Very specific, but better than what I made.

January 20, 2023 5:01 PM

Hi. I have a need for a flexible, totally rimless, small plastic cup. The one I made by cutting off the end of a cylindrical shampoo bottle is perfect. I'd really, really like a more attractive version that's a) not covered in part of a shampoo label, and b) got a perfectly straight top so it looks less homemade. Current dimensions are about 2.5" diameter, 2.5-3" high. Any ideas? Color isn't that crucial, as long as it's not a dark color. My current cup is white, which is great. Not sure about transparent, but that might work.

A tiny rolled rim will not work. I need to be able to nudge <1/16-1/8" fragile creatures into the cup by gently blowing or sweeping with a powder brush; the current cup is maybe ~ 1.2mm thick.

The flexibility of the current cup is also very important - I can easily flatten the edge against a tabletop, thus aiding the process described above.

Maybe there's a measuring cup included in something that's right? Or a similar plastic bottle that's blank and that contains something I'd maybe actually use?

posted by amtho to Grab Bag (39 answers total)

One random idea is a silicone boot for a Hyrdoflask bottle.
posted by Comet Bug at 5:15 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Is there a reason to brush them into a cup rather than use an aspirator?
posted by snofoam at 5:21 PM on January 20, 2023

These "crystal cups" have a TINY lip, 3 inch high, 3.5 inch upper diameter, transparent. But it's not flexible.
posted by kschang at 5:25 PM on January 20, 2023

There are several silicone cup types that might work - silicone cupcake liners (there are a few non-fluted ones), baby training cups, measuring bowls for resin pouring.
posted by cobaltnine at 5:26 PM on January 20, 2023

Silicone measure cups are definitely soft, and being 100 ml should be quite small. There is a little bit of a lip though.
posted by kschang at 5:30 PM on January 20, 2023

Response by poster: Unfortunately, silicone might be too grippy.
posted by amtho at 5:30 PM on January 20, 2023

Going the other way, you can put a decorative label OVER your existing "cut from shampoo bottle" version. Those self-stick vinyl you can get from Dollar Tree should make it look professional enough. And cutting it NICELY is just a matter of using the right blade. :)
posted by kschang at 5:33 PM on January 20, 2023

The problem is flexibilty. Any cup that you'll get is likely to be rigid, except the silicone cups. I can find 8 oz nearly lipless clear cups, but they're rigid. And silicone cups aren't likely to be thin either.

Is there another way to collect them? Can you gather them into a small dustpan with silicone edge, or a scoop with a silicone front edge, then drop them into a container?
posted by kschang at 5:40 PM on January 20, 2023

I would just buy the perfect bottle and soak off the label. Check out shampoo, bubble bath, hand soap, body spray, etc. 30 mins wandering around a drugstore or grocery store should do it.

Or maybe the kind of bottle that you decant ketchup into? Dollar stores often have flexible cheap clear plastic squirt bottles.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:41 PM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

A lot of the "labels" are printed directly onto the plastic and requires a scrubber to get them off.
posted by kschang at 5:42 PM on January 20, 2023

Response by poster: kschang is right: unfortunately, the bottles of this type that I know of all have painted on / incorporated-into-the-plastic-somehow labels. If they had stick-on labels, believe me, I'd already have the Goo Gone in there!

I'm sure there are non-silicone items out there that are flexible. Whatever plastic the shampoo bottle is made of is one type. Maybe it's #2? There are a lot of flexible plastics out there in the world...

Also: I'm not just using these for the one purpose I described; they're used for a combination of things. Anyway, the enclosed cup shape is important to keep these tiny things from overshooting the target and just getting everywhere.
posted by amtho at 6:34 PM on January 20, 2023

Could the flexibility be eliminated if you had a flat edge (rather than rounded)? If so, you could look at finding the right shape and getting it 3-d printed. The walls could still be rounded inside to avoid inside corners. The walls would just be a bit thicker than a cup. But they could taper if you need it flush against a surface.
posted by hydra77 at 6:47 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Two thoughts:

1. Go to the dollar store and walk through their kitchen/home aisles touching all the cups and bowls until you find something that works. The plastic is likely to be quite cheap and thin.

2. Those disposable bowls that caterers use for single servings of fussy things. They're called tasting bowls. While they're not intentionally flexible, they do have a little bit of play, and they come in just about every shape you could want.
posted by phunniemee at 7:04 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Maybe these baby feeding cups? They don’t have a straight across rim, though, and the pouring side has a lip.
posted by MadamM at 7:07 PM on January 20, 2023

1. Go to the dollar store and walk through their kitchen/home aisles touching all the cups and bowls until you find something that works.

Yes! Still a homemade option, but these condiment bottles from Dollar Tree, Walmart, etc. are flexible and have no label. If you cut the top off and run the cut edge against some fine-grain sandpaper, you may get very close!
posted by mochapickle at 7:40 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Red solo cup with a cut aligned with one of the measuring lines? You're still cutting it, but maybe it will look better?
posted by Gorgik at 7:47 PM on January 20, 2023

This is not a cup but may do what you want:

Weighing Funnel

I have the 3rd one on the list... its 5/16 fl. oz. capacity is when laying on its side (it'll hold ~45 ml of water when corked and holding it spout down). It is on the stiff side of flexible but I think that is due to its shape... the .65 mm thick straight lip is easy to press flat against a table. A #5 cork fits the spout (your local hardware store likely has them with just a few to a package).
posted by tinker at 7:47 PM on January 20, 2023

Response by poster: You guys, this is totally heading in the right direction! Weighing funnels are interesting -- maybe for a future need, since my use involves the cup sitting up on a table or in a terrarium sometimes, but I think I'll probably need something like the weighing funnels sometime.

Dollar Store is a really good idea.

I like the idea of the tasting bowls (especially since they're bound to be food safe), but I really think the softer plastic is what I need.
posted by amtho at 7:54 PM on January 20, 2023

How small is too small, and is a handle a dealbreaker? The scoop in collagen powders, protein powders, etc is generally a flexible plastic cup with a handle. Vital Proteins collagen is apparently phasing out plastic scoops but that’s the one that came to mind.
posted by kapers at 8:08 PM on January 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

If you live near a food co-op or craft shop, they might have shampoo-like bottles for home cosmetics makers that are completely transparent!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 8:22 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

The clear bottles that are sold for carrying liquids in airplane carry-on luggage (ie less than 100ml) might work, if you could find some soft enough? The ones I've seen are almost always plain and clear. They're sold at dollar stores, Walmart/Target type stores, and probably even luggage stores if you wanted to get fancy. You'd still have to cut the tops off, but they'd be better than shampoo bottles.
posted by cgg at 8:35 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Something like this might work.
posted by CleverClover at 8:38 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

And of they don't need to be round, this looks good too.
posted by CleverClover at 8:44 PM on January 20, 2023

You could have one 3D printed from TPU filament (shore 95A hardness) in the exact shape of your choice.
posted by fake at 8:55 PM on January 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

How about these? They look reasonably flimsy and very much lip-free.
posted by potrzebie at 9:11 PM on January 20, 2023

Large bottle of mouthwash cap.
posted by desert exile at 9:48 PM on January 20, 2023

Specifically Scope or Tom’s brand which are white and meet all your criteria and are also used as tiny cups for mouthwashing.
posted by desert exile at 9:50 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Another thought.

A sealed bottom packaging cylinder made of acetate sheet.
posted by phunniemee at 10:13 PM on January 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

holy
what.

A little round container of binder clips! The flimsiest! Comes with its own lid! Cheap label that’s easy to remove! (I use binder clips for many things, but especially in the kitchen for bags of chips and frozen things. The mini ones aren’t *as* useful, so a tub of small or medium clips might have better use-value for contents, so long as the size of the container isn’t too unwieldy for your wee friends.)
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 11:38 PM on January 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: rrrrrrrrt (sorry if I misspelled your name) - that looks pretty cool, and I do like binder clips -- I can't tell if there's a lip on the cylinder, though. Comment?
posted by amtho at 1:00 AM on January 21, 2023

I suspect the binder clips are in a plastic packaging tube like the plastic packaging tubes I linked to: no lip, just a flexible acetate sheet, available in a variety of food safe sizes.

Another example.

posted by phunniemee at 3:32 AM on January 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

The binder clip container is a great idea. Lots of craft supplies come in that style of container, which does not have a lip. So you could go to Michael’s and wander around to find just the right thing.
posted by rockindata at 5:02 AM on January 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

The weighing funnel got me thinking about weighing boats, which are wide, shallow, flexible, with a flat edge, and white. They’re also cheap, disposable, and easy to pour from, which sounds like it would help.

In addition to a dollar store, I have found a number of useful science-adjacent items at craft stores. There might be some weird bead holder or frosting cup that just happens to suit your needs. Taking a wander there might be helpful.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:27 AM on January 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

Amazon and EBay both have a lot of scientific equipment, once you have a search term you like, browsing in there could be useful.

Can you find anyone doing similar work to talk to? The entomologists I know would mostly be happy to talk to random folks about stuff like this, although using ugly kludges that are good enough is common, so you might just find out that shampoo bottles are what everyone uses.

I might also have a go with a PVC cutter to see if it gets you a nicer edge (go slowly!)
posted by momus_window at 8:16 AM on January 21, 2023

Would these hydrapak cups work if you cut off the lip? They hold their shape but are very thin and flexible.
posted by kiripin at 12:01 AM on January 22, 2023

Can you cut the lip off of something that otherwise fills your requirements?

Or gently sand with a very fine sandpaper and then paint another shampoo bottle-end.
posted by bunderful at 6:26 AM on January 22, 2023

The container for these black Q-tips might be just the thing. It is basically the same as the binder clip container, but a little more sturdy. There is a VERY slight rim for the lid to grab which could be a deal breaker, but it is clearly shown in the pictures, so you can be the judge.
posted by TheCoug at 7:10 AM on January 22, 2023

Vanicream’s fragrance-free shampoo and conditioner have stickers instead of having the information printed on the bottle. It should have the flexibility you need, but they are a bit smaller than your standard e.g. L’oréal shampoo bottle.
posted by brook horse at 8:07 AM on January 22, 2023

Amtho, I went to 5 Below during the holidays and bought a pack of decorative foam stickers in a cylinder like that, but shorter and wider. There was absolutely no lip; it was just a plastic tube with a bottom on it. A craft or office supply store is a great suggestion for where to look.
posted by Night_owl at 12:07 PM on January 22, 2023