Can I just rant about the craft industry for a second?

Maybe it wouldn’t seem so bad if she gave her reasons why those particular stamps aren’t as good.

I know that some clear stamps are made of cheaper silicone instead of more expensive photopolymer. They don’t stamp as well because dye ink beads up on it so the impressions are blotchy and they don’t stick to the clear blocks like the photopolymer stamps do which makes them hard to use. If the ones made in Taiwan are made of silicone or are otherwise an inferior product, it would make sense to tell people to steer clear of them for that reason. I have no idea if that’s the case or not, but if it is that would be a good reason to pay attention to where the stamps came from. The worst part is sometimes you can’t tell if the stamps are good or bad until after you’ve bought them.

She might not have explained why not buy from Taiwan, but Technique Tuesday addresses it on their website:

Our local manufacturing systems let us use the highest-quality materials and the latest manufacturing technology. For example, clear stamps made in China and Taiwan are made from materials that cause ink to bead, don't produce crisp, detailed stamped images, and don't stick very well to the clear block. When you purchase our clear stamps, you can be confident that you are getting the very best clear stamps available anywhere.

Clearly you've never tried to actually use a crappy stamp made from substandard materials.

I find it very hard to get worked up about anyone in the US recommending US made products for whatever reason. And I get worked up pretty easily.

Seriously. What is so wrong about promoting products made in your own country? And if that means naming names on other countries that produce inferior knockoffs, then so be it.  I also have a hard time feeling too bad about naming countries that essentially use their own version of slave or child labor or pay their workers pennies per hour.

Firstly I'm sure JM gets a lot of her stamps etc for free from suppliers so her buy American made stuff is maybe biased if you kwim.

Secondly the whole Ali Express thing has caused many arguments debate etc amongst crafters.

Personally I have spent a shit ton of $ on branded dies stamps ETC over the years. I just recently discovered Ali Express thru 2 peas and some YouTube videos. Regardless of the debate and crafters saying how dare you attitudes I have bought dies and stamps from AE. It floors me to see a die I paid upwards of $40 and see I can get an almost similar one for $2.

I've found you don't dare share your Ali Express finds on social media as you may be ran out of town by pitch fork toting crafters lol.

I personally am about a balance of great quality and best bang for my buck. I will continue to buy most of my stash from LLS with a healthy sprinkling of some great deals on AE and risk the pitchforks lol.

No doubt Jennifer does receive product for free-companies would be crazy NOT to ask her to review their products. But if you’ve watched many of her videos she’s very clear when she’s purchased products and when they’ve been given to her and in my opinion, she has certainly purchased her fair share. I think she gives very good unbiased reviews. 

I also cannot believe the drama over this topic. It is so stupid. People have a right to buy from wherever they want or can afford to buy. 

Some Youtubers that I followed have had their channels shut down for using AliExpress dies. The thing is they also use U.S products in their videos and many times combine the products.

I complained to YouTube that they were not breaking any rules. They were making cards, tags, albums not selling products. They have 1st amendment rights of freedom of speech. They are not committing any crimes, just sharing their creativity and joy for crafting. Some of their channels were reinstated; but they had to take down all AliExpress videos.

THIS!!!! The companies want that margin between the pennies/dimes per overseas-made stamp/die vs. the $20-30 price they charge.

I get that they need to recoup sales & marketing costs, warehousing, shipping.  But when a die or stamp gets to me as a one-off shipment from China for $3 (after they have warehoused it and shipped it) vs. $20-$30, that's a whole lotta margin. If they're selling a single unit to me at $3, imagine what they're selling them for in bulk.  They don't want us horning in on that margin.

ETA - and to be clear - I have not seen nor would I purchase direct duplicates of someone's IP.  But when they're a snowman or a cat that is not someone else's design, but rather just another version of a snowman or cat, I will consider those for purchase.  The only time I've bought something that is the same as the high-ticket items is when they're stacked dies of normal shapes - circles, squares, ovals, etc.  No one owns the trademark on a set of concentric circles.

I'm not saying their comment is accurate about their own products. Just pointing out why Jennifer might have singled Taiwan out. There are some places I won't buy from because they are known for producing inferior products/lack quality control, but I really don't think that feeling that way constitutes some type of "divisive mentality".

I am a designer and this is how I feel too. I wouldn’t feel right buying something that’s an obvious knockoff knowing the original artist wasn’t getting paid for their unique talent, but I don’t feel bad buying a generic set of squares or stars, etc.

I did not see/hear the video that Jennifer made, but I can say I am sure she was referring to the knock offs being sold on Ali-Express and Wish and a few others. Here is the point that so many people are missing.

These stamps are designed here. There are costs associated with designing these stamps (and dies). Most of the stamps are made in the USA and they say that on the packaging, some of the dies are made in China, but not all of them.

Silicon/Acrylic stamps do not stamp well and they do not stick to the acrylic block. Photopolymer stamps are made in the USA, and to my knowledge, not anywhere else in the US.

The thing I see all the time (and I am on several Unbranded facebook groups) is that people a)don't care they just want a deal b)think these dies and stamps are overstocks and leftovers (they are NOT) and c) feel like they are being price gouged by buying the real thing.

If a stamp says it is made in the US, then it is. There are laws about foreign content and being allowed to claim country of origin on any product. Photopolymer stamps are only made by a handful of manufacturers in the US, not in China. .

Stealing intellectual property is still STEALING. And so if your conscience tells you it is ok to just buy some cheap knock off stuff, that it won't hurt anyone...you are wrong.

Greg, one of the designers from Concord and 9th, has had quite a few of his innovative die designs stolen by these copycats on Ali Express. He said they are literally taking food off his family's table. These are not big companies, that can absorb some of this. This affects their bottom line and whether or not they can stay in business.

Another thing that people fail to understand, is that if these small, craft designers go under, then there will be no more designs for them to knock off.

When I first became aware of Ali, late last year, the majority of their dies were pretty basic things that you could copy (stitched rectangle for instance) and the stamps were mostly things that you found as freebies in the magazine, and also a few vendors who are Europe based (Studio Light is one)- that has all changed with the help of these FB groups and YouTubers who are showing all these cheap dies and stamps and linking the knock offs. That is why YouTube shut down a bunch of them.

On one of these FB groups, there are people who act as a liaison between some of these Ali sellers by providing them with information on desired dies and stamps. They will say, "this is coming soon from XYZ vendor." I even came across a link that one of these sites provided that said if you want the Lawn Fawn designs, here is where you go. Then, there is no picture of the dies/stamps, (because they can be shut down for stealing IP by Ali) so their way around it is to put the name of the Lawn Fawn stamp in the description, without even showing a photo.


Sneaky? Underhanded? Stealing? Ok with you? I guess that is up to each person to decide, but I like stamping a lot, and I would HATE it if these fabulous stamp and die designers went away.

I doubt Jennifer meant to be all "America First" in her video, which is why she probably changed it. But the reality is that a lot is at stake for many of these craft designers.

I watched the video in question (on my Firestick/TV, which means I don't see comments at all) and didn't take it as a comment on the AliExpress knockoffs at all. She was talking about her favorite inks and did a little spiel about how image quality is affected by 3 things - the ink itself, the cardstock you are stamping on, and the stamp. When she mentioned stamps made in Taiwan/China, she was talking about the difficulty of getting a good image with the cheaper silicon/acrylic stamps as opposed to the photopolymer, which are manufactured in the USA. There are US based companies that have their stamps manufactured overseas - interestingly enough, some of the companies that lisae says are the brands she gets good images with Hero Arts is the US made photopolymer.

I don't believe that Jennifer was trying to be USA FIRST! or trying to slam Taiwan - she was trying to show a short way to determine what the stamp is made of before you buy it.