#mostly 2

[image description: two photos of a clear jelly stress ball filled with rainbow orbeez/water beads inside a black mesh bag, the ends covered with a black plastic cap. First photo shows the ball with a close up on the water beads inside the clear gel-like ball; second photo shows a white person’s hand squeezing the ball, with multiple protrusions of three or four coloured balls inside the clear jelly ball being pushed through the mesh, forming a wild cluster of rainbow water bead “florets”. Both photos are taken on a red watermelon slice pillow background.]

Orbeez Mesh Stress Ball - Mostly $2, $3.50 AUD.

It’s a mesh stress ball containing water beads. If that doesn’t sell it, I don’t know what does.

Please note that like most of the mesh stress balls I’ve found in my local dollar shops, this has quite a strong chemical-plastic odour. The clear jelly-like ball is also, like most of the same mesh stress balls, slightly tacky to the touch, although it doesn’t leave residue on my hands. These are best stored in a plastic container where they cannot attract dust and only brought out when in use.

But, oh, it is fabulous. I mean, look at the second photo. Look! How awesome is the effect of the coloured water beads being pushed into clusters or florets through the mesh? Each time you squish the beads come up in different colour arrangements, making it very hard to stop squishing this. It’s a fabulous combination of manipulative and visual stim, and I am absolutely in love.

It’s hard to find these on eBay because they’re not listed as “orbeez mesh stress balls”. I found a few listings under the generic “mesh stress ball” search, but a lot of listings had photos of these and regular mesh stress balls, making it impossible to know what you’re actually ordering.

I’ve found a few listings that have only pictures of orbeez stress balls in their listings or actually specify that their balls contain water beads or coloured spheres, which I’ll link below:

[image description: three photos, taken on a blue, white and black tree-silhouette-against-night-sky quilt cover, of an orange, black and white tiger cub squishy. The squishy has an oversized head, larger than the rest of the body, with curved cat-shaped ears filled with pink, large kawaii-style green eyes, black eyebrows, a pink nose and mouth, and a white-painted jaw and chest. Narrow black stripes over the back of the head, legs and body; the toes are painted white. It sits with its legs tucked close together and a raised tail resting against its back, curled over on one side. First photo shows the tiger cub face on, second shows the cub in profile, third shows it from the back.]

Tiger Cub Squishy - Mostly $2, $3 AUD.

Dimensions: 9 cm tall x 6 cm wide

This squishy is also available on eBay: I found it for $1.99 USD with free international shipping.

I picked up this squishy because it wasn’t food and because it is adorable. I mean, kawaii tiger cub squishy!

In all but one respect, it is a fantastic squishy. It isn’t sticky, it’s incredibly slow-rising and the foam is incredibly silky to touch. It feels like a higher-quality SquishyFun squishy; it is so nice to stroke and press. Other than my SquishyFun and Eric squishies, this is by far the nicest stquishy I’ve ever handled. The seam lines are a little rough and the eyes aren’t quite printed in the sockets, but those won’t be a problem for most stimmers.

But. It is scented. Not just the “fake bread that fades” scent but the “unbearably strong nose-stinging fake rose perfume” scent (that gives me migraines). I couldn’t get a strong sense of smell from it in store, because the store is right across from a soap-smelling store and filled with scented products. When I got home and upwrapped it, though, I was pretty much overwhelmed.

I’ve had it airing out in another room for the last week, and it’s made no difference. Just bringing it into my room for long enough to review has given me a headache.

[image description: a clear jelly squishy, shaped like a light bulb and filled with purple water beads/orbeez, sits on a sheet of clear plastic atop a red watermelon slice pillow. The bulb squishy has a silver-painted end resembling the screw top of a light bulb, complete with raised ridges; the clear bububble end is a simple teardrop-shaped clear case, holding full and a few broken water beads. The effect is somewhat like a water bead holding smaller water beads!]

Lightbulb Jelly Squishy - Mostly $2, $3 AUD.

For folks wanting to find slimes, stress balls and a variety of squishies in offline stores, I strongly recommend that you check out your local dollar shops. Perhaps it’s just an Australian thing, but in the wake of the fading spinner fashion, the stores that stocked spinners are now stocking many kinds of squishies, slimes, plastic slinkies, putties, grape stress balls and balloon stress balls. It’s amazing. I’m not finding a lot in chain stores like The Reject Shop, but the independent dollar shops are a wonderland of stim.

Local prices range from about $2 AUD for the smallest grape stress balls to $13 AUD for the large bread and cake squishies, and the selection is amazing--just today I’ve seen unicorn squishies, bread squishies, two-handed-sized cake squishies and jelly squishies. Many of these are scented, but the larger squishies were slow-rising and quite good quality. Most things are on counter displays by the front of stores, so they’re not difficult to find.

Because of the abundance, though, I’m now only purchasing anything unique or unusual, since I can find most things a little bit cheaper on eBay. (I also have enough squishies now, or so I’ll attempt to keep telling myself.) This lightbulb-shaped jelly squishy caught my eye, though. It’s filled with water beads!

This squishes down really well, and the feeling of the water beads underneath the jelly coating is a softer, quieter version of a bead-filled ice pack. I really love the feel of the beads rolling under my fingertips when I squish down on it, and I think I have to try and make myself some water-bead-filled balloon stress balls. It’s almost a massaging sensation, one I find super pleasing. I suspect some care in use is required, since mine does contain some broken water beads. I wouldn’t toss this in a carry bag for fear of it getting crushed.

Unlike a normal squishy, there’s no slow-rising aspect to this.

There’s two downsides to this. The first is that it has a strong chemical plastic smell, just like many grape stress balls. The second is that the clear bulb part of the ball is sticky. Stick-to-your-hand sticky. It doesn’t leave any residue on your skin, thankfully, so that the ball stops sticking the moment you pull it away. The problem is more to do with dust, dirt, hair or anything sticking to the squishy, and, as I discovered when Dad grabbed at it with sugar-covered hands, washing it makes it more sticky. I suspect a dusting of cornflour will solve this, but it will cloud the clear plastic, so for the moment I’m storing it in a ziplock bag.

[image description: two photos, taken on a red watermelon slice pillow background, of an orange slime housed in a plastic drink-can container. First photo shows the slime inside the container, which is a clear plastic tub topped with a grey plastic lid moulded to look like the top and ring-pull from a drink can. An orange label with the text “Fenta grapefruit soda” over vector images of an orange, an orange quarter, bubbles and leaves, covers the tub, and the orange slime is only visible in a narrow strip of clear plastic under the label. Second photo shows the orange slime stretched over four fingers from a white person’s hand. The slime holds a few bubbles and is pulled to a fine film over the middle two fingers.]

“Fenta” Drink Can Slime - Mostly $2, $2 AUD.

Dimensions: 6.5 cm tall, 3.7 cm across.

eBay link: $1.42 USD with free international shipping.

We’ve featured these slimes before, but I saw one in my local dollar shop and couldn’t leave it behind.

I’ve been wary about storebought slime because every slime I’ve bought locally has been watery, oozy and gross. This slime, though, is fabulous. It’s a little more brittle than homemade slime--you have to stretch slowly and carefully to keep it from snapping--but it’s crystal clear, non-sticky and chemical-odour free. It feels like playing with a stretchable jelly. It bubbles up under handling, but after leaving it to sit for twenty-four hours it clears again no problem.

My only concern is that the lid fits loosely onto the top of the plastic can-shaped tub. The lid doesn’t fly off if knocked over, and it resisted my shaking and rolling the can, but I’d still be cautious about subjecting this slime to a lot of rough movement. Additionally, because the lid is a little loose, I am unsure how airtight the container might be.