appealing industrial edge.

 

[yiddleboge6]

I just found out if I buy anything from Amazon between July 1 - Sept 30, I'll get a decent discount by using my DiscoverCard. I can find lots of nail polish racks on Amazon, but not the ones I found on Ebay (ones like Azyre posted). I would prefer them in white to go better with my kitchen. I still have not spent a long time hunting though. Maybe they are there somewhere. If anyone knows where/if they are on Amazon, please post. - Thanks!

Not exactly the same ones....but very similar and in white....sure I could find more if I looked a bit longer....Amazon.com - Professional White Metal Nail Polish Mountable 6 Tier Organizer Display Rack - MyGift® -

 

[Alter]

I put a few rows of green painters tape onto a ceramic tile scrap I used for my kitchen back splash. Got a fine black sharpie pen to write with. The tile makes it easy to write on, cut with xacto knife then peel off the tile then onto my container. So far the tape has stuck quite well with no residue after I peel the tape off the used jug.
I did buy some labels but they left behind residue thats a hassle to remove after.
As for storage I just made myself some shelving out of some scrap cedar I had around along with revamping an old DVD shelving unit I had around also.

 

[Bob Chill]

I made a bunch of these small home made racks that you see in the bottom of my original DIY box. I've grown since but the concept is the same. Simple remnant cushion foam and foam board on the bottom attached with spray adhesive.

This was my original. Now I have 5 or so foam racks that are broken down by vendor and flavor profile. One is specifically for additives. They stack nice, secure bottles perfectly, and can be moved around easily. Best of all they cost next to nothing to make and you can customize the hole size and layout based on your own method/imagination.

I have kids so I keep all my stuff locked in a small trunk. Everything is secure inside so if I want to mix at a friends house I just grab the handle and go.

 

[Janet]

I love this nostalgia. I learned to type during the early word processor days. Lotus? It was such a relief to me that I didn't have to type "perfectly" and could just change it. Back then, word processing was a career and could make good money working for lawyers, architects and the like. A lot of the secretary's were afraid or refused to learn computers. We'd go in at night to do the word processing. One floppy for the OS and the other storage. Remember tetris on Dos 3?

Are you talking about the old clamshell Mac's? Those are going for some nice $ and people keep upgrading them. Same for the old Lombard's. There's a big community of the early Mac folks online. A lot of city's have Mac user groups that share early mac hardware and programs. I still cling to Word Perfect and need a mac pc to run it. One of the benefits to intel Mac is it runs windows natively. No emulation needed so it's easy to do both as long as you've got the space. It's been awhile but it's either Low End Mac, or Every Mac that has links to older gear (and new stuff). Also google for the nearest mac user group. That's where I've found someone to work on my stuff without charging an arm and a leg (both mac and pc). I still want an old clamshell. If you lived closer I'd pass on an old snow that's just taking up space (classic and intel). My mac's never die. I was thinking of a fish aquarium...

Handwriting is still alive. It's a niche. There's big groups getting into fountain pens. I was raised on those so I'm glad to see the renewed interest. There's some new ones on the market for under $10 now that are spectacular. Pilot, chinese and Noodler's. They never die either. I think it's backlash to the disposable focus and it's greener. I tried handwritting a professional letter and couldn't do it. I make too many mistakes. They are note and sketching tools.

I was in at Michaels looking at "shadow box" frames (they were having a 60% off sale) and the depth of those would be perfect for flavorings. I just need a way to add narrow shelving (ideas?). Later, I could find a frame at a thrift, add hinges and keep it dust free then. I was thinking of doing something like that to display and store drip tips.

I have no idea what kind of DOS I first used. Everything on the screen was only black and white, then black and green and we did not have mice. But it still was fantastic! I never got into tetris, but remember a lot of people talked about it. I don't think my old Mac was a clamshell. Let me find a link... Macintosh Portable Apple Model 5120 RAM Card Battery Mouse | eBay (Sorry, at the moment I don't know how to make a URL into a one-word link. Need to look up how to do that again.) That's what mine looked like anyway. I will follow up on your advice about checking user groups for computers - thanks - good idea! I also thought about calling one of the colleges and asking for a student majoring in computer science who is working on acquiring credit for "field experience" - whatever they call it, you know, like an intern. Hmmmmm, maybe I will get a Mac. I'd be hesitant at this point mostly because I don't know if I could transfer all my saved Microsoft Word documents, photos edited in Windows Photo Gallery, slideshows made in Windows Movie Maker, etc. going back to ~2003 using XP, Vista, and Windows 7, plus a couple little programs I like for making greeting cards, signs, and fancy CD/DVD labels. Fish acquarium! - that was a neat screensaver. Just the thought of transferring all that stuff to another Windows computer gives me a headache. Oh well, it's one way to "clean house" I suppose.

It's good to know handwriting is still alive, but I can't help but think a lot of people today don't really have their own handwriting that others could recognize as only theirs. So sad. I just may have to check on those fountain pens. Do you know the company Levenger? I got started on their Circa notebooks, but that was all I'd let myself buy. They have pens I've drooled over and other nice stuff too. When I want to write a letter or even a note, often I'll type everything I want to say and then write it out by hand. For the shadow box shelves, if the wood is thick enough, two small screws on both inside edges wherever you want a shelf could maybe be used to hold a little shelf - got the idea from my "fancy" bookcases that have metal pegs to hold their shelves in place (not sure if the wood would be thick enough to screw in the screw far enough to hold the weight though). Then you need to find a way to cut some wood the right size for the shelves. People make a lot of stuff with just glue guns and foam core, but I think I'd want something a little sturdier. Some good ideas are on YouTube from girls who made nail polish shelving - out of foam core! I wonder how they are holding up.

Those shadow box frames are nice - they might even come in a standard size the same as picture frames. For drip tips, maybe there is a thimble display shadow box? Most of my drip tips are just acrylic ones I used with cartomizers, but I sure have a lot of them I don't even use anymore. They remind me of pretty beads and I thought maybe I might make some jewelry creation out of them. Haha - like that is gonna happen. You just never know - I seem to have a tendency to put off priorities and put time into stuff I don't really need. I really do need to get some vertical storage racks up for all the flavor bottles. If I can't find the ones I want on Amazon, I'll get the ones I found on eBay (I hope they're still there.) I really should buy new eyeglasses first though. I got a new 'script almost 3 months ago and have been "shopping" on the Zenni site. I am hopeless. But really good at procrastinating and taking a long time to make up my mind!

 

[Janet]

So funny, I know exactly what your talking about at every instance. Forget and leave the wite-out bottle open and oh crap gonna gunk up. So what's your record for number of carbon papers for one letter ha ha. 3M scotch tape - I know next time I remember i'm going to get the widest they make. Tired of using three pieces to cover one label!

3 pieces of scotch tape to cover one label? - What are you using as a writing instrument - a crayon? I love my "real-office-style" tape dispenser and the 3/4" scotch tape that's in it. My record for carbon copies? - I think I blocked that memory out - but I do remember semi-frequent 3-copy forms; original white, 2nd and 3rd copies yellow and pink paper that had the "carbon" built in. I never tried setting any speed typing records when doing those, but sometimes I'd have to take the whole "stack" of joined papers out of the typewriter, white-out a mistake, then put it back in the typewriter and get it lined up exactly right to type the correction and continue with the rest of the form. One of the correction fluid brands even came in different colors to match the paper for those stupid forms.

 

[Janet]

I made a bunch of these small home made racks that you see in the bottom of my original DIY box. I've grown since but the concept is the same. Simple remnant cushion foam and foam board on the bottom attached with spray adhesive.

View attachment 470050

This was my original. Now I have 5 or so foam racks that are broken down by vendor and flavor profile. One is specifically for additives. They stack nice, secure bottles perfectly, and can be moved around easily. Best of all they cost next to nothing to make and you can customize the hole size and layout based on your own method/imagination.

I have kids so I keep all my stuff locked in a small trunk. Everything is secure inside so if I want to mix at a friends house I just grab the handle and go.

I like that you have everything corralled in one place that you can just pick it up and take wherever you want. It looks so neat and tidy - nice job!

 

[kelleyjo333]

I get these shelves for herbs at Bed Bath & Beyond.

 

[slipdiskk]

Thanks Danny. I still would like to know how other DIYers keep a large flavor collection organized. I know there must be some big flavor collections out there that are wonderfully organized. Doesn't anyone want to show off theirs? Bragging encouraged!

Here you go. This is about as disorganized as it gets.

 

[Janet]

I put a few rows of green painters tape onto a ceramic tile scrap I used for my kitchen back splash. Got a fine black sharpie pen to write with. The tile makes it easy to write on, cut with xacto knife then peel off the tile then onto my container. So far the tape has stuck quite well with no residue after I peel the tape off the used jug.
I did buy some labels but they left behind residue thats a hassle to remove after.
As for storage I just made myself some shelving out of some scrap cedar I had around along with revamping an old DVD shelving unit I had around also.

I had to go look up green painters tape (never saw it before) - and so I learned all about Frog Tape! Sticking it on a tile to make writing on it easier is smart. I sort of do that with white electrical tape. It came in a plastic container with a lid. When I want to make a label I stick a piece on the flat lid so the surface is flat and smooth and easy to write on with a fine-point sharpie. I like that the electrical tape is smooth plastic and peels off easily with no residue (glue residue is one of my pet peeves, especially when I want to re-purpose a glass jar - it's like some kind of cement they use to glue on those labels! GooGone is my friend), but the sharpie marker printing can get somewhat faded on the slick electrical tape. I might have to look at the Frog Tape. You are so fortunate to be able to build shelving out of scrap cedar! I wish I had the tools and a place to do woodworking.

 

[Janet]

View attachment 476962 View attachment 476963
I get these shelves for herbs at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Nice! Everything looks so neat and tidy. Those "step" shelves hold a lot! I want to take a "before" picture of how the flavoring bottles have taken over my kitchen, but first I need to find homes for most of the other stuff that is not put away.

 

[Janet]

Here you go. This is about as disorganized as it gets.
View attachment 477044

Nice tackle box! I remember when all my vape stuff fit into something like that. That is really not so disorganized - at least it's all in one place.

 

[kelleyjo333]

Nice! Everything looks so neat and tidy. Those "step" shelves hold a lot! I want to take a "before" picture of how the flavoring bottles have taken over my kitchen, but first I need to find homes for most of the other stuff that is not put away.

I would like to get every flavor in the cobalt blue dropper bottles, that would really give it some order. Unfortunately if every flavor was in a 30 ml size bottle they would cover my entire desk. I decided to only dedicate it to a dropper bottle if it was 4 oz or more.

 

[kelleyjo333]

I have no idea what kind of DOS I first used. Everything on the screen was only black and white, then black and green and we did not have mice. :

The black and green was probably an AS/400 especially if you were in a big company. They are still widely used, thank goodness, husband is a systems analyst. Just a little FYI..

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

[Janet]

I finally decided on a wall rack! After pouring over all the nail polish display racks on Amazon and eBay, I chose this: 3 Pcs Metal Wire Makeup Nail Polish Organizer Wall Rack Stand Display Holder FP | eBay. I know I said I wanted white, but after taking a another look at my small kitchen (white walls, white cupboards, white appliances) I think black will look better. I've always liked wrought iron and It looks more wrought iron-y than white. Besides, the stove has black accents and the price was really good too - almost too good, so I hope it's OK. It should arrive by Aug. 10. I was about ready to get two of these: Amazon.com - Professional White Metal Nail Polish Mountable 6 Tier Organizer Display Rack - MyGift® - (the ones yiddleboge6 found), but after reading reviews and upon closer inspection, the shelves are a kind of grating that didn't look completely flat. That could be a problem with some of the 5ml or smaller bottles of flavoring. Someone even wrote in their comment for one of the wall racks about this kind of shelving causing some of their smaller bottles to not sit flat. Oh boy, I can hardly stand the anticipation - knowing I have a package coming with something I want is always a little exciting! I'll post a pic when I get them mounted on the wall and filled with bottles.