Rubber-Stamping Torsos

[raminator]

Some weeks ago I posted in another Thread a picture of a "customized" Torso that was not made using a Decal or a Sticker.

Instead I created a simple Vectorgraphic, found a shop in the Interwebs that makes custom rubber stamps out of pictures, bought some black solvent ink pad and build some guide using some 2x2 bricks, a 2x2 tile, technic bricks, a 1x2 plate and a half-pin. The fotos below show basicly the progress for aplying the ink to the torso using the rubber-stamp.

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel01.jpg

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel02.jpg

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel03.jpg

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel04.jpg

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel05.jpg

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel06.jpg

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel07.jpg

http://home.arcor.de...l/stempel08.jpg

The Ink-Pad is called Stazon "Jet Black". The Stamp is fix to the tile using double-sided Tape.

The result may not be perfect but it seems to be pretty cheap compared to Pad-Printed or Digitaly-Printed Minifigures.

Next step is to get more/different rubber-stamps for other details, such as logos, belts, etc and of course more colors (ink-pads), to test the quality of the result.

PS: I had the Idea late last year when I read this Thread about Decal-Application.

So...I´m curious if someone else had this idea too...

Comments are very welcome.

Edited October 13, 2013 by raminator

[Creator]

Clever idea! Just curious, but does it wear off easily?

[LiamM32]

Nice. But is it possible for the stamped colour to be lighter than the base colour of the plastic?

[KingPixels]

Couple of questions:

1) how much detail is possible?

2) how do you make the stamp?

[raminator]

Hello,

I didn't try to rub the ink of but simple touching does not harm it.

Lighter colors should work but I have to test it first to confirm it.

1) what do you mean?

2) the stamp was made by an internetshop. you send them a black and white graphic and they make the stamp for you.

hope that helps

EDIT:

You can scratch the ink of using your fingernail. But you really need to force it to go away.

Water and normal finger-contact have no effect at all.

I guess it would be best to seal the torso after stamping.

Also on another note: I tried the same stamp on a head. Works to but i need to try it again in the future with a special face-stamp.

So in theory you should be able to stamp the hole figure on every possible facing. Only the round part of the legs should be a lil bit tricky.

Edited September 13, 2013 by raminator

[KingPixels]

Sounds fantastic! What I meant was how detailed can the prints get, or are they restricted to simple designs.

And what is the website? What are the prices like?

Edited September 14, 2013 by KingPixels

[raminator]

I used this shop : stempelplattform.de

I don‘t know if they deliver outside germay.

For the detail...I think there is a limit. But they made a lot of progress in the last years. When searching for a shop, I found examples of stamps the can print in greyscale!

And if the detail that is doable with rubber is not enough there is still the possibility of getting a metal stamp.

I payed 10 € for the inkpad and 13 € for the stamp. More colors would cost the same but more torso gfx not. For this test i got a 20x20mm stamp. But they even have 140x140mm stamps. So there is enogh room for 49 lego stamps for the price of about 1€ each. :-)

Hoped that helped. I try to get one complete torso with atleast 2 colors and more detail done.

[JopieK]

very nice indeed!

[Darkdragon]

I meant to try this myself a while ago. Basically what you are doing is pad printing ultra-manual-mode. Glad to hear it works pretty well.

[raminator]

Some Update:

I bought yesterday a red inkpad of the same company. The color looks good on light surfaces but doesn´t really show up on a black torso.

So no good news on this, but there´s also an opaque white inkpad from this company available...

Will get one and try it. this should help as background for other colors.

any suggestions?

[Infernum]

What any interesting idea! The design you show here is good for this because it can be widely used, but I don't know how practical it would be for making a single fig. Would be a great tool for people who sell custom figs though!

[raminator]

Sure...for a single fig it seems to be expensive.

But I´m doing this for my own pleasure. Doing the design and then create the fig. :)

What i have in mind is to do some hands full of different figures using similar elements like the same formed belt or samesized logos at he same position in different colors. This way I could reuse some of the stamps and would only need the black outlining stamps as unique.

We´ll see where i do get... :P

[woody64]

Interesting idea.

Means having two stamps i.e. one for the black and one for the brown details, you can make a multi color torso.

Would be interesting to follow on ...

Woody64

Edited September 16, 2013 by woody64

[raminator]

That's the idea.

I'm currently testing something to get a white layer as background for lighter colors on dark torsos. Will post a pic when I'm back home.

EDIT:

Result of the test is not satisfying. So no Pictures.

There´s 3 possible ways now:

1) try some Stazon opaque color (allthough they are too light and would not look good on a torso). For the test above i used the "ink" of a white Edding.

2) get somewhere an ink that is used for pad-printing. This would be the best option if I can get it cheap and as a small can.

3) learn how to make good stencils, airbrush the colors, and only use the stamp for the black outlines. The Stencil-making would make use of shrinking foil.

Edited September 17, 2013 by raminator

[raminator]

Some Update here.

I ordered 4 new stamps (actually it was one that I cut into 4 pieces -> saves money :D).

So I present you:

that very random X-Guy with the sunglases, the old grey guy, that guy that has lost his cowl and ehrm....me in my favorite T-Shirt.

As you can see it´s still monochromatic, but a step forward regarding to possible detail and the process itself.

Each torso was printed on a couple of times (with too much pressure as it seems).

If you look closely you can see the seams/stitches of that suit. There should be really fine detail possible is my conclusion.

Comments and Suggestions are very welcome.

[WaysofSorting]

Wow - great idea and a whole new sub-market just opened up for bricks customizers. I wonder if you could print with something else - actual paint thinned a bit, for example, saturated into a thin sponge/cloth or some such. Not much paint, but enough for a few applications of the colors.

Having the ability to make one stamp cut into four would simplify multi color printing, as you could identify the color layers and have them all come on the same "master stamp" that then you cut off. Not just talking CMYK, but that's where my thoughts were first. I thnk your "stencil with black highlights" is a good idea and direction to go in with the limitations of the tech.

I'd love to see more of these kinds of experiments. Awesome registration/printing set-up - thanks for sharing and keeping this idea an open-community kind of thing - good luck!

[raminator]

Thank you. Found the other day a shop that sells 50ml bottles of "industry stamping ink" that is used for tires and stuff.

Now I´m waiting that my yellow bottle arrives (they have green, yellow, white, blue, red, black and grey). will post an update as soon as it arrives. =)

[raminator]

Ok...The ink arrived 2 days ago. Since then I´m testing it a lot but cannot get any satisfying results. I hope it´s just that I didn´t buy an empty ink pad to put the ink in, but used a sponge/felt to get the ink on the stamp.

The yellow ink itself covers darker bricks/torsos very good when applied with a brush. You can even "overstamp" it with the working black ink from above. But you have to wait for some hours to let it dry or else the solvent from the black ink makes the yellow ink blur and you get ugly colors...

next step is to buy an empty ink pad and try again. If I´m not satisfied with the results I´m going to buy another ink from that shop that I found by accident. In the description ABS is listed as one of the stampable plastics but it needs longer to dry..

[jluck]

I'm now interested in your work! This is really neat and you've shown great promise. My question is will the result be satisfying enough to market or will it mostly be for one's own customization. Keep it up!

[lowbike1]

this is really interesting, subscribed

[raminator]

I'm now interested in your work! This is really neat and you've shown great promise. My question is will the result be satisfying enough to market or will it mostly be for one's own customization. Keep it up!

I don´t think that the quality will ever reach the quality of pad-printed minifigs/bricks. But I believe that it´ll result in better quality than hand-painted/sprayspainted stuff or even stickers and waterslide decals.

My goal never was to create lots of the same figure to sell them, but once optimized to it´s limits you or anyone else might be able to sell them.

this is really interesting, subscribed

Thanks to both of you. Will post updates when I made noteable progress.

[jluck]

I don´t think that the quality will ever reach the quality of pad-printed minifigs/bricks. But I believe that it´ll result in better quality than hand-painted/sprayspainted stuff or even stickers and waterslide decals.

My goal never was to create lots of the same figure to sell them, but once optimized to it´s limits you or anyone else might be able to sell them.

Thanks, I'm not the selling type, I'm more of the "let the others do the hard work and then pay for the results" type

I'll be watching the progress with interest though!

[raminator]

Hehehe =)

Just some small update on something else I tried.

On the left the gray guy from one of the first posts. In the middle a Torso stamped with the same stamp. On the left just my poor ugly Iron Man with a Kreon-Head for testing...

So what´s new you might ask. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in another Thread a liquid that is used to make non printable surfaces printable.

I don´t know how it exactly works but I believe it´s just adding a thin printable layer to the surface. I tried it Yesterday with a foil-sheet that is used to create reusable/removable "Window Color" stickers. The result was a Classic Space logo that´s now on my Window :D. I put the liquid today on a the red Torso in the middle, used instead of the solvent ink simple black ink-printer-ink and stamped it on the Torso.

The thing is you can rub it off...so sealing it with a clear coat is necessary.

So practically we can print directly on our Minifigs using this liquid if we have a printer that accepts thicker objects. At work we have a Canon-Printer that is able to print on CDs/DVDs. So I might try to prepare some tiles with the liquid and test it with the printer.

[raminator]

Some small Update from my testing.

In the last weeks I tried to get better stamping results with different handmade ink pads for the yellow pigment ink. But no luck.

Then I tried some other rubber-type (borrowed a "smiling sun" stamp from my gf) and tada the ink was better transfered to the torso.

So today I ordered from another company a stamp consisting of 6 "layers/parts" that will result in the X-Guy wearing another suit with a colored belt and a 2-colored logo + the Batguy getting some yellow spots.

I think I can show some pics in the coming week.

Edited October 27, 2013 by raminator

[raminator]

Guess what? A few weeks were not enough...

Did some new test in the last few weeks.

1) I painted some time ago a 4-Juniors-Fig with Revell Paint.

My observation was that the layers of paint were to thick to be any useful.

So I bought some special thinner for those inks.

Works alot better (thinner layers) and you can use it to stamp. (Of course you can stamp with the standard paint aswell...)

The first pic shows a "potatoe-stamp" made of a 2-component-silicon and a stamped torso using the un-thinned Revell-Paint.

Nothing really exciting. But the "Potatoe" transfers the paint/ink alot better than the other stamps I have.

This isn´t really a breakthrough since the kinda oily surface of those silicons helps. (Padprinting Pads are made of Silicon aswell)

I should mention that for a test before I "casted" the "potatoe" with a flat surface. The "L" was cut out afterwards.

2) From the experiences I got I came to the idea to use a Stamp I made earlier and use for molding a newer "Potatoe" with finer Details...

This is what I used.

And this is what came out after making a Negative out of my old Stamp an than creating a Positive-Potatoe.

The quality of the new Potatoe is weak...so no wonders to expect.

Again I used the Revell-Paint.

Left shows thinned Paint with too much pressure (less pressure wouldn´t have helped because of the bad quality Potatoe).

Right shows thicker Paint with less pressure.

3) The last test that I did was to use the old stamped Batman torso and paint the belt with the yellow Ink I mentioned in one of the earlier posts.

Afterwards I simply overstamped the outlines with the black solvent Ink I talked about in the beginning of this threat.

As you can see at the Belt I was not patient enough to let the yellow ink completely dry.

Basicly there are two things to do. Making better Potatoes (like getting a negative engrave and then cast). Finding better Inks/Paints.

At this point I don´t want to do further experiments/research since it is pretty costly.

I realised that to get the quality I want I have to build or purchase a hand operated pad-printing-machine like this.

So my suggestion for anyone hwo wants to try this is:

Just create 2 stamps with the black outlines you need.

Make one with thinner lines that you stamp first and one with bolder lines that you stamp in the end.

Then paint the areas that should be colored carefully.

Use thinned paints. A layer of primer might help.

Let it dry. Afterwards let it dry even more :P

Use the bold stamp.

Seal it with a clear coat.

The quality in the end should be better than completely handpainting.