BR Whiskey Bottle Project...BOTTLE REALIZED...AGAIN???!!!

[SaberFreak]

As stated in my email to you Paul, I'm still in but need time to come up with the funds.

I would also like to relate my personal experience during my last venture into a prop run. This is not meant as a hint for you to do what I did but simply as some food for thought.

My last prop run was for a batch of Luke's ROTJ V2 saber blanks. In total I received orders for over 30 units of saber blanks, which was made from solid aluminum rods and each weigh around 800 grams (close to a Kilo). Because of the weight they were very expensive to ship.

As I was not stateside (I'm half way across the globe from the states for those who don't know) I enlisted the help of a fellow collector who received the entire shipment from me before sending individual saber blanks out to individual buyers in the USA. He also helped me collect the funds, then send me the money in the form of a bank cheque, as money from any paypal account can only be withdrawn through a US bank.

All went well until he received the blanks. He suggested that the finishing on certain parts on most of the blanks were not clean enough, and I may want to consider rectifying it. Well the only way for me to do that was to have all the affected parts shipped back to my machinist so he can clean them up, and then have them shipped all the way back to the US again. I DID inspect the blanks thoroughly before shipping them out, and I felt the machine marks were acceptable since this is a saber which will be almost entirely painted over and weathered. But I wanted to remove all doubt and made sure my customers have no complains. So I ate the hefty additional 2-way shipping cost.

All went well again and everyone got their blanks. That is, until the time came to produce the plaques (paid for together with the saber blanks). The guy helping my in the US claimed that his mother is dying, and his wife is divorcing him, and that he may lose his job because he had to travel long distance almost weekly to take his mother for treatment. Soon after he became incomunicado, while still owing me a good sum of the money, the four saber blanks he bought from me, and quite a bit of my stuff which I bought through him. I sincerely hope he was telling the truth, otherwise its a horrible way to cheat someone. But even if it is true, it is still no excuse to leave someone who trusted him in the lurch like that. But I'm not going to let this incident eat me up, and have moved on.

I was already running a lost at that time, but I decided my reputation is worth a lot more then the amount of money involved, so I decided to make the plaques anyway so my customers get what they paid for. My customers only paid $8 for each plaque but in total there were over $200 involved. Lucky for me, a generous soul stepped forward and contributed the money for the plaques, so that helped minimize the hit on my pocket.

I know that if I ever do a run of anything again, I can be sure that my past customers will support me, and will at least recommend others to buy from me even if they don't get in on the run.

That, to me, is worth a LOT more then whatever money I lost in that deal.

[ridleyville]

Payment sent. Thanks for even wanting to continue with the project after the hassle you have had.
_________________
More human than human

[Once-bitten]

Thank YOU Ridley...I have truly been overwhelmed by the show of faith and support from everyone. Thanks to all!
More news soon!!

[svander]

2nd payment sent today. Thanks Paul.

[Once-bitten]

Thanks svander...

[thesoz]

2nd payment sent. Thanks.
_________________
"The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long."

[Once-bitten]

Thank you thesoz.

Most people have responded to my last up-date, either YES or NO.
ALL those that responded NO have been refunded their money, no questions asked...some seemed surprised to get their money back so quickly!
Some have responded that they need more time to get the final payment together and to those I have said "No problem". 30 day's is the most I can wait however and I WILL be shipping bottles in the mean time, probably starting in a week or two from when the labels arrive.
There are a few hold-outs however, those that have not responded YES or NO...that have not reponded at ALL.
I am hoping that these people are simply getting ready to contact me, one way or the other...because after another week I will simply have to refund their money as I won't be able to wait any longer to hear from them.
Thanks all again for your patience!
It's looking like there will be some extra goodies for those that stuck this out.

[megamicrofish]

[svander]

Not to put pressure or anything but any updates?

[Once-bitten]

Yup...thanks for asking.
I have finally been able to contact everyone who has purchased the bottle...Well...ALMOST everyone.
There is one fellow in Italy who won't get back to me for some reason (it's NOT Siderio) even though
I have sent him a note in Italian asking him what he would like to do.
Regardless, everyone else has contacted me with a YES or a NO.
The last step before shipping begins is to receive the label sets and then shipping will begin.
I plan to ship out bottles in order of purchase BUT I will be shipping out the "Thank-you" bottles first.
You will have an idea as to when your bottle is about to ship when you recieve a note from Pay-Pal
telling you that I have just printed a shipping label through them.
I will be letting everyone know when labels have arrived.
Very soon now...all will be wrapped up.

[jfuste]

[andy]

I can let you know for sure as a 'shipping specialist' for Fedex that bottles filled sand are actually more likely to break. The weight will make them more likely to shift and hit the sides of the packaging. Not to mention the pressure the sand it self would have on the bottle from the inside out. I have seen many of filled bottles break with sand in them as opposed to empty ones. It would help protect from compression to a degree, but should not be an issue if packed right.

When I pack a delicate bottle, even antiques I would start by bubble wrapping the entire bottle then put in a smaller box if necessary. Then put the smaller one into a larger using crumpled paper to suspend the box in the middle of the larger one. The concept is to keep it as far away from the outside of the box as possible and let the packing material take the inertia.

Also taping up all the seams and making sure their are few gaps in inside of the box will help keep it rigid and it will support a lot of compression.

Andy

[clutch]

It amazes me that people don't know how to ship stuff. I had someone ship me a 20 yr old computer in it's ORIGINAL box wrapped in brown paper! Needless to say, it was smashed up when I got it. This bottle thing is really disturbing. I mean c'mon, they are only made of GLASS!!

[SaberFreak]

[SaberFreak]

[Deckards double]

Second payment sent today, thank you. Getting close now!

[Once-bitten]

I suddenly realized I hadn't posted this pic...
The three most sought after Blade-Runner Bottles,
together again after over 25 years.


I am told there will be Label news soon!

[Once-bitten]

I wasn't able to remember where I had first recieved the querry from Scoffman concerning the Friz Vodka cap so I thought I would place my belated response here...
I looked into it and finally discovered a bottle of Friz at about the third liquer store I tried.
No good...the examples I found were stumpy and too big around compared to the Finlandia Cap and not as Metallic.
You were correct however that the price is lower than the Finlandia.
You wouln't think that with all the alchohol out there in so many wonderous varieties that there would only be these two caps as possibles for the BR Whiskey Bottle Cap...but there it is.

FRIZ CAP(I know in this pic it looks very metallic but the one I found was NOT)


Finlandia Cap.(Taller and once the two inner linings are removed, fits perfectly)
I know the back lighting makes it appear to be gold in color but it's actually silver.

I hope this answers any questions there may have been about research into the cap...
it has quite simply proven to be an easier task to match up a cap with a physical representation
of the bottle and when all has been said and done, much easier to match up a pre-made cap rather than have one custom made.

Here is the label I had made to cover the three Reindeer on the top of the Finlandia Cap...
I think you will all agree that it's quite perfect for our bottle.

[Deckards double]

Lovin´ that cap decal! perfect as you say.

[jfuste]