I’ve read a couple of articles in magazines about artisan salts. I checked out a few websites, and was intrigued by the variety available. I wanted to buy some for my dad for a gift, but everything was so expensive! My solution … Make my own gift sets!.
I found an incredible resource for bulk spices: World Spice in Seattle – http://www.worldspice.com/. This is a great website with a huge variety of spices and spice blends. You can buy just a small quantity and the shipping is fairly reasonable. You can pay $2 extra to receive the spices in a bottle, but I just went for the bulk plastic.
I received my spices, and planned to go to a craft store for some tins. I ended up finding another fabulous Seattle resource for bottles & tins: http://www.specialtybottle.com/. They have those little metal tins with clear lids starting at about $.60. They also have some cool jars that are great for your spiced nuts or spice blends to give as Christmas gifts.
I think I ordered about 4 oz of most of the spices, and bought 4 oz tins. Depending on what type of set you want to assemble, you can buy a larger quantity of spices and assemble several sets for a reasonable price.