Which glass, formed how.
| Grade | Character | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Flint (standard clear) | Slight green edge tint; lowest cost | Mass-market bottles, amber-tinted or sprayed items where base colour is hidden |
| High-flint | Low iron, noticeably clearer | The default for skincare bottles and jars, droppers, frosted bottles |
| Super-flint (extra-flint) | Very low iron, near colourless | Premium clear serum and treatment bottles, thick-base designs |
| Crystal-white | Quartz as main raw material; highest brilliance | Fine fragrance bottles, luxury jars |
| Amber / green / opal | Coloured through the melt; amber blocks UV | Essential oils (amber, or tinted frosted), heritage apothecary lines, milk-glass jars |
| Forming method | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Blow-blow (B-B) | Gob is blown into a parison in the blank mould, transferred, then blown to shape | Narrow-neck bottles: serum, toner, dropper, roll-on |
| Narrow-neck press-and-blow (NNPB) | Plunger presses the parison, then blown; more even wall | Lightweight and thick-base bottles where wall control matters |
| Press | Plunger forms the whole piece in one mould | Wide-mouth jars, lids, thick perfume bases |
| Hand-blown | Artisan forming in a hand mould | Small runs, sculptural fragrance flacons; lower tooling cost, wider tolerances |
Machine forming on an IS (individual-section) line is the norm for cosmetics; single-, double- and triple-gob configurations set output. Every bottle passes through an annealing lehr (heating, holding and cooling zones) to remove internal stress — skipped or rushed annealing is what makes a bottle crack weeks later on the shelf, which is why internal stress is tested to GB 4545.
Standard sizes and neck finishes.
| Item | Standard values |
|---|---|
| Capacities | 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50, 55, 60, 75, 100, 110, 120, 125, 150, 200 ml |
| Narrow-neck finishes | 18/400, 20/400, 22/400 (dropper, orifice reducer, treatment pump) |
| Wide-mouth jars | Ø33, Ø38, Ø43, Ø48, Ø63, Ø70, Ø83, Ø89, Ø100 mm |
| Tubular vials | Ø10, Ø15, Ø20, Ø25, Ø30 mm (drawn tube, ampoules and samples) |
| Perfume | FEA 15 crimp neck; 15/415 and 18/415 screw; sprayer 12.5-24 mm, 0.1-0.2 ml per shot |
| Shapes | Cylinder, oval, flat (Boston), faceted, tapered; avoid sharp internal corners, which concentrate stress |
| Design checks | Brim-full vs fill-line capacity with headspace for expansion; internal pressure; label panel flatness; base stability on a high-speed filling line |
Pairing logic: solid balms in wide-mouth jars with a metallised aluminium or plastic cap; emulsions and water-phase products in narrow-neck bottles with a pump or dropper; if a plain cap is used, a small-orifice plug for thin liquids and a large-orifice plug for thicker lotions. Essential oils go in amber or tinted frosted glass with a tamper-ring cap, plug or dropper. Full neck-drawing notation is on our neck finish and closure page.
MOQ, lead time and mould cost.
| Item | Industry floor / typical value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| MOQ, made-to-order (no stock) | 30,000 to 100,000-200,000 pcs | Furnace runs continuously; the item must justify a machine changeover |
| MOQ, stock bottle | Low thousands | Public mould; decoration MOQ applies instead |
| Lead time | 30-60 days from mould approval | Larger runs give more stable quality as the machine settles |
| Hand mould | RMB 2,500 ≈ USD 350 per set | Artisan and low-volume flacons |
| Automatic mould | RMB 4,000 ≈ USD 555 per cavity | IS-machine production |
| 4-8 cavity automatic set | RMB 16,000-32,000 ≈ USD 2,200-4,450 | Depends on factory; lowers unit price on large runs |
| Weight & logistics | Heavy, fragile | Internal suspension packing; breakage allowance agreed up front |
RMB figures are converted at 7.2 and marked approx.; they move with the exchange rate and the factory. We source as a partner with vetted partner factories rather than promising a single floor — for what the routes actually look like at small volume, see real minimum order quantities by route.
Decoration pricing, inks, and the two-factory structure.
| Process | Typical add-on cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spray coating | RMB 0.5-1.1 ≈ USD 0.07-0.15 per bottle | By coverage area and colour-matching difficulty; opaque, translucent, gradient |
| Silk-screen | RMB 0.1 ≈ USD 0.014 per colour per bottle | Cylinder = one colour; shaped bottle counted as two or more |
| Hot-stamp | RMB 0.4 ≈ USD 0.055 per design | Foil gold, silver, colours; strong on logos |
| Frosting (acid-etch) | Per bottle, by size | Frost stops below the thread; bright-spot limits apply |
| Vacuum metallising, electroplating | Per bottle, ~6 h cycle | No mould cost; outer components and caps |
| Pass limit | — | Silk-screen + hot-stamp: no more than 2 passes in total; more colours mean more rejects and cost |
High-temperature vs low-temperature ink. High-temperature silk-screen inks are fired into the surface: they do not rub off, but shades are duller and purples are hard to match. Low-temperature inks are brighter and need a good ink system, otherwise they peel — and they must be considered when the bottle is sterilised or alcohol-wiped. Tell us the formula and the decoration and we will say which is safe.
Front-end forming, back-end decoration. The glass industry is split between forming factories (melting and moulding the bare bottle) and decoration factories (spraying, metallising, printing, hot-stamping). Some large plants run both under one roof; most do not. A bare bottle typically travels from one to the other, so a glass quote has two lead times and two quality gates inside it — a fact worth knowing when a date is promised. International groups such as Piramal (India) and Bormioli (Italy) operate in China alongside domestic formers and decorators.
Defect allowances, print position and standards.
| Check | Front (A) face | Other faces / notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coloured specks | 1-2 of Ø ≤0.5 mm, not clustered, not on logo or artwork | 2-3 of Ø ≤0.5 mm |
| Bubbles | 1-2 of Ø ≤0.5 mm | Up to 3 of Ø ≤1 mm; no broken bubbles |
| Sand pits | 1-2 of Ø ≤0.5 mm | Up to 3 of Ø ≤1 mm |
| Stones / black spots | None over 1 mm (≤2 at 1 mm with no surrounding crack) | None on the sealing land or thread; clear jars: no black spots |
| Frosting | No bright spots | Sides ≤5 bright spots of ≤0.8 mm; base ≤5 of ≤1.0 mm; frost stops below thread root |
| Print position, under 30 ml | Vertical ±0.5 mm, tilt ±0.25 mm | — |
| Print position, 30 ml and over | Vertical ±0.75 mm, tilt ±0.25 mm | — |
| Removable soiling | One pass of a 75% alcohol cloth removes it without damaging the finish | Otherwise a defect |
| Test | Standard / method | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Thermal shock | GB/T 4547: 55°C water bath 15 min → 20°C water 20 min | No cracking |
| Internal stress (annealing) | GB 4545, polariscope | Within grade; no residual stress bands |
| Inner-surface water resistance | GB/T 4548 | Within hydrolytic class for cosmetic contact |
| Impact resistance | GB 6652 | No breakage at rated energy |
| Thermal cycling, filled | Oven 48±2°C, 48 h; freezer -5 to -15°C, 48 h | No cracking, leakage or decoration change after room-temperature recovery |
| Seal (jars, colour-water) | 3/4 filled with dyed water, lying and inverted, -0.06 MPa, 5 min | No dye outside the seal area |
| Decoration adhesion | 3M 600 tape over print and hot-stamp, pulled at 45° | No lift; hot-stamp loss ≤0.5 mm² |
| Heavy metals | Third-party laboratory report | Report on file; EU 94/62/EC ≤100 ppm for packaging |
| Drop, capped and filled | 1.5 m at 45° onto concrete (with closure) | No functional damage; breakage allowance agreed for transit |
Inspection is done under a 100 W cool-white lamp at 50-55 cm (500-550 lux), 30-35 cm from the eye, at 45±15° for no more than 12 seconds per piece — the same conditions as the rest of our published QC standards. Partner factories operate to ISO 22716 / GMP and every order carries a signed golden sample and the four inspection gates.
Frequently asked
Send us the spec, we will source against it.
Send capacity, neck finish, glass grade and decoration, plus your quantity. We come back with the stock-versus-custom route, mould and decoration costs in USD, and the QC limits written into the quote.
Related reading.
- Glass bottles — the product range this reference sits behind.
- Perfume bottles — crystal-white glass, FEA 15 crimp necks and sprayers.
- Dropper bottles — 18/400 and 20/400 glass with pipette assemblies.
- Neck finish & closure standards — the T/E/I/S/X drawing notation and torque thresholds.
- QC standards with the numbers — four gates, golden sample and the laboratory battery.
- Real minimum order quantities, by route — stock glass versus private-mould glass, honestly compared.