synecdochic (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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smellsgood2014-05-25 03:57 am
synecdochic) wrote in smellsgood2014-05-25 03:57 am
Entry tags:
Decanting
Things I have learned from this large round of decants I've just done, for my own future reference, and in case someone else might find them helpful:
1. Put a bandaid on the thumb you will be using to put the caps on the imps. "Imp thumb"/"decanter's thumb" is not just a joke!
2. For organization, it helps to print an extra label for each scent you're decanting, then slap that label on a 2x4" plastic baggie (or a sandwich-sized ziplock bag, if you don't have umpty billion small baggies like we do from the jewelry stuff) and drop the decants in them as you finish them. That way you know where they all are and you can't lose one. (I also dropped each bottle in along with its decants.)
3. When labeling: Stick together the two ends of the label first, forming a teardrop-type shape, then slide the vial through the teardrop and finish folding the label on. I've also found it helps to run a fingernail along the edge of the vial along the label join, or else the labels tend to pop open.
4. Line up each of the vials you're decanting into right at the start, or else you will reach for a fresh vial and try to pipette into the closed end. Oops.
5. If you have a kitten who has not yet grasped "the table is off limits", cap each vial as you fill it.
6. The scent you like the least is always going to be the one you splash all over your hands.
7. It really helps to have whatever you're using as a garbage bag right there on hand so you can drop the used pipettes and any broken vials into it immediately.
If you've done any decanting in the past, what are some other tips/tricks you've learned, and what was the most helpful tip you heard beforehand? For me, the suggestion I found the most helpful was the plastic baggies. I printed all the labels first, then labeled all the baggies, put the labeled bags under each bottle, and brought the baggie and the bottle into the main work area one at a time. It really helped me to keep track of things, and to make sure I didn't lose track of things.
1. Put a bandaid on the thumb you will be using to put the caps on the imps. "Imp thumb"/"decanter's thumb" is not just a joke!
2. For organization, it helps to print an extra label for each scent you're decanting, then slap that label on a 2x4" plastic baggie (or a sandwich-sized ziplock bag, if you don't have umpty billion small baggies like we do from the jewelry stuff) and drop the decants in them as you finish them. That way you know where they all are and you can't lose one. (I also dropped each bottle in along with its decants.)
3. When labeling: Stick together the two ends of the label first, forming a teardrop-type shape, then slide the vial through the teardrop and finish folding the label on. I've also found it helps to run a fingernail along the edge of the vial along the label join, or else the labels tend to pop open.
4. Line up each of the vials you're decanting into right at the start, or else you will reach for a fresh vial and try to pipette into the closed end. Oops.
5. If you have a kitten who has not yet grasped "the table is off limits", cap each vial as you fill it.
6. The scent you like the least is always going to be the one you splash all over your hands.
7. It really helps to have whatever you're using as a garbage bag right there on hand so you can drop the used pipettes and any broken vials into it immediately.
If you've done any decanting in the past, what are some other tips/tricks you've learned, and what was the most helpful tip you heard beforehand? For me, the suggestion I found the most helpful was the plastic baggies. I printed all the labels first, then labeled all the baggies, put the labeled bags under each bottle, and brought the baggie and the bottle into the main work area one at a time. It really helped me to keep track of things, and to make sure I didn't lose track of things.
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Heh. Yeah, Sarah was like, "I can get you the sterile gradated pipettes if you want," and I was like, honey, it's perfume.
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LOL. Yes, overkill. :D
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One thing might be for you to get a rack, to set the opened bottles in? (EDIT: I mean vials, but one for the opened bottles might be helpful as well?) Then you can just go right down the line of all 10 vials, filling them and then capping? Unfortunately, I don't think that any of the ready-made lab supplies would fit the 1ml vials (lab 1.5ml tubes are too thick, and your bottles would rattle around in them), but perhaps you could use a suitable drill bit in a piece of wood? (If using this would not contradict Rule #5, of course...depends on how quickly things need to be capped.)
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Nah, the vials literally have to be capped as they are filled. Like: hold vial in left hand, pipette into it, tuck pipette between pinky and ring finger of left hand, cap vial with right hand. She jumped up and knocked over the vials at least a dozen times, thankfully while empty; even a wood block wouldn't help.
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