Perfume Pens- Anyone else do these?

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allenworsham

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Jan 12, 2008
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94
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Corona, CA, USA.
When I made my initial order from Arizona Silhouette for a bunch of pens and supplies, I also picked up 5 of the perfume pen kits and bushings. I figured what the heck. Another item to learn how to turn. So today I finally gave them a whirl. The first one turned out pretty poor, but funtional looking kind of like a bowling pen out of orange osage wood. I found that you had to have the blanks cut square and flush with the tubes and not leave any indentation from the barrel trimmer. What I didn't like about the kits is that it uses 2 blanks with the long body one at about 3" and the short cap one at 1".So I cut the long tube down about 3/4" and then slid that tube into the cap piece. I then cut both of those blanks on my miter saw so that everything was square and flush.

So has anyone else done some of these perfume pens? If so, how do you like them as gifts or to sell? If you have also done the perfume atomiser, do you have a preference? With my wife being a teacher with most of her collegues being female, this is could be a good thing to do for them.


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Kadmos

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Sep 26, 2007
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STL.
I did 20 of them, a local shop had a box of 20 in the consignment section for $20 so I couldn't pass it up. They were kind of fun, sold a couple, gave away most during the holidays..people seemed to like them. I don't think I would do them again unless it was a special order or I got another great deal. A good thing about them is you really can go pretty wild on the shape. I undercut one lighly with a skew and made it look like bamboo. Some got classical shapes, pillars and such, others could have a cove in a cove, or fat bodies.

Bloodwood was probably the most liked for me, I did them all in wood.

To match the grain press in the top part, screw the tip into the top as much as you can, match the grain, roll back a quarter turn so you can make it tighter and press it in.

One other thing, it's probably best at least with wood to make sure you glue in the two peices on the top (I used tiny bit of Jb weld (watch those threads, wipe off any acess. The tops on every one of them came loose when the temp dropped 10 degrees.
 

Brewmeister35

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Jul 3, 2007
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424
Location
Newaygo, MI, USA.
I've made a couple dozen of them and they sold quite fast. I epoxied mine together since the fittings seemed a little loose. I tried to push them with plastics instead of wood since they would be a little more durable rattling around in a purse. The atomizers were pretty much a flop for me. I made two and sold one of them. The cap on the atomizer is almost as long as the body and it just seems out of proportion.
 

arioux

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Jan 20, 2005
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1,734
Location
Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada.
Hi Allen,

The perfume pens are my bread and butter. I make between 3 and 4 hundreds of them a year. I now have 2 flower shop and 2 souvenir shop located in hospital that carry them for me. Stock up around St-Valentine's day and Mother's day, they are winner.
Atomizer did'nt do it for me. The purse model might leak and that a pain. I sell them i a velvet drawstring pouch to be carried in the purse. Woodturningz has then on sale now in 4 colors.
Here are few ideas for you.


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They are fun to make and very profitable.

Alfred
 

jwoodwright

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Jun 4, 2004
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2,270
Location
Anchorage, Alaska, USA.
Just depends on the Market. I got mine from Berea in 1999 and still have a dozen or so kits. They had a special with like 25 kits and such. Didn't sell, so they became presents...;)
 

allenworsham

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Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
94
Location
Corona, CA, USA.
Originally posted by arioux

Hi Allen,

The perfume pens are my bread and butter. I make between 3 and 4 hundreds of them a year. I now have 2 flower shop and 2 souvenir shop located in hospital that carry them for me. Stock up around St-Valentine's day and Mother's day, they are winner.
Atomizer did'nt do it for me. The purse model might leak and that a pain. I sell them i a velvet drawstring pouch to be carried in the purse. Woodturningz has then on sale now in 4 colors.
Here are few ideas for you.

They are fun to make and very profitable.

Alfred

Thanks guys for all the comments. They were very helpful. I agree about gluing in the finials and such as this is something that you don't want to leak.

Alfred, if you don't mind me asking, what do you typically sell these for? I assume that you would be selling them cheaper to those who do the consignment and a bit more if you sell them directly. My wife is a teacher,so lots of women folk who use pens and such as well as being gift givers (you gotta love that teacher's heart). I had my wife take a couple of my acrylic pens to show her co-workers along with some photos of my work. She called me back at lunch and told me lots of people were asking about them as well as if I could different colors. So today I had her take in a display case that I had made for some knives years ago that I had hung on the wall of about 20 pens, along with the one perfume pen that I posted the photo of, to see what happens. So hopefully this will get me a little bit of cash to offset some of my start up costs (about $1500 over the last month for lathe, supplies and pen kits)as well as get me a few orders. I really like the concept of Valentines day and Mother's day stuff, so I will have to see about getting on that in a hurry.

Thanks again.
 

allenworsham

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Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
94
Location
Corona, CA, USA.
Originally posted by byounghusband

Here's on I made for my wife.....

NICE!

I really love the segmentation. I am anxious to try out some segmentations, but I have too many irons in the fire right now. But I'll get there...one day.
 

arioux

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Jan 20, 2005
Messages
1,734
Location
Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada.
Originally posted by johnkofi

Check out this link...http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=29894

Yes, should had pointed you there instead of duplicatiing the answer. Note that i almost doubled my sales since then with the addition of the second hospital gift shop (125 sales during Hollidays season alone). Read the part about mens buying some too, i now have a display at the barbershop where i go.
Price is $20-25 with the velvet pouch. I sell them $15. no velvet pouch for 10 and more to the florist and gift shop, nothing to do exept delivery:D.
I used to do it at the beginning but I don't put them in concession anymore. Proof was made that they sell well and they simply buy them 2 dozen or more at the time. I always try to have 8 to 10 of those tray full in advance. I you want some tricks on production line, i'm getting pretty good at it :D;)
I also added some acrylics and crushed velvet to the line, they are killer.
Other place to explore, Hairdressing salon, beauty parlor, massage and spa, tanning salon. Just go in and offer the howner a free one to try. They become addict very fast:D

Alfred
 

ribanett

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Dec 15, 2007
Messages
381
Location
Kenner, LA, USA.
I also added some acrylics and crushed velvet to the line, they are killer.
Other place to explore, Hairdressing salon, beauty parlor, massage and spa, tanning salon. Just go in and offer the howner a free one to try. They become addict very fast:D

Alfred

Alfred
Thanks for the marketing help. The places that work for me are the small Nail Salons. Just offered one to the owner and kept the visit short (the owners do nails too). I printed my price list on the back of my business card with a few selling points. Also included an introductory offer for ten PPs. I have visited 16 salons so far and received orders (introductory) from 3. The second salon that ordered, sold the 10 in 3 days and has ordered 30 more.

My girlfriend said "forget the wood and go with Acrylics, straight barrel". And thats what I did (it always nice to have a woman around)

The selling points on my card:

No wasted perfume from overspary
No more broken perfume bottles in your purse
Easy and quick to fill
Excellent for the traveler, will pass thru airport security in you purse. A bottle of perfume may not be allowed, as there is a limit to how much liquid you can carry on. (I found this selling point in a post here, but I can't find it now. Many thanks to the author!!!)

Thanks for the info

Larry
 
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