How to build a folding perfumer's organ

This organ has been designed for traveling and to allow me to keep on composing perfumes when I am away from my base, this has conditioned the choice of the materials used to build it. The organ should be as light as possible and occupy as little space as possible.

The bottles are medium-small, 5 milliliters, and the rows that will hold them are in aluminium. the first thing to do is to cut them all at the same size for the number of bottles that you want to hold in each row. Don’t forget to calculate the thickness of your labels, they will change completely the measurement of 10 or 20 bottles. See at the bottom of the page how to make your labels.

The second step is to cut small pieces of wood in the right size so that your bottles will fit perfectly in the row once the wooden pieces are fixed with screws or nails to the aluminium frames.
You should prepare small holes at the right place, on the side of all your aluminium frames, so that they will be mounted quickly.

This time, do not count the thickness of the labels when you cut the wooden pieces, because it is better that the walls of the row will fit directly on the strong glass rather than on soft labels, and also because you will need the bottom free space of the bottle to heat with cigarette lighter your difficult absolutes (cistus, oak moss, tobacco, etc…) easily.

If your rows are long (which means less work) you should rivet them in the middle to ensure that the bottles will not be loose in that place. The small copper screws used for fixing the frame are perfect for this.

Now your rows are made, the next step is to fit them all into a wooden frame.

This is a delicate operation, you will fit the rows into the frame filled with the bottles, and fix them temporarily with a nail that will act as an axe on which the rows can turn.

Start with the upper row filled with bottles, fix it on the frame with the nails, take the bottles away, fill the second row with these bottles, and fix it. Go ahead until all your rows are fixed.
In order to allow the rows to rotate perfectly when they are all filled with bottles, you can momentarily insert an aluminium piece between the top of the bottles and the row over it when you nail them, to allow a small space to remain.

Finish your frame, replace the nails with some screws, and fix some legs to it.

Your organ is ready to receive the bottles, you just need to fix a handle on the top to carry it and make a simple cover to protect the bottles from falling off when you go around perfuming courts and bazaars.

For the box, I use wooden frames for paintings and thin plywood. Your suitcase is ready.

I usually cover the plywood with some Kilem or brocade cloth, but I think I shall use thin leather for this organ.

The bottles inside are in the vertical position and occupy the minimum space, but when you open your organ for working, you just rotate the rows and all your scents are ready at hand. 144 bottles easy to use, transport and store.