Impression Stamps For Polymer Clay – Stampies
Video #707: A new 3D Printer product for stamping polymer clay… from the Pagden Brothers who are based out of the UK.
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IN THIS POST: — stampies — simple konstruct — impression stamps — rubber stamps — design stamps — designs — patterns — impressions — 3d printing — uk — mitch pagden — pillars of creation — ancient origins — hieroglyphs — egypt — war and peace — valhalla — runes — smooth geometry — graphic — shapes — souffle polymer clay — texture stamps — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Today I will demo a new design tool for polymer clay made in the UK, called Stampies.
I was contacted by Mitch and his brother from SimpleKontruct, the makers of Stampies. They said they have been subscribers to our YouTube channel for over a year and really appreciated the info that we share. Together they have created some new design stamps for polymer clay, and asked if I was interested in testing them out, and of course I said “Yes!“
They currently have 6 sets of Stampies (they sent me five of them) with unique designs ranging from geometric patterns to complex symbols and images. The design sets I have, include… Ancient Origins, Valhalla, Smooth Geometry, War and Peace, and Pillars of Creation.
There are 10 designs in each set, except the Ancient Origins, which has 11 designs. The full sets are nicely packaged in a black matchbox, with a pamphlet and tiny cotton swabs for cleaning the stamps with Isopropyl Alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol). DO NOT use Acetone on these stamps because it will damage the plastic.
The Stampies are created using a special 3-D Printer technology that is very fine without the heavy lines of a regular 3-D Printer.
The Stampie designs are nice and deep, so they are excellent for using in techniques such as mokume gane and mica shift, but are of course useful in all kinds of different polymer clay projects as well.
Because the designs are deep and some are quite intricate, it is a good idea to use a release such as water or cornstarch on these stamps to avoid clay getting stuck in the deep crevices of the Stampies.
You can buy each design separately at a reasonable cost, or buy multiples in a set for a better price.
Overall I really like these stamps, though I would suggest that the company give names to each of the designs (especially those in the Ancient Origins and Valhalla Sets), and an explanation as to what each symbol is and what it means, as well as which way is up, so that the user knows what it is that they are using in their work.
ADDENDUM: From the looks of it, the Stampies products are no longer selling under the SimpleKontruct brand. It appears they have been selling them under the TinyGooUK shop name on Etsy in the past year (2021), but the shop had no current listings (Aug 2021).
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today’s PcT Product Demo, we’re
00:00:08 –> 00:00:16 talking about a new product called Stampies, and it is a design tool for Polymer Clay that
00:00:16 –> 00:00:18 is made in the UK.
00:00:18 –> 00:00:27 Now a little while ago, the owners of Stampies, his name is Mitch, and he has his brother…I’m
00:00:27 –> 00:00:31 actually not sure what his brother’s name is, but they contacted me, I guess they’ve
00:00:31 –> 00:00:38 been…they have been subscribers to our Youtube Channel for more than a year, and they really
00:00:38 –> 00:00:41 enjoy the stuff that we’re doing here, and they said they had this new product they wanted
00:00:41 –> 00:00:45 me to test and could they send me some, so of course, I said yes.
00:00:45 –> 00:00:52 So let me just show it to you, it is quite a unique product, now, here…first of all,
00:00:52 –> 00:00:56 I’m gonna show you the packaging…I’ve got 5 different sets here, they actually only
00:00:56 –> 00:01:07 carry 6 full sets of the Stampies lines, now if you get a full set, that has 10 designs
00:01:07 –> 00:01:15 in it, they’ll come in a box like this which is really a nice package and it is quite cute
00:01:15 –> 00:01:20 when you open it up, they’ve got a pamphlet on the inside here with some instructions
00:01:20 –> 00:01:25 and basic information on how to use them and everything.
00:01:25 –> 00:01:30 And then, they’ve got the little Stampies inside, now, they’ve got these really cute
00:01:30 –> 00:01:38 little…they look like tiny little swords but they’re really sharp pointy little cotton
00:01:38 –> 00:01:45 swabs that you can dip in rubbing alcohol, and…to clean out the tools if you need to,
00:01:45 –> 00:01:50 but I’ve found you don’t need to clean out the tool if you make sure they’re wet first
00:01:50 –> 00:01:53 before you push them into the Polymer Clay.
00:01:53 –> 00:02:00 Now each…he’s got several different sets, this set happens to be the…which one is
00:02:00 –> 00:02:05 this one, this is called Pillars of Creation, and they’re quite unique, he’s got a bunch
00:02:05 –> 00:02:14 of different kind of styles, but this one’s got a design on each end…if you buy them
00:02:14 –> 00:02:19 one at a time, you will just get a stamp with only one design on it, but if you buy more
00:02:19 –> 00:02:25 than one pattern, he’ll put two on the same stick, so this is really considered two tools,
00:02:25 –> 00:02:28 but they put them on the same stick, which just saves on the packaging, and you know,
00:02:28 –> 00:02:30 your storage and everything.
00:02:30 –> 00:02:36 So this is a set that has 10 different patterns on it, and I’ll actually show you how they
00:02:36 –> 00:02:39 work and press them into the clay, and then I’ll show you some of the other designs as
00:02:39 –> 00:02:40 well.
00:02:40 –> 00:02:46 And if you get them wet, and I just do it by dipping into some water, you can press
00:02:46 –> 00:02:55 into the clay, they’ve got a very deep design here, so you can press down quite deeply,
00:02:55 –> 00:03:00 depending on the design… now this one has quite a bit of flat area to it, so it won’t
00:03:00 –> 00:03:08 push down into the clay quite as easily, but if it’s got a cut open area, like this one
00:03:08 –> 00:03:15 here, then when you press into the clay, it presses down quite far, there’s less resistance
00:03:15 –> 00:03:20 obviously, and that one’s kind of a neat one, it has a half circle that pops up…out to
00:03:20 –> 00:03:22 the side.
00:03:22 –> 00:03:32 Here’s a kind of a flower design on that side, these stamps are great for all kinds of different
00:03:32 –> 00:03:38 Polymer Clay projects, but they would work really well for techniques like Mica shift
00:03:38 –> 00:03:46 or Mokume Gane that kind of thing, and they’re very, very deep like I said, so you can get
00:03:46 –> 00:03:51 the pattern in quite…quite far in.
00:03:51 –> 00:03:57 Now these are printed using a 3D Printer, but apparently… and I don’t know much about
00:03:57 –> 00:04:05 3D printing, but apparently, it’s a different type of 3D printer that does very, very fine
00:04:05 –> 00:04:10 printing, and you can tell because there’s really no ridges or lines in the printing
00:04:10 –> 00:04:15 of this, which would make a big difference if you had a regular 3D printer trying to
00:04:15 –> 00:04:22 make stamps with it, you would…the clay would really grab on it, but these do really
00:04:22 –> 00:04:24 well in the clay.
00:04:24 –> 00:04:33 Here’s the last design of that set, and you can…here I’ll just dab that off, oh and
00:04:33 –> 00:04:39 one thing, if you are going to be doing this into Fimo clay, Fimo doesn’t like water that
00:04:39 –> 00:04:46 much, it kinda makes it sticky, so if you were to put some cornstarch or something like
00:04:46 –> 00:04:51 that on your clay first and then press down into it with the stamps then it wouldn’t stick.
00:04:51 –> 00:04:58 And let me just show you some of the patterns, now, each of the sets…like this one looks
00:04:58 –> 00:05:04 like it has a lot more designs to it, but they’re a little bit wider, so they just kinda
00:05:04 –> 00:05:10 stretched out further, this set is called Ancient Origins… it does have one extra
00:05:10 –> 00:05:17 piece to it which is this one here, and I’m not totally sure what this is for other than
00:05:17 –> 00:05:25 maybe pressing that down, and then putting like 3 of the patterns inside of it, and the
00:05:25 –> 00:05:29 patterns are really quite unique, like I’ve said, really neat designs.
00:05:29 –> 00:05:37 This set here is called Valhalla, and they kind of have a rune pattern to them…one
00:05:37 –> 00:05:42 thing I wish that they had was some explanation as to what these patterns were, and I did
00:05:42 –> 00:05:46 mention that and maybe they can do that in the future…say what each of these patterns
00:05:46 –> 00:05:51 mean, and then…you know give them a name, and also which direction they’re supposed
00:05:51 –> 00:05:55 to go, I have no idea if I have any of these patterns upside down or the right way because
00:05:55 –> 00:05:59 I don’t know what they are, but they’re really very cool looking.
00:05:59 –> 00:06:05 Now this set here is called Smooth Geometry, and it’s a little more basic, it’s got,
00:06:05 –> 00:06:08 you know, circles and squares, stars that kind of thing.
00:06:08 –> 00:06:16 And then this set here is called War and Peace and it’s got some really neat ones in here,
00:06:16 –> 00:06:21 they’ve even got like a radiation symbol which I think is kinda funky.
00:06:21 –> 00:06:26 And then this last set I just stamped out for you is…oh I see I didn’t even do a
00:06:26 –> 00:06:31 straight line, it’s called Pillars of Creation, and I’m not totally sure why it’s called that
00:06:31 –> 00:06:36 either, but it’s got some really great designs in it as well.
00:06:36 –> 00:06:41 Now the clay that I was stamping into is called… this is Soufflé Clay and the color is called
00:06:41 –> 00:06:47 Pesto, and Soufflé Clay is nice to stamp into because it has quite a…it’s not a very
00:06:47 –> 00:06:53 sticky clay, so it releases from your stamps really well.
00:06:53 –> 00:07:00 Now the other thing I was reading about these stamps is that you don’t wanna use acetone
00:07:00 –> 00:07:05 on them, I guess that will be very hard on the plastic, and anyone that’s ever used acetone
00:07:05 –> 00:07:10 on Polymer Clay knows that you can remove fingerprints from baked Polymer Clay with
00:07:10 –> 00:07:15 acetone, so I’m guessing it’s a plastic issue, probably it just eats at the plastic, so make
00:07:15 –> 00:07:21 sure not to use acetone or fingernail polish remover, or anything like that on them, just
00:07:21 –> 00:07:24 rubbing alcohol or water.
00:07:24 –> 00:07:32 Now as far as places you can get them, he’s got a website at SimpleKonstruct.co.uk, ‘cause
00:07:32 –> 00:07:37 they’re out of the UK, or you can also get them at his store…or their store, it’s
00:07:37 –> 00:07:43 the brothers’ store, at Simple Konstruct on Etsy, and they are quite reasonably priced,
00:07:43 –> 00:07:48 if you buy one image at a time, they’re kinda in the $2 per image range, and if you buy
00:07:48 –> 00:07:53 the full set, it’s about $20, that kind of thing.
00:07:53 –> 00:07:59 So do check them out, they are a really neat product, I do really love how different the
00:07:59 –> 00:08:04 designs are from what I’ve seen out there, and how deep they are, because that makes
00:08:04 –> 00:08:12 a big difference when you’re doing something like Mokume Gane for example or for doing
00:08:12 –> 00:08:18 Mica shift and that kind of thing, ‘cause some rubber stamps just don’t go in very deeply,
00:08:18 –> 00:08:22 and they’re harder to do those types of techniques with and these ones will work quite well for
00:08:22 –> 00:08:24 that, alright?
00:08:24 –> 00:08:29 So I hope that was helpful for you, if it was, do let us know if you liked this video.
00:08:29 –> 00:08:35 And if you’ve got a product that you would like to learn more about or have us demo,
00:08:35 –> 00:08:39 do leave those suggestions in the comment section below.
00:08:39 –> 00:08:46 And we have done absolutely tons and tons of videos, so we might have the answer to
00:08:46 –> 00:08:49 any of your Polymer Clay questions that you might have.
00:08:49 –> 00:08:54 But if we haven’t done a video yet, you can leave suggestions for those as well, alright?
00:08:54 –> 00:08:56 So we’ll see you next time and bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Etsy: Stampies on TinyGooUK **
- Etsy: Kor-Tools Rollers and Stamps **
- Related Video: An Easier Way To Do Polymer Clay Mica Shifts
- Related Video: Faux Metal Mokume Gane
- Related Video: Sculpey Souffle Polymer Clay Product Review
- Related Video: Kor-Tools Pattern Rollers And Stamps
- Related Video: Custom Die Stamps For Polymer Clay
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Cindy, I love the way the stampies imprint such a deep design. There are certainly many many possibilities with this technique. Most of the symbols are foreign to me and I probably would not purchase a set but perhaps as the guys expand their business they would do more research into what clayers (most of us are women) really like. For example Fancy Alphabets, figures, more generic symbols we would use in our PC art like stars, moons, favorite icons etc; the list is endless. Thanks for the demo and please thank “the guys” for generously donating them so you could show us the possibilities.
How cool, I knew you guys would come in here and add some great info and ideas! Thank you!
Hi Cindy. Super excited about the new Stampies and glad to know they are made here in the U.K.
I have made sets of Runes in the distant past from Wood and used my pyrograpy machine to burn on the symbols. I did make one set using the blue granite polymer clay and took ages carving all the symbols. So will hunt out my chart.
As you say, it would have been a good idea to mark the top of the stamp somehow and also supply an explanation for each stamp If you invert the symbol it changes it’s meaning.
I will certainly look into buying the Valhalla set, although a set of ten is not quite enough.
The modern rune set consists of 24 symbols. These are devided into three sets of eight.
The first is associated with the deities Frey and Freya, the second Heimdall and the third Tyr.
According to Norse legend, the god Odin hung upside down from Yggdrasil (the great World Tree) for nine days and nights in order to receive the runes, which he gave to his people as a gift.
Such a shame they did not make the full set of 24.( You will have to mention that when in contact with the guys)…………….cheers xx…………………….
Hi Cindy,
‘Ancient Origins’ seems to be egyptian hieroglyphs. The oval was named ‘cartouche’. It defined a new word when surrounded single symbols. But I neither know in which direction they were used nor what their name or sense was.
‘Valhalla’ looks like old german runes. They could be written horizontally and vertically and had a differant/ negative meaning when they were used upside down. Valhalla was the name of the hall of the God Odin where the dead warriors and heros had gathered to prepare for the final war at the end of time.
Actually I can’t tell you what’s the meaning of the signs in detail. Surely you will find further information on wiki**dia. I wonder if the manufacturer themselves know about the translation of the icons. ;-)
Best regards,
Pet Cat
The manufacturers are two young men whose interests were previously in interesting fantasy creatures – see here: Deviant Art – thus their interest in history and myth. The creatures have been made in polymer clay thus their interest in our medium. They have recognised the possibilities for development of tools for polymer clayers.
Cindy – my clayday people have been playing with the stampies and have produced lots of interesting results – and I now have them in stock. I, to, was not happy about the names of the sets so have renamed them (with Mitche’s agreement) – I have called them Ancient origins, Smooth Geometry, ‘creation’, ‘graphically yours’ and heartfelt signs. The Christmas set I have called ‘Christmas fun’, They are, as you say, deep and useful for so many designs.
I still watch what you are up to after all these years Cindy!
That’s great Penny, thanks for passing that along!
Wow, these look really neat Cindy and I will check them out.
Gamers will recognize many of the symbols so check with your son if he is a Gamer.
3 D laser printers have sure helped we clayers with so many of the new products such as the Lucy Clay tools cutters, which I hope you will be reviewing soon..
Very cool Lawrence, I hadn’t thought of asking Fisher… he might know. I have seen some of those LC Cutters… I’ll have to look into them for a possible review. Thanks for the suggestion!