Re: sealing bottles with stoppers

[Guest guest]

One thought occurred to me while reading all the responses to the

question of sealing stoppered bottles: Have you tested to see if the

bottles leak if you DON'T seal them first with paraffin? If the

stopper is ground glass, it may make a tight enough seal just by

securing/wrapping the stopper on with cording, as they used to do

(and I still do on one of my alcohol based perfumes). But I'm

assuming that your question arises because they DO leak, and the

suggestions on ways to seal them with paraffin sound like exactly

what I do with my cork-sealed bottles. It takes a bit of time to do

each one. I would add that when you first dip the stopper into the

hot paraffin, don't let it harden entirely before pushing the stopper

into the bottle. Do it at the " soft wax " stage. The coolness of the

bottle will harden it up quickly enough. Then just pour enough

melted wax on to secure a seal around the stopper. If you want the

user to have something to " grab onto " to pull out the stopper, you'll

have to leave some of it sticking up out of the wax. But, having

said that, read on...

In gourmet stores, you'll often see wax-sealed bottles of flavored

vinegars and oils. They dip the entire top of the bottle in wax, so

I think the perfume user will be pretty familiar with peeling off wax

to get to the stopper if you decide to seal it over entirely. It

will just depend on the size and shape of the stopper and your

preference.

I love it that perfumers have decided to go back to this method of

sealing bottles, as I have been doing that with my Perfumes of

Antiquity too, and wondered if I was the only one in the world doing

this. Oil based perfumes DO have a way of leaking their way out, if

you leave them even half a chance. So the sealing process if very

important. I think you've got it right.

Janet

Fleur de Lis Perfumes

[Guest guest]

On Oct 16, 2004, at 11:34 AM, fleurdelisperfumes wrote:

>   In gourmet stores, you'll often see wax-sealed bottles of flavored

> vinegars and oils.  They dip the entire top of the bottle in wax, so

> I think the perfume user will be pretty familiar with peeling off wax

> to get to the stopper if you decide to seal it over entirely. 

Yes, but (not disagreeing rather trying to clarify a detail) I think it

is dipped (corked bottle) after the cork is in the bottle. I think the

original question in this thread was about when to dip- before putting

the cork in the bottle or afterwards. I am thinking that it is after.

If you dipped a cork before putting it in then it could break into the

product.

And, the purist in me begs to ask the inevitable next question...can

this be accomplished with a natural wax of some sort as effectively as

with an artificially colored paraffin?

This is a great subject. I have also found lovely bottles- including

antiques glass that I would love to package corked and sealed in wax

and never have. It would be lovely for larger bottles of flower waters,

hydrosols, and infused oils. Hmmm....ideas infusing....

It's fun being in an infusion frenzy and envisioning all of the others

here and around the globe doing the same.

I am currently infusing a shortcut to bee goo with a combination of

some fragrant lovely beeswax I have from a local farm and some organic

honey from Italy that is very rich, dark and fragrant. Is anyone

familiar with a beautiful honey from Tasmania- what is it called-

beautiful big bottle and label- deep dark leathery aroma? It's been

around a long time I used to get it from specialty stores in NYC in the

70's. It would be nice to infuse.

So far my infusion is almost identical to my Honey Absolute (Apis

meliferra) and sweeter than my Beeswax Absolute/ Absolute Cire

d'Abeille- somewhat like a blend of the two- lacking the sweetness of

the sample i received from Camasi. I'll give it a few more weeks

to develop and see what happens. Oh, I lack patience!

This mad aromatic science of infusing and tincturing reminds me of

childhood. My favorite game to play with my friends who came to visit

when I was very little was a version of " Dr. " where I treated them with

my amazing concoctions. I kept a drawer filled with secret concoctions

made from things like mouthwash and toothpaste mixed in water and

shook. Unfortunately I still have a friend from that time who recalls

these concoctions. I was always the Dr of course as I would guess most

of you would have likely been too.

[Guest guest]

I believe that in " Gifts of Food " (I don't remember the author's name, sorry)

she showed wine bottles being sealed by corking and *then* applying the wax

(she just dunked the top after tying a ribbon around the bottleneck and then

pulling the ends over the top to allow for a sort of 'pull top'.

[Guest guest]

I think the

> original question in this thread was about when to dip- before putting

> the cork in the bottle or afterwards. I am thinking that it is after.

> If you dipped a cork before putting it in then it could break into the

> product.

Yes. I wasn't sure if I should dip the stopper, let the paraffin harden just a

tad and then

stick it in the bottle (which someone suggested) or stick the stopper in the

bottle and then

seal it with a ring of paraffin. Someone else mentioned that one also. This

will come down

to experimenting. No, I haven't tested the bottles yet, but I remember one

perfume I

bought in these types of bottles being sealed with paraffin. I just didn't take

notice of the

technique.

>

> And, the purist in me begs to ask the inevitable next question...can

> this be accomplished with a natural wax of some sort as effectively as

> with an artificially colored paraffin?

Well, I thought food grade paraffin would be okay. I'm not if that's the type

that is used

though. What type of natural wax would you suggest? Hmmmm. Beeswax would be too

hard, I think. Good idea though.

Best regards,

Indigo