#independence studios

[image description: two photos, taken on a red watermelon slice pillow background, of a round, silver tin containing a glitter putty. First photo shows the closed tin with a blue sticker on the lid, featuring sketch drawings of space-themed images in white, a white person’s hands pulling at a wad of glitter putty, and the text “Glitter Galaxy Putty: it bounces & stretches, use it again and again”. Second photo shows the open tin and the putty inside: a clear putty studded with green, blue and yellow glitter. The green glitter dominates, giving the putty a greenish tinge.]

Glitter Galaxy Putty - Target, $3.25 AUD for 60 grams.

Department stores are having their post-Christmas sales, which includes the “cheap Secret Santa gifts” section in stores like Target. I’ve seen slimes, putties and those squishy balloon animal balls in these, so if you’re after more affordable stim toys, it may be worth checking these out.

(For clarity: I’m talking about Target, Australia, which isn’t quite the same thing as Target in the US.)

This is a glitter-studded clear putty, reduced from $6 AUD. It’s produced by Independence Studios, which makes a lot of these sorts of cheap-gift-but-often-stimmy items here in Australia! I have to say that the packaging was great--the putty came sealed inside a plastic bag inside the tin--and the slime itself is very pretty to look at. It does look green in the above photo, but it is clear. The three-tone glitter in green, gold and blue just gives it the illusion of a green tint.

Clear putties are always more brittle than their opaque counterparts and this is no exception. It’s not as bad as the Lab Putty, but it’s more brittle than the Super Brain Putty. It snaps fairly easily and it leaves a few small shreds of putty on the skin after handling. This will likely be from the current heat, but it feels like 80% putty and 20% homemade slime: it’s stickier than most putties and has more of an oozing quality. It’s near as stretchy as homemade slime while snapping under even gentle force. This odd merging of two properties makes it hard to handle beyond squishing and gentle shaping.

(Putty softens in warmer ambient temperatures and hardens in cooler ones. My Lab Putty now feels waxy to a point where I don’t like using it--even though I loved using it in winter--and both my Ultra and Super Brain Putties have noticeably softened. Expect your putty to change consistency throughout the seasons if you live in a place with marked shifts in average temperature.)

I will say that it pops and snaps more like a homemade slime, so if this is a major stim element for you, you may prefer this putty.

IS Gift Balloon Ball

I purchased this from my local university’s bookstore/gift store for $4.95; I still haven’t found an online source for them that doesn’t have a minimum quantity.

The product is intended to be inflated and played with as a ball and deflated to be used again later, but the best parts about it (in my opinion) are the unintentional side effects of the gimmick.

pros:

When not fully inflated, it’s pretty much like a frondless puffer ball with customisable Squishy factor 

When the nozzle is inserted into the valve, the ball will fill itself with the ‘default’ amount of air that will fill it without stretching the rubber - this means that you can squeeze it over and over again and it will fill itself back up with air. 

It also makes a quiet hissing noise as you squeeze all the air out, which i like 

If you partially inflate it, it can end up sort of lopsided with one side of the ball stretching more than the other. while technically it’s not working the way it’s supposed to, it also means that the ball will be heavier on one side, which means no matter how you push it or knock it over, it will always rest lighter-side-up. 

think those training dummies with the weighted bases that always bounce back up 

Glows Really Brightly in the dark. The picture really doesn’t do this justice - it’s the kind of glow in the dark that actually lights up small areas. I used it as a makeshift torch/flashlight once to find something on my bedside table

it’s also really fun to squish in the dark, as the stretched out material appears darker and vice versa, so you can make it brighter and darker as you squish it

deflates and folds up pretty small for storing

cute bright colours!

cons:

The packaging doesn’t say anywhere on it what it’s made of, so anyone with a latex allergy might not want to risk this one. (if it helps, it does feel similar to a puffer toy)

This thing picks up dust like crazy. I haven’t tried cleaning it with water or the cornflour trick as of yet, so I’ll keep you posted on whether either of those works

Getting the nozzle into the valve to inflate it was pretty hard the first time, although it has gotten easier the more i do it. You might want to get someone to hold the ball for you as you insert the nozzle, or vice versa 

Actually inflating the ball to beyond its ‘default’ size (the one it inflates itself to as soon as you insert the nozzle) is a Bad Sensory Feel (at least for me), to the point where I haven’t actually tried inflating the ball to its full size yet

Doesn’t come with a resealable bag of any kind, which you really need in order to keep it from getting too dusty, and to prevent losing the nozzle. I just put mine in a small snap lock bag, which works fine

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[image description: a photo of an Independence Studios Ladybug Cool It! gel pack, sitting on a red watermelon slice pillow background. The gel pack is a round pack of frosted clear plastic containing a clear gel; on the front is printed a ladybug with red-and-white-spotted wings, four black-line legs on each side, and a rounded head with round eyes--a white outline surrounding a black dot with a white pupil--and black antennae with black dots on the end. The gel pack is housed inside a clear plastic box with a white cardboard backing slip that reads “Cool It!” on the top in all-caps sans-serif type in blue and black. A blue trim at the bottom displays the circular red and white IS logo. One white price sticker on the box reads “$4.99” while a sticker below it reads “$2.99”.]

Ladybug Cool It! Gel Pack - Toyworld, $2.99 AUD.

My Shannon Avenue Toyworld has a few things in their Independence Studios display--a shelf of various putties, slimes, gel packs and other stationary items at the front of the store--on discount, so I finally bought one of the Cool It gel packs at a price I consider more acceptable.

IS has a wide variety of these--here’s a link showing their current selection.

Unlike the Daiso gel pack, this has a very low plastic scent without that musty tinge. The frosted plastic has a matte texture, and I find it quite nice to touch and squish. It isn’t as thick, though, meaning there’s less space inside the pack for the gel, so you don’t quite get the same stimmy sense of pushing the gel around the pack. For me, though, the decreased smell is worth the trade off.

The instructions say that you can cool this by placing it in the fridge for an hour, or warm it by placing pack in hot (not boiling) for seven minutes. You can’t microwave these, which means that I am never going to use this as a heat pack: I am simply not going to do something as spoons-intensive as boil water, let water cool to merely hot, put this inside the water and then wait for it to heat. This might work for others, but I’ll just heat a wheat bag in the microwave instead, as it’s much, much quicker.

As a cool pack, you absolutely have to put it in the fridge for an hour. I had mine in for half an hour, and while the gel did thicken (becoming almost unsquishable) and the pack was quite cold, the effect lasted for about five minutes once the pack was in my hands. If you want to stim with it and have the cooling effect last for a halfway-decent amount of time, half an hour isn’t enough.

I would recommend getting two or three of these, if you like stimming with cool temperature toys (less attractive for our Northern Hemisphere stimmers right now, but great for us Southern Hemisphere folks). It would be more practical to store them in the fridge so you can pull one out when wanted and replace it with the warmed-up pack, rotating through them. One on its own, I think, will warm up too quickly, especially if you have to then wait another hour for it to cool again.

For a small, cute gel pack though, that can be stimmed as is or as a cold pack, I don’t have real complaints. I think $5 AUD is too high a price for so small an object, but at a sale price I’m glad to own it.

Hello, fellow cold Aussie!

I’ll break this answer up into two sections for easier reading.

Heating:

The lack of microwaving access made this difficult at first, because most things that I know of that are stimmy and heatable are recommended for microwave use - generally heat bags and heat bag-containing plush toys. (See K-Mart’s range, as an example.) However, if you keep on reading, I found a surprising amount of options!

The first I found at my local Toyworld: Independence Studio’s Pocket Hotty!

They’re reusable heat bags designed for hand or pocket use. I don’t fully understand how they work, but the gist is that they contain a gel-containing sphere inside the hotty that you bend when you wish the hotty to heat. To reuse, one boils the hotty until the hardened gel inside softens. (There’s no instructions on the web listing, but there is on the packet, and I wish I’d thought to take a photo when I saw them in store.) I’ll note that this is a little intensive, in that when you’re done using them you’ll need to take them home and boil them to make them usable again, but for you, anon, I think this is easiest.

Styles: hot water bottle shaped | knit emoji cover | fantasy shapes | cats and dogs.

They’re available online on Howard’s Storage World ($7.95 AUD) and eBay ($9.95 AUD, free shipping). I’d also check toy, gift and dollar shops, especially those that tend to stock IS gift items and office toys.

It did cross my mind that you can wrap a Tangle in a heat bag to warm it up, and the same will apply for any toy made out of ABS plastic, but my heat bags are all microwavable wheat bags, which is less useful. Don’t do this with anything that has metal parts, as that has a burning risk, but hard plastic - when done with a little caution - shouldn’t be a problem. I wrap fashion dolls in a heat bag to loosen their heads before removing them for customising, and I’ve never had a doll be so hot, even after leaving for ten minutes, that I can’t handle it in bare hands.

Cooling:

Cooling is a lot easier, since you can toss any gel bead ice pack into the fridge or freezer until it chills to the desired temperature. (This will take a little experimenting, mind.) I’ve got ones from Smash, which I bought from Coles at the start of year in the back-to-school sales.

IS also has a range of shaped cooler packs called Cool Its. The IS links give no information other than saying that they can be cooled or heated, but the eBay link below says that these are cooled via fridge or heated via immersion in hot water. They shouldn’t be boiled or used in a microwave.

Styles: fantasy | animals | emoji | cats and dogs | mermaids.

These I struggled to find online: “cool its” is not the best name for being uniquely searchable. Finally, I got an eBay listing: $8.99 AUD (free shipping). Otherwise, I’d check out the above offline stores for sources.

Additionally, on eBay, I found Boo Boo Buddies, and if you’re willing to tolerate the cutesy name and child focus, they do have fun designs. This listing has them for $5.95 AUD with $4.50 AUD shipping.

There’s also cheap listings for shaped gel cooler bags: this listing has a variety of shapes for $1.84 USD with free international shipping. I don’t know what the quality of these is - if they’re able to handle intensive squishing and pushing like that I give my Smash bags - but it’s worth a try.

You can put any ABS plastic toy into the fridge to chill it. In fact, I think most plastic toys could go into the fridge for cooling, although I don’t know how that might work for squishies, makeup sponges or puffer toys. I wouldn’t try it with wood or fabric because of the moisture inside the fridge, but plastic should work just fine.

I wouldn’t put anything that isn’t ABS or hard plastic in the freezer, and anything that has metal, wood or fabric components should never go in the freezer, just to be safe. (Especially metal, because of the risk of freezer burn and sticking.) Hard plastics, though, are fine. I know of toy collectors who put toys in the freezer to kill off bedbugs, and we’ve all got plastic storage containers in the freezer.

I hope, anon, this gives you some ideas. I’m very glad there’s turned out to be more options for you than I thought!

Is there anything I’ve forgotten, followers?

[image description: a bangle made from entwined green, pink and purple plastic tubes joined together to form a continuous loop. Fluid and rough-cut silver glitter pieces, appearing to be the colour of the tube in which it resides, fill the tubes. A white tag with the Independence Studios logo and the text “Ages 3+ Made in Taiwan www.isgift.com” written in black sans-serif type. Bangle sits on a red watermelon slice pillow.]

Glitter Twist Bangle, $4 AUD, independent dollar shop (distributed by Independence Studios)

Dimensions: external diameter of 7.4 cm; internal diameter of 5.1 cm.

The bad part about this bangle is that it’s made for kids. I have small hands for an adult and I can only just get it over my wrist joint and thumb; normal-sized teenagers and adults should not attempt to wear this. Chances are very high it will get stuck and you’ll have to cut it off, so treat this as a visual fidget toy, not jewellery.

This is a pretty significant downside, sadly, because the rest of the bangle is fabulous. If it were wearable by adult stimmers, it would be perfection.

Each section of tube is joined on each end to that of the opposite colour, forming a continual loop. There’s just enough fluid that the glitter moves smoothly, quickly and easily. I’ve already spent who knows how long just sitting there turning the bangle around and around in my hands. The tube is smooth and nice to touch (do not recommend it for chewing, though) and watching the glitter move through the coloured tubes is a super pleasing stim.

The bangle is available in a variety of colour combinations using green, pink, purple, blue, yellow and orange tubes.

IS produce a lot of office toys and stim toys. I’ve seen their range in Toyworld, gift shops, souvenir shops and several different dollar shops. The better type of dollar shop (the ones pretending to be gift shops) are like to be your best bet in hunting for these.

Item: Make Your Own High Bounce Ball Kit by Independence Studios (IS)

Price: $2 AUD from Target (mentioned here)

Experience: For someone without chronic hand pain, this wouldn’t be hard to do. The instructions say to fill a mould with crystals, pack the powder down and submerge it under water for about a minute. Then take the mould out of the water, hold the mould together for about two minutes and voila, ball. Except ... not so voila. I found that even holding the mould under the water a couple of minutes still left me with dry crystals (third image), and having to hold the moulds closed for so long (trust me: with chronic hand pain, more than three minutes is a long time) caused me a lot of pain on my wrist and thumb.

Even worse, getting the wet, sticky balls out of the moulds was super Bad Texture (feels like a sticky sugary mess) in addition to the stickiness making it physically difficult. I frequently had one half pop away clean and the other half stick to the ball. Once I prised them out, I had to paint the dry parts of the ball with water on a paint brush and goop the left-over crystals on to smooth out the gaps.

None of this would be so much a problem if the balls bounced. But they don’t. They make it about ten centimeters at best off the floor and often far less. Because the balls are such odd shapes, they don’t often bounce straight. They bounce sideways (meaning this autistic spends their time playing “Get The Ball Out From Under The Recliner”). Worse, the more they dry, the less they bounce. The card advises storing them in a container to prevent this, but who’s actually going to store a bouncy ball in a container? The point of a bouncy ball is that you can stow it in a pocket or bag.

Surprisingly, once dry the grains are resistant to picking and don’t fall off, despite appearing barely attached. They’re also rough to the touch, and if you want a more textured ball for rolling in fingers, this might be ideal. They’re not squishy when dry, though, and when wet they’re too sticky for me to want to squish them.

The bobbled balls flip in the air a little like knucklebones/jumping jacks. If they really bounced, that would be pretty cool.

Conclusion: No high bounce. None. You can go to K-Mart and buy a pack of bouncy balls - 6 smaller ones or 4 larger ones - for $2 AUD and they actually bounce. (I’ve been buying small ones from Wild Card Trader at 2 for $0.50 AUD!) I suppose they’re kind of fun for the novelty of making them, if you don’t have hand pain, but I’d be disappointed if I’d paid more than pocket change for them.

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