Kor-Tools Pattern Rollers & Stamps for Polymer Clay
Video #652: Deep crisp designs scored into hard acrylic plastic rods. The quality and uniqueness of this product is top notch.
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IN THIS POST: — kor tools — texture rollers — pattern rollers — stamps — acrylic roller — textures — patterns — pmc — precious metal clay — pottery — cnc router — cnc machine — polyform — texture stamps — texture rollers — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Today I will be demonstrating how to use pattern rollers and stamps from Kor Tools.
Acrylic Rollers and stamps developed for Jewelry Artists working in PMC (Precious Metal Clay) and Polymer Clays.
Rick McKinney is the owner of Kor Tools. He is a pottery artist himself and has designed many wooden pattern rollers for use with earthen clays.
He has now ventured into acrylic rollers that can be used with polymer clay and PMC.
The rollers are tiny 5 cm x 10 mm with very deep and detailed continuous patterns.
Rick currently carries 41 pattern rollers and 191 stamps.
The patterns are wonderfully detailed, with geometric, botanical, nautical and lots of other fantastic and very usable designs.
Each roller and stamp is carved out individually with a CNC machine. The actual process of creating a roller is stamp is very precise, but also time-consuming.
I show examples of 20 different roller patterns and 20 different stamps in samples of Souffle polymer clay.
When using the rollers and stamps, you should first get them wet with water to keep clay from sticking.
Stamp patterns are approximately 1 cm x 1 cm and highly detailed. They are deeply etched and cut away from the edges, so they won’t leave ‘stamp rings’ or marks around the edges when stamped into clay.
These stamps are far crisper, deeper, and more detailed than any rubber stamp that I’ve seen on the market.
These KorTools Stamps are great for imprinting onto beads, as I show in the video.
I also demo how to use the Palm Frond Roller on a sheet of polymer clay.
These stamps and rollers are a little bit on the expensive side at $9.95 per roller and $3.95 per stamp… but in my opinion, they are well worth the price for quality, usability and uniqueness of designs.
The number of designs and the higher price means that your pieces will be much more unique, and you won’t see everyone with the same design as you.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:07 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today’s PCT Product Demo, I’m gonna
00:00:07 –> 00:00:14 show you some really neat texture rollers and stamps from Kor Tools, and they have tools
00:00:14 –> 00:00:19 for jewelry artists and working with PMC and Polymer Clay.
00:00:19 –> 00:00:27 Now the owner of Kor Tools, his name is Rick, and he is a pottery artist who has invented
00:00:27 –> 00:00:32 all sorts of different clay rollers, mostly with wood and stuff, but he has now ventured
00:00:32 –> 00:00:38 into a new acrylic roller and they are really, really neat.
00:00:38 –> 00:00:43 They’re tiny little rollers for rolling onto your Polymer Clay or PMC if you worked with
00:00:43 –> 00:00:49 that and I’m just gonna show you some of them…how they work, but they’re tiny little rollers
00:00:49 –> 00:00:53 with a texture pattern on them, and when you roll them across your Polymer Clay, you get
00:00:53 –> 00:00:56 these wonderful different textures.
00:00:56 –> 00:01:03 He has a ton of different patterns, he has like 41 different rollers, and I have quite
00:01:03 –> 00:01:08 a few of them here, there’s about 25 of them here, and you can see, they are a continuous
00:01:08 –> 00:01:11 pattern and I’ll just show you some of the different designs.
00:01:11 –> 00:01:21 He has all kinds of geometric type designs, designs that… like this one has like little
00:01:21 –> 00:01:30 sea fish…I mean star fish and regular fish, all kinds of little sea shells and things.
00:01:30 –> 00:01:39 This one has like a flower pattern, and they’re delicate and detailed, really unique ‘cause
00:01:39 –> 00:01:46 he has…these are his own patterns that he cuts out with a computer, and a machine I
00:01:46 –> 00:01:50 think it’s called a C and C Machine, don’t know a lot about that industry, but it’s really
00:01:50 –> 00:01:51 cool.
00:01:51 –> 00:02:00 There’s a bunch of little stars and things, here’s some more geometric type patterns,
00:02:00 –> 00:02:08 and when you go to his website… it’s at KorTools.com, you can see all the different
00:02:08 –> 00:02:09 patterns.
00:02:09 –> 00:02:15 But they’re really wonderful ‘cause they’re delicate, some of them…
00:02:15 –> 00:02:20 most of these patterns are raised images, which is different than most of the texture
00:02:20 –> 00:02:22 patterns that you see out there.
00:02:22 –> 00:02:28 This one is really neat, it’s got little tiny little dragonflies all over it; they would
00:02:28 –> 00:02:39 make beautiful backgrounds, if you’re making Polymer Clay like the hollow beads…
00:02:39 –> 00:02:45 Lentil shapes, they’d be perfect on there; they would make wonderful pendant backgrounds
00:02:45 –> 00:02:49 and all kinds of different techniques.
00:02:49 –> 00:02:53 I just wanted to flip through them here and show you all the different patterns, this
00:02:53 –> 00:02:59 one here and this one…oh here I’ll leave it down here, this one here and the one right
00:02:59 –> 00:03:07 beside it are very similar only this one has… it’s kind of like a stone type pattern, but
00:03:07 –> 00:03:12 the pebbles are quite a bit separated than the other one.
00:03:12 –> 00:03:17 This one has kind of a stained glass look to it, I can’t remember the names to them
00:03:17 –> 00:03:20 all, so sorry about that but there’s so many of them.
00:03:20 –> 00:03:27 This one has like little sharks on it, it’s quite cool, I absolutely love this one, it’s
00:03:27 –> 00:03:34 like Palm fronds, and I could just see this design here just rubbed with a little bit
00:03:34 –> 00:03:39 of PearlEx powder, something like that or Inka Gold on the surfaces, I think it’s just
00:03:39 –> 00:03:41 stunning.
00:03:41 –> 00:03:47 This one here has kind of a ripple-y effect to it, it’s almost an illusion…optical type
00:03:47 –> 00:03:53 illusion, here’s a swirl kind of one, and this one is some sort of…
00:03:53 –> 00:03:59 I don’t know if it’s a skin pattern or what it is, I can’t remember what it is, but
00:03:59 –> 00:04:03 these are really neat to use, I’ll show you how to use them in a second.
00:04:03 –> 00:04:11 He also has a bunch of stamps, so you can individually stamp the piece, and I’ll show
00:04:11 –> 00:04:19 you the patterns that I have here, and what is really neat about these particular stamps,
00:04:19 –> 00:04:24 is that they are very, very detailed, and you can’t really get this type of sharp detail
00:04:24 –> 00:04:28 on a rubber stamp if you were to press it into the clay.
00:04:28 –> 00:04:35 Like for example, this little tiny stamp here, it’s only 1 centimeter by 1 centimeter, it
00:04:35 –> 00:04:43 is the double happiness symbol…Chinese symbol, you wouldn’t be able to get that type of detail
00:04:43 –> 00:04:50 in any kind of rubber stamp, it’s just really sharp and crisp and really beautiful looking.
00:04:50 –> 00:04:57 Now, the stamps, you just…you can stamp right into the clay, I’m just gonna dip it
00:04:57 –> 00:05:01 into some water first, just to keep it from sticking in there… into the detail, but
00:05:01 –> 00:05:03 you can stamp right in.
00:05:03 –> 00:05:09 But what’s neat about it is the way they’re cut back, you don’t end up getting that ring
00:05:09 –> 00:05:15 around the outside and they’re quite deep here, so you don’t end up leaving marks on
00:05:15 –> 00:05:16 your clay.
00:05:16 –> 00:05:19 You could also use, they have quite a few…
00:05:19 –> 00:05:25 I guess there’s like a 191 of the stamp designs, there are some really funky ones, but you
00:05:25 –> 00:05:30 could use like a geometric type one or this one is a flower, and you could press it in
00:05:30 –> 00:05:36 and you could also use it like a pattern, so like a border or whatever you wanted, and
00:05:36 –> 00:05:41 because the way the edges are carved, you can see right where the edge is and easily
00:05:41 –> 00:05:46 line it up and plan out your pattern.
00:05:46 –> 00:05:49 For the rollers…here I’ll just push these out of the way… and before I go on without
00:05:49 –> 00:05:55 the stamps, you could use these stamps on a bead, they’re really easy and because that…
00:05:55 –> 00:06:00 you can get such a nice, deep impression, you could stamp both sides without losing
00:06:00 –> 00:06:02 the impression, and I’ll show you what I mean.
00:06:02 –> 00:06:09 Okay, so let’s just grab something here, here’s a turtle, if I press this into a kind of a
00:06:09 –> 00:06:20 flat bead here to start off with, I can press quite a deep image into here, into this one
00:06:20 –> 00:06:26 side, and because it’s so deep, I’m not going to lose it when I go to press it on the other
00:06:26 –> 00:06:34 side, and I can get an image… a nice image on both sides of the bead…this one and this
00:06:34 –> 00:06:38 side, you could do all kinds of things, you could press those stamps into the edges and
00:06:38 –> 00:06:39 everything else.
00:06:39 –> 00:06:48 But let me just quickly show you how to use one of the rollers, we can use this one here,
00:06:48 –> 00:06:50 the Palm frond one, it’s really beautiful.
00:06:50 –> 00:06:56 I like to stick it down a little bit to a surface because it will roll away on you a
00:06:56 –> 00:07:02 bit if you don’t, and I’m just gonna dip the whole stamp into some water first just to
00:07:02 –> 00:07:04 keep it from sticking.
00:07:04 –> 00:07:09 And you may wanna practice a few times because it takes a little bit to get it even, but
00:07:09 –> 00:07:15 you just roll it across the clay pressing down and you could go as long as you wanted
00:07:15 –> 00:07:22 to, and see how beautiful that is…
00:07:22 –> 00:07:27 I’ll just wipe off the water here, and see how beautiful that impression is all the way
00:07:27 –> 00:07:28 across.
00:07:28 –> 00:07:34 If you wanted to do several rows, you just have to roll across the…you know, however
00:07:34 –> 00:07:39 many times you wanted to, some patterns would be easier to match up than others, this one
00:07:39 –> 00:07:43 would be easy to match up ‘cause it has a lot of open space to it.
00:07:43 –> 00:07:49 But you could use this for like I said, beads, you could also use this for putting around
00:07:49 –> 00:07:55 a picture frame, doing box lids and all kinds of beautiful things, so I’m really looking
00:07:55 –> 00:08:01 forward to playing with these patterns and putting them in designs.
00:08:01 –> 00:08:10 They are a little bit on the expensive side, the pattern rollers are $10 or $9.95 and the
00:08:10 –> 00:08:18 stamps are $4 each, but what I think is just fine about that is that the quality is so
00:08:18 –> 00:08:29 high, the detail is so…it’s so fine and detailed…that because it is a little bit
00:08:29 –> 00:08:33 more on the expensive side, not everybody’s gonna have one, so if you go to make your
00:08:33 –> 00:08:38 jewelry with this and you list it in Etsy, you’re not gonna have a whole bunch of people
00:08:38 –> 00:08:43 with exactly the same pattern as you.
00:08:43 –> 00:08:48 And he’s got so many different patterns and can add new ones in the future that you’re
00:08:48 –> 00:08:53 going to have a more unique and a quality look to your piece, and I just thought I’d
00:08:53 –> 00:08:58 point that out if you go to take a look at them, you may just wanna add some of these
00:08:58 –> 00:08:59 to your collection.
00:08:59 –> 00:09:06 So go check him out, he’s got it…his site is at KorTools.com and he’s got some beautiful
00:09:06 –> 00:09:12 patterns there that you may just want to add to your Polymer Clay collection.
00:09:12 –> 00:09:19 So I hope that was helpful for you, and if it was, do let us know if you like this video.
00:09:19 –> 00:09:25 Also if you’ve got any suggestions, things that you would like to see in future videos,
00:09:25 –> 00:09:26 let us know.
00:09:26 –> 00:09:32 And if you’ve got questions for anything to do with Polymer Clay, there is a pretty good
00:09:32 –> 00:09:37 chance we’ve already done a video on it, so go check that out and search it out.
00:09:37 –> 00:09:42 And if you don’t find what you need, leave us a comment and we will see if we can add
00:09:42 –> 00:09:44 it to our list of future videos.
00:09:44 –> 00:09:49 Alright, so we’ll see you later, bye for now.
Our goal is to translate these videos into as many languages as possible. If you are interested in helping with this initiative, then please do contact us and we will figure out a way to make it worth your while :)
Resource Links:
- Etsy: Kor-Tools Products **
- Amazon: Kor-Tools Products **
- Related Article: Forty Texture Ideas for Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Related Video: Rustic Textures Inspire
- Related Video: New Sculpey Flexible Texture Sheets
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Jei and & Marj… thanks for your follow through with Miriam :-)
Hi Miriam,
I am contacting you today because I seen that you had not received your package. We are very sorry to hear that. You paid the Pay pal Invoice on the April 29th. On May 1 the package was shipped.
I emailed you the tracking #. If you take this to your post office they will then be responsible to
find this package.
Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please let us know
when you find the package. We usually have a great rate of success with the US mail.
Best Wishes,
Marj Lamers
Kor Tools
I’m not having good luck with this company. I talked to Rick on 4/27 and he sent me a PayPal invoice, which I paid on 4/29. Still have not received my order. I sent an email and left a voice mail message asking about the status and haven’t heard back. I’m very disappointed.
Hi, Miriam,
Rick has been traveling overseas, and can’t access his cell phone and email. I’m sorry to hear you have not received your order. I’ll check into this. Rick will be back next week. He will respond to you when he comes back. Once again sorry about the inconvenience. Thank you.
Jei McKinney (Rick’s wife)
I’d like to close the loop on the issue I had with my order. Kor Tools mailed my order immediately after receiving payment. The post office lost the package. When Rick, the owner, found out, he immediately sent out a new order and I received it in three days. The tools are amazing! Just as Cindy said in her review, they leave a crisp, clean impression in the clay. I will be ordering from Rick again.
Unfortunately, I also had shopping cart issues. Sent an email and never received a response.
Miriam, don’t give up, they have a number right on their website, so call them and let them know you are having problems. They will appreciate you calling and letting them know. They are working to get the new website running smoothly but they have had some bumps and tweaks along the way. I talked with both their website tech and Rick the owner and they are super nice. They had me pay through PayPal and I got my order in 2 days!
Hi Miriam,
Well, I am glad you left a message here. Your order payment did not go through. I tried calling you and left a message, but clearly for some reason this did not get through. Give me a call at 920-205-2701, and I will get your order to you.
By the way, the website is improving. But we need a new checkout and credit card authorizinng company, but other issues are fixed.
All the best,
Rick
Wow, got a boatload of these rollers and just love them!! Cindy you are so right about the deep impression you get from them. I love the fact that they don’t leave a ring impression from around the stamps, just the stamp design itself. This feature itself is just awesome. The roller designs are so beautiful and they certainly make your backgrounds go from “O” to WOW! I would certainly pay more for a large rubber stamp than for 1 of the rollers. They are not hard to use, got the hang of them right away and just went crazy! I admit it. I am a tool junkie!
I bought one of the texture rollers and two stamps. The texture is 70’s flower and I bought a heart and a butterfly stamp. They came 2 days after I ordered them and I Love them. Thank you Cindy ! I will be purchasing more of them next month.
I’ve had the chance to speak with Rick directly, about his shopping cart issues that have come up over the last few days… and just wanted to say I feel confident that he will be able to take care of everyone’s orders as needed.
In the big picture as far as problems go, this type of problem is actually a good one to have to deal with… because it means there is interest in the product. I guess our little Kor-Tools video worked… in helping to send customers over to Rick’s online store ;-)
Hi Dixie Ann,
First of all, thanks for pointing out these issues. I am also glad that we have had the opportunity to talk about this order. Your tools are being billed to you via Paypal, and will shortly be on the way. Regarding the website issues, your problems represent a new set of issues for this website – but not the only set of problems we have had since going live! In the last 5 days, I have had to solve a variety of issues related to checking out and orders peremptorily canceling. Most of these have been solved so far, but exactly what is going on with the checkout company (Mejireh) is still a mystery. Fortunately, most orders seem to be going through today. The main point here is that we are working hard to resolve these issues, and that when we can’t, we have been calling and emailing customers and offering to send them a Paypal invoice and then shipping out the orders. The tools are good, and I think you will like them greatly. I am certainly sorry for the web issues and I can say that, even more than you, I wish they were not occurring. Both my email address and my phone number are on the website, and everybody is more than welcome to call in their website or tool related issues and problems. I take customer service seriously. All the best, Rick McKInney
Thank you Rick, I appreciate you taking care of my order. I really appreciate you reaching out and getting my order into motion so I won’t have to wait too long getting it. I am really excited about these new tools and certainly can see the possibilities using it with my clay. I wish you much luck in getting the website problems ironed out and want everyone here at the blog to be sure and pay a visit to your site and check out all of these wonderful tools.
Hi Cindy, I just found this video on the KorTools and was really impressed with the details of the rollers and stamps. However, when I went to the website to order I ran into multiple problems. First all if I added just 1 roller of a specific Number, it would put 2, or 3 and even 4 of the same kind. I kept having to go back and update the cart to just 1. After doing this several times I finally got everything ordered, checked the totals, shipping etc, made sure my java script permissions were on, but could not check out. I went in to try and whitelist it but it would not allow that website. I finally found a phone number to call. So no luck yet. Thank you for the video. I hope I am able to get some of these eventually. :)
You can never have too many texturing tools :D and these look great.
Since I started playing with metal clay I’ve adopted the rolling slat approach for texturing polymer clay too because it makes it really easy to get a deep even impression. These rollers might be a bit narrow for that to work effectively, but in cases where you don’t need the full roller width it’d probably be worth trying.
Just kept going WOW, thanks Cindy yet again for another informative video. Off to the site now to check out all those wonderful designs:)
Every one should check out the Kortools site. Such an array of goodies…………boggles the mind. I DID pick out a couple to add to my wish list ! TY for the info !!!!!!!!!!
Very cool stuff. Added to my wishlist! Thanks Cindy
What a cool tool. Thanks, Cindy!
The website is loaded with great stuff, everybody go see Kortools
Interesting tutorial. Good videos :)
These Kor rollers and stamps really hit the spot.
Last year I bought two hard plastic full size pattern rollers for sugar-craft.
They work really well to imprint patterns on sugar paste but they are so big I find them hard to store. One has hearts (ideal for Valentines Day) the other one has swirls, which is one of my favorites but how I wish I had waited.
These mini detailed stamps and rollers are just what I have been looking . Working with polymer clay, silver/copper clay and sugar paste I will be spoilt for choice with all the many designs.
My wish list is getting longer and longer……..but always great to know what new tools are out there for us to ogle….cheers Cindy..xx