Containers

Organizing a collection

Updated October 2026

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The scale is what makes this different So standardize the neck Which means buying for the collection, not the color Clear walls, always Except where light matters Label the base as well as the side Flat-bottomed and straight-sided wins Keep certified components apart Date the colorants And buy spare closures References

One neck size beats the perfect bottle for each color. That is the whole advice.

The scale is what makes this different

Most crafts in this library buy a few containers. A resin jewelry maker buys dozens of pigments, a hundred glitters and a drawer of inclusions, and the collection is the product.

So standardize the neck

One neck across the small jars and one across the small bottles. Caps and droppers then interchange, spares cover everything, and a lost cap is not a dead container.

Which means buying for the collection, not the color

Choosing the ideal container per pigment produces a drawer of incompatible parts. A single format repeated is worth more than a better fit per item.

Clear walls, always

186 clear containers on this shelf. For a colorant collection the wall is the label, and a mixed shade is never described accurately by text.

Except where light matters

119 amber containers, for pigments that fade. The working compromise is clear containers in a closed drawer, which gives both.

Label the base as well as the side

Because a collection is stored upright and read from above. A side label is invisible in a tray and a base label is invisible on a shelf, so do both.

Flat-bottomed and straight-sided wins

A tray of straight sided jars packs without gaps and does not tip. A tapered or rounded container wastes drawer space and falls over.

Keep certified components apart

If a children's line is in scope, documented findings and undocumented ones cannot share a tray. Separate, marked storage is a compliance control that looks like tidiness.

Date the colorants

An alcohol ink that has lost solvent is stronger than it was, and a mica that has caked disperses differently. A date tells you which bottle to distrust when a casting comes out wrong.

And buy spare closures

Caps go sticky and dropper bulbs perish. In a hundred-container collection the closures are the consumable, and ordering spares up front is cheaper than replacing bottles later.

References

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 18 October 2026. The resin jewelry shelf is 1,217 rows: 698 containers and 519 closures. 5 mL to 9,464 mL with a median of 118; 100 containers at 30 mL or under, 390 at 120 or under, 662 at a pint or under. 390 PET, 130 glass, 99 HDPE, 78 PP. 459 bottles, 224 jars, 12 tubs and pails, 2 tubes, 1 jug. 186 clear, 151 white, 119 amber. Closures: 363 continuous thread, 43 dropper assemblies, 27 dome lids, 19 lug and twist, 16 flip top, 14 phenolic, 11 liners and sealing discs, 8 specialty, 6 dropper tips and caps, 6 round tubs.

15 U.S.C. 1278a. Subsection (a) sets total lead content for any part of a children's product at "100 parts per million" by weight, and (f)(1) substituted "0.009 percent" for lead in paint on children's products. Subsection (b)(2) provides that the limits "shall not apply to any component part of a children's product that is not accessible to a child through normal and reasonably foreseeable use and abuse", including where the part is protected by a sealed covering or casing that remains intact during normal use. The children's product definition is taken from section 3(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act. law.cornell.edu

Written from 15 U.S.C. 2052(a)(2), 15 U.S.C. 2063(a)(5) and 15 U.S.C. 1278a, and from the catalog as it stood on 18 October 2026. Whether a particular piece is a children's product, and whether a particular encapsulation is an inaccessible component part, are determinations this property raises and does not make. State jewelry laws and voluntary standards for children's jewelry sit on top of everything here.