What are these...stamps?
January 12, 2011 10:25 AM Subscribe
These look like ceramic ghost ink stamps. Are they? Where can I get them online?
The "stamps" in the picture seem to show a bouquet of flowers, a pen, a book, a guitar (brown and pink), petting a kitten, petting a dog, drinking coffee, playing tennis. With rubber plungers to hold in the ink.
The "stamps" in the picture seem to show a bouquet of flowers, a pen, a book, a guitar (brown and pink), petting a kitten, petting a dog, drinking coffee, playing tennis. With rubber plungers to hold in the ink.
I wonder if they're chopstick rests? Not sure what the little stoppers would be for, though.
posted by MsMolly at 10:44 AM on January 12, 2011
posted by MsMolly at 10:44 AM on January 12, 2011
They look too small to be inkwells. Could they be place holders? You know, to mark where people sit at dinner parties...
posted by patheral at 10:56 AM on January 12, 2011
posted by patheral at 10:56 AM on January 12, 2011
Best answer: Could they be little soy sauce/other condiment holders for bento box packing?
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:01 AM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:01 AM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
They look like mizusashi (水差し), which are small water containers used in shodo (japanese calligraphy).
I found a similar one in a japanese post, the caps seem to be identical. The author mentions finding it in a 100 yen store.
The word mizusashi means "pitcher", so I couldn't find anything online, maybe somebody with better google-fu in Japanese could help.
posted by clearlydemon at 2:04 PM on January 12, 2011
I found a similar one in a japanese post, the caps seem to be identical. The author mentions finding it in a 100 yen store.
The word mizusashi means "pitcher", so I couldn't find anything online, maybe somebody with better google-fu in Japanese could help.
posted by clearlydemon at 2:04 PM on January 12, 2011
Best answer: fiercecupcake is right. Those are soy sauce holders from Kiyoken shumai bento boxes. According to this page, the ones you linked to came out in 1987 to commemorate the company's 80th anniversary. They were designed by Osamu Harada, and apparently there were 640 variations (80 different designs x 4 colors x big or small). Unfortunately, they've been discontinued, so I don't think you can buy them anymore unless someone is auctioning some off. Cute!
posted by misozaki at 3:21 PM on January 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by misozaki at 3:21 PM on January 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
Oh, and the one clearlydemon links to is another Kiyoken shoyu holder (崎陽軒のお醤油入れ). The author is using it as a water holder for calligraphy, that's why she's calling it a mizu-sashi (水差し). The 100-yen shop reference is about the handmade paperweight, not the ceramic container.
posted by misozaki at 3:29 PM on January 12, 2011
posted by misozaki at 3:29 PM on January 12, 2011
Thanks for the correction misozaki!
posted by clearlydemon at 10:00 PM on January 13, 2011
posted by clearlydemon at 10:00 PM on January 13, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
But stamps doesn't seem right. I don't know what kind of stamp would work like that--holding the ink, that is. My first thought was actually that they're inkwells, for fancy-pants pen ink, and that each one holds a different color of ink. The pictures are just there (in the different color) to make them visually interesting. I don't really know, though.
Where did you get the picture? For what it's worth, Tineye didn't find any matches.
posted by phunniemee at 10:41 AM on January 12, 2011