LOADING SLOW? BE PATIENT THERE ARE A LOT OF VIDEOS AND PICTURES BELOW!

WE HAVE A GREAT SECTION SHOWING ALL THE MAGAZINES AND TV SHOWS THAT HAVE REVIEWED OUR PRODUCTS CHECK THEM OUT IN OUR PRESS PAGE. HERE IS OUR LATEST REVIEW OF THE NEW COLLAR STAY PUNCH. FOR MORE GO TO THE BOTTOM OF OUR HOME PAGE AND CLICK ON THE PRESS LINK







WELCOME! to the Pick Punch "How To" section on making guitar picks. We are just beginning to work on this section so check back with us. Here we will be constantly adding tips and techniques on making your own guitar picks. Making picks can be quite easy. Be patient with us because there is a lot of information out there. We are also making our own information in our shop. We are trying just about everything. Send in your ideas and we will test them out for you.

Guitar players have been making their own guitar picks for a long time. We are going to put it all together here so you can make your own and understand how others make them. We plan to collect here every resource available. If you have suggestions let us know and we will add them to our site.

ALWAYS ADDING CONTENT! We are currently experimenting with all kinds of ideas so after your visit be sure to check back with us. (send in your pictures to von@pickpunch.com and we might be able to put it on our website)

"you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose...and now you can pick your own picks! Happy Picking!"

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We have been experimenting with stamping more and here are some tools of the trade. I suggest that you lightly sand the surfaces before using Stazon Ink. This solvent ink has been tested and workds great on our plastics. This is the only ink that we have found that works. I believe in their products so much that I am now a dealer for them. I will be carrying everything I can find that works on guitar picks.



Close up pictures of more stamped picks.



This picture has Stazon inks, cleaners, and all kinds of stamps. The ideas are endless. We are an official dealer for Stazon now and we will be carrying everything that works for guitar pick type materials.



What else can you do with your sanding blocks? With just a ballpoint pen and some stazon ink you can make personalized picks. Be sure to make it a mirror image. You don't need to push too hard in the foam for this to work. I suggest a light sanding of the sheeting and stamp it first on the sheeting and then punch it out after it dries for easier centering.

WE HAVE TESTED OUT ALL THE STAZON INK COLORS AND HERE ARE A COUPLE PICTURES OF THE RESULTS.

*SEE ALL THE COLORS WE TESTED WAY DOWN BELOW IN THIS SECTION.

We will be carrying all the colors and supplies on our website.





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How to make factory perfect acetal delrin picks:

Hi everyone. It took some experimenting but we quickly found how to make great Delrin picks and they only take about 1 minute each to punch and finish. Here are the steps.

1. Punch out a delrin pick (we have white, red, and black currently).

2. Quickly but evenly sand around both sides at a 45degree angle with a nail file, sand paper or sanding block.

3. Sand both surfaces of the pick in a circular motion.

Thats it. This procedure creates a perfect pick with matted surface with great grip. See the following picture which shows a black delrin pick after sanding. If done correctly they are identical to a factory pick. If you want to improve on the factory design then possibly put a right or left handed bevel on your picks. Never heard of right or left handed bevels on picks? Look into it. It may just improve your guitar playing.



The following picture shows more experimenting with Stazon Inks, rubber stamps, and rub-on stickers. These do not come off. Lightly sand the surface and then stamp the surface for printing that will not wear off. More durable than factory printing techniques.



How to make factory perfect ultem ultex picks

Follow the exact same procedure above for Delrin picks. This material is a little bit more difficult to sand but it works the same. The next picture below shows ultem ultex picks before sanding. Once you sand these on all surfaces they become less transparent and have a matte finish on all surfaces similar to the delrin picks.



4/28/11 New ULTEM 0.50mm Get it while we still have it. This stuff is hard to get and very expensive. Over time we will hopefully be able to get this for less money. Depending on demand we may try to carry this as a regular item on our site. See further below for finished pictures of Ultem picks. Please give us feedback as to what materials you want.

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I want to give credit to Adam for the following information for making embedded guitar picks using transparency sheets inside two polycarbonate sheets. These looks awesome! I tried his idea below and it works great.

I use inkjet/laser printable acetate sheets designed for those OHP projectors. This is quite expensive here, but everything seems to be cheaper in America, so I'm sure you could get it cheap if you shop around.

In my experience this works better than paper.

I use Adobe InDesign to get 48 images from a single sheet of A4 size. This takes forever, but is better than wasting the acetate.

I started doing this when I first contacted you about the Pick Punch. It's what I had in mind from the start, but it took so much trial and error to find something that works so well (I must've made/ruined around 300 picks experimenting with plastics, glues, etc.).

I have had a lot of picks deteriorate over time (yellowing, cracking, bending, separation of the layers, etc.) , but I think I've finally worked out the perfect combinations.

-Polycarbonate

-Hippo Superglue

-Inkjet printable Acetate OHP Sheets

The result is something that looks kind of like a film cell. Using this stuff, the pick becomes very firm (no flex) at all thicknesses.

If you look at the photo again, you'll see the picks are actually entirely transparent.

If you want a little flex, Superglue Gel can be used but that seems to make the whole thing feel a bit rubbery, and the bubbles can be hard to get rid of. I prefer zero flex (which is why I love thick ultem).

I make 3 different thicknesses using combinations of your 0.5 and 0.8 mm polycarbonate sheets, and they look fantastic in real life (as I said it's just the camera makes them look damaged).

The paper I mentioned is just an ordinary white sheet I put behind the picks just to take the photo on - sorry to confuse the issue!

If you're looking for the acetate sheets, don't worry if they appear grainy. This is so the printer ink will "take", and the superglue makes the grain completely invisible when sealed between the pick material.

You do need quite a vibrant, high resolution image (especially if you're resizing the image to fit better on a pick) and a decent printer, otherwise they look really washed out. I've had a really hard time trying to make a black and white photo of Elvis look good, but when I get that right it'll look amazing. Photoshopping the colour saturation can help.

I think placing the picks on a "light box", like tattoo artists use for tracing, will make them look amazing in photos.

Adam's idea seemed to work great with krazy glue. I tried out his idea with my new 355 punch prototypes. I printed to some of the overhead sheets the below skull pattern and sandwiched it between two of the .80 polycarbonate sheets and this is the result. I definitely think this is the best way to customize a graphic from the computer to a pick. It is time consuming and labor intensive but the result is a permanent image inside two sheets of polycarbonate that will never fade or wear off. -von





I used transparency sheets to make picks of my dog Luna. Punch both the transparency sheet and the polycarbonate at the same time. The sheets of transparency will not punch out cleanly but when doubled up with the sheeting it works great! This technique works great for punching out paper that normally would tear inside the Pick Punch due to the material being so thin.



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How do I punch out thin objects like paper and transparency sheets? ANSWER: Sometimes if the sheeting you want to punch is thin it will tear and not punch cleanly in the punch because we designed to punch to work with thicker materials. The solution is to place the thin sheet over a thicker piece of plastic and punch both at the same time.



Below: Rub Onz Printable transfer sheets. A great tool for personalizing picks from your printer?





Here is a video about Grafix Rub Ons which allow you to transfer an image. Check it out for some ideas printing to plastic



Here is an interesting product InkAID that allows printing to hard surfaces. Check out the video for some ideas. I will try to get more information on this.





HOW TO TAKE YOUR PICK PUNCH APART AND PUT BACK TOGETHER

How to take apart your Pick Punch and put it back together.

More Pictures of customers guitar picks 4/28/11

These were made using paint applied on the inside face of one of the polycarbonate picks and then sandwiched together with super glue.







Just in 4/10/2011 Our new Pick Punch "JAZZ" is in! Ready to ship







New Red Delrin Sheeting just in 4/10/2011



Just in 1/18/2011

How to make image embedded guitar picks



Here is a picture of our new Ultem materials to be online soon. The left pick is a sanded sheet of .55mm ultem. The middle is one of our popular cartoon embedded picks right at 1.10mm thick and the right is an unfinished rough punched ultem pick before sanding.



Just in 12/3/2010 2010 Music Lover Gift Guide

Pick Punch on "A Different Spin" hosted by Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 on Fuse TV



Thanks to Mark, Amy, Maria, "A DIFFERENT SPIN", and everyone at FUSE TV

http://www.fusemusic.com/a-different-spin

Pick Punch on CNET hosted by Katie Linendoll.



Thanks to everyone at CNET.com

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20024591-1.html





Currently on our agenda to experiment with is airbrushing with and without stencils. We are going to try inside between picks similar to our comic picks below and also on the surface of different materials such as poly, vinyl, delrin, and some really cool "illusion" materials (these are awesome and I hope they work out). They are cooler looking then some of the celluloid stuff. We are also experimenting with an interesting $170 DTG printer idea, small scale hot stamping , hot foil pens, and a whole lot more! I will eventually hit on every topic for you. Check back soon we have some great ideas! If you have ideas or success stories let us know. We will be having a big contest soon for great new ideas also. Any ideas submitted before the contest starts we will automatically enter them if they meet the contest rules.

SOME PAPILIO WATER SLIDE INKJET PRINTED PICKS WE MADE. Image is inside the picks and will never fade away. We made this from two 0.80 polycarbonate picks and sandwiched the water slide inside it and then melted them together with a plastic glue. If you look closely you can see that we made a small cutting mistake on the "PickPunch.com" logo.



BACK OF THE ABOVE PICKS. Note image is inside two punched picks.



A recent video showing a collection of pick punch photos.



Here are some Ed Hardy picks we made. What better artist to try. Christian Audigier makes some really cool stuff. These images are embedded inside the guitar pick We made these from skin tattoos. There are so many examples of tattoos out there and the temporary tattoo market seems to always stay on the latest trends with graphics which work well in the guitar industry.



Here is our attempt at a solution to the new trend of fat guitar picks (like v-picks and gypsyjazz picks): It is 4.8mm thick and although it took a while to sand, it was well worth the effort. I love this thing it is fast and is solid as a rock. It was made from 6x0.80mm (1/32")picks. The thinner pick in the picture is a fender medium.



Another shot of the 4.8mm pick we made:



Here is a wonderful example of what you can make with a couple 1/32" punched polycarbonate picks(0.80mm) for a total of 1.60mm pick with a cartoon funny sandwiched in the middle. Be generous with the super glue and then press all the extra out. When you press them together there should be no bubbles or areas without glue. Act quick this stuff sets quick and is VERY MESSY TO WORK WITH if you don't do it right. Some sanding is required and these are one of a kind super hard picks. They have no flex and super fast. Note that these will not work as well with store bought picks because they are already sanded on both sides at the edges. I tried it and there is a groove left in the middle that requires a bunch of sanding to make it basically smaller.

CARTOON PICKS WITH IMAGE INSIDE: Image is INSIDE the pick and will NEVER fade or wear away.



I COULD NOT RESIST SO I MADE MORE: Image is inside the pick not on surface. The one skull pick was drawn by my 7 year old son on paper. Note the bleeding due to the superglue gives it a nice finish.



HERE IS THE BACK OF THE PICKS: Again note that the image is inside the pick not on surface



EDGE VIEW OF POLYCARBONATE PICKS WE MADE (we had a request to show the edge view of the polycarbonates that we made so here it is)



SOME MORE PICKS I MADE: (eyeball from magazine, kid's tattoo, four leaf clover, some sharpie lines, and hamburger helper from a coupon) all images are inside not on surface



THE BACK OF THE PICKS:



Here are some stamped picks I made. I have played with these and show no wear after a few days playing. The one pick on the right was not stampled completely due to the rounded edges on the 2.0mm thick pick. I used StazOn stamping ink designed for plastics and a regular stamp. I really like these picks. The only surface prep I did was a quick light sanding with super fine sandpaper just in case but not sure if it is even necessary with this ink.

BANDS KEEP THIS IN MIND ...WHEN YOU HAVE PICKS MADE THE PICK SHOPS MANY TIMES MAKE EXTRA ONES SO IF YOU THINK THERE ARE 500 OF A CERTAIN PICK OUT THERE THINK AGAIN. IF YOU REALLY WANT A TRUE COLLECTIBLE THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR OWN STAMP. I HAVE VIDEOS BELOW ON STAMP MAKING AND YOU CAN MAKE WORKS OF ART AND PRINT THEM YOURSELF AND KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IS OUT THERE. You will never be able to produce these on a computer!

How much do you think a Handmade guitar pick from a famous band would cost if the picks were made from custom or handmade stamps from a band member or a commissioned artist? At least you can be more confident that there are not as many fakes or "extra" printed picks out there diluting the market. You will have the stamp and make them yourself! These are just more personal in my opinion than mass produced computer generated logos that can be copied and will be worth much more down the road.



Here is one that I stamped another color on top of the above example.



HERE IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT SOME AIRBRUSHING AND SPRAY PAINT: I know these look pretty crappy but the logistics are there. The paint I am using is ACRYL from pactra primer similar to the stuff they prime die-cast cars. I bought a $19.95 Testors kit at a hobby shop with compressed can air. It works pretty well and came with 6 colors of acrylic paint. The paints that it came with also worked well as far as durability. I also used to Krylon Fusion for plastics in a spray can and it sticks very well. I used some small templates both store bought and some quickly cut out ones from an exacto knife. I lightly sanded these just in case but not sure if it is necessary either. I have yet to test some of the other emulsions that were suggested by someone because this stuff worked good enough where I didn't think it was necessary. I will replace this picture later when I have more time and get some advice. This was my first time ever using an airbrush as you can tell in the image. I AM GOING TO HIT THE AIRBRUSHING FORUMS AND SEE IF THEY CAN HELP ME KICK THIS UP A FEW NOTHCES FOR US NOVICES.



OUR MOST RECENT VIDEO WITH SOME GREAT PICK IDEAS:



A double pick without cartoon inside. These play quite well. (1.60mm made from two 0.80mm polycarbonates)



Another photograph of the double pick (1.60mm made from two 0.80mm polycarbonates)



More picks we made: ( starting at top left working across and down 1/32 polycarbonate frost sanded, a target gift card, two placemat picks, a microsoft office password key card, a punch from turtleshell celluloid, a dominoes card, a hh greg credit card, a picture sandwiched in the middle of two 1/32 polycarbonate picks, IU credit card, split DVD (not full thickness), another punched celluloid pick.)



The back of the picks:



The following pictures show materials that we sell on our website. Nylon picks produce a great mellow warm sound good for easy strumming or softer picking styles. Acetal is a more versatile material with a brighter sound and will work great with both strumming and picking styles. Polycarbonate material has a very bright tone and is stiffer for very fast picking styles. All these materials can be used for pretty much all styles of playing such as polycarbonate can be used for strumming but you have to vary your technique slightly and nylon can be used for picking styles but the softer material produces a little bit less precision when alternate picking scales and stuff. So keep that in mind that you can pretty much use any material for any style of picking to a certain level of satisfaction. They all have their advantages and disadvantages with different levels of (tone, flexibility, precision, and durability)

natural color nylon sheeting from Pick Punch



natural color acetal sheeting from Pick Punch



black nylon sheeting from Pick Punch



black acetal sheeting from Pick Punch



Here are some stamped picks we made. We used StazOn inks and one ant stamp and one File under T for Trash stamp I had in the office. I think these are really nice. There are two celluloids, one placemat, one polycarbonate, and two Nylon 0.80s. We punched all the picks from sheeting samples we will soon be carrying. The images are hard to wear off when playing. The images stick better than most of the store bought ones I have bought in the past.



More "File Under T For Trash" picks we made and then stamped. Very durable stamping.



A few pictures of picks I stamped with handmade stamps. I know you can tell that I have never done this before but it was quick and easy and it works well so the logistics are here. Note* You can buy a custom stamp for 5 bucks online with a black/white image and a few clicks of the mounse and they look much more clean.







Next three pictures show what kind of results you can get with custom made stamps printed using StazOn inks. I paid $4.50 for each of the stamps we used and shipping was free. For our first attempt at this I belive it worked out very well. I would suggest that you look closely at these examples so when you have your own stamps made you will make better choices as far as the image. I think simple logos and designs work better. Stay away from straight horizontal and vertical lines so improperly placed images will not appear crooked. The images stay very well even when played. I belive they stick better than most of the store bought picks I have purchases.





Some more picks we made. The left one is two polycarbonates with a thin translucent sheet in the middle. The second pick has two Rowlux sheets on the outside of a polycarbonate. The third image is just some thin 0.40mm thick Rowlux 3D image stuff. You can't really see the 3D image in this picture due to the flash interaction.



A couple pictures of the same 3D pick we made from laminating two Rowlux punched picks 0.40 each on the outside of a polycarbonate one 0.80. The pick looks really awesome in person. The flash does not show the 3D effect in the picture that well.



same pick different angle (notice 3D image moves around surface)



A GREAT PICK PUNCH VIDEO WITH THE PICK PUNCH IN ACTION:



Here we are punching polycarbonate



Here we are punching placemats. These were made of polypropylene.



HERE ARE ALL THE TESTS WE HAVE DONE WITH STAZON INKS. THESE INKS WORK GREAT! BE SURE TO GET SOME STAZON STAMP CLEANER FOR CLEANING YOUR STAMPS AND FOR CLEANING UP. WE SELL BOTH THE SPRAY BOTTLE AND THE DAUBER STYLE.

See below for pictures of some of the Inks we tested out.

























































ANOTHER PRODUCT WE HAVE TESTED THAT WORKS GREAT IS TESTORS ENAMEL PENS. THEY WORK GREAT AS WELL. ENAMEL IS THE WAY TO GO IF YOU WANT TO USE BRUSHES ALSO. SEE BELOW FOR SOME OF THE RESULTS.



***Please do not punch thick strong materials. This Punch can break if misused. If it is really hard to punch then don't punch it. There is a section down below that discusses materials we have tested.***

ITEMS WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY MADE PICKS FROM WITH OUR PUNCH:

If you do not see a material we have tested let us know and we will test it. Please note that although our punch was designed to punch materials with as little possible effort, some users may find it difficult to punch some materials.

*see note below

CREDIT CARDS GIFT CARDS BUS PASSES GYM PASSES PHOTO ID CARDS DRIVERS LICENSES

CARDBOARD/PAPER (punches it but not very durable for picking)

MAGNETIC SHEETING (not durable but alot of possibilities here with pick shaped magnet sheeting with craft related ideas) (we may sell the magnetic sheeting on our site)

PLASTIC LIDS PLASTIC BOTTLES PLASTIC PLACE MATS

PLASTIC WRAP ON STORE ITEMS (the kind is hard to tear and that cuts your hands)

CELLULOID SHEETING - (MANY THICKNESS AND STYLES AVAILABLE SOON THAT YOU CANT GET ANYWHERE ELSE) Some of the sheet samples I have are works of art!

POLYCARBONATE SHEETING *CAUTION see note below (MAYBE AVAILABLE ON OUR SITE. MORE TESTS NECESSARY TO DETERMINE IF WE WILL CARRY THIS PRODUCT)

VINYL SHEETING (AVAILABLE SOON ON OUR SITE)

CDS/DVDS *styles that can be divided in half work best* My favorite recycled picks were made from CDs that split in half and then punched. Some have hologram/rainbow appearance. We have tested many of these and some companies make them from one solid piece with the magnetic media on the outside and some make them with the magnetic media sandwiched between two thinner disks. The sandwiched ones we found we could use after separating the two halves. *CAUTION see next section below But don't punch the CDs or DVDs that are regular thickness. They are just too thick and tough to punch and shatter also.

FELT *CAUTION see next section below

* see next section below for items we had problems with

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ITEMS WE HAD PROBLEMS PUNCHING

We are continually improving our punch and would like for them never to break but there are some materials that are just too hard on our little punch.

SOME CDS/DVDS (we only had luck with the ones that will split in half after cutting with scissors around the outside of the CD/DVD. Full thickness CD/DVD are VERY difficult to punch and could break the punch) IMPORTANT!Although they will probably punch this type material we can not guarantee the punch will not break. It takes enormous pressure to punch this type material.

HARD PLASTIC RULERS AND SIMILAR ITEMS (some of these items are just too hard to punch out and the punch might break - avoid these materials)

SOME FELT (some of the felt samples got stuck in the punch and could break the punch if used)

LEATHER (thicker leather tends to get stuck in punch and could break the punch)

POLYCARBONATE SHEETING (very thick polycarbonate could break the punch)

CD COVERS (just too brittle to punch. all the picks we punched on cd covers cracked or shattered. They might break the punch eventually.

FIBERGLASS SHEETING IN 1.0MM TO 1.5MM we were told that it was difficult to punch this by one customer.

METAL SHEETING (not tested but I would think the punch would not last very long punching metal)

We suggest using materials that do not require a huge amount of force to be applied to the punch to prevent damage or possibly breaking the punch. Our punch can generate huge forces. Please use caution when selecting materials to punch. Some materials may break or bend the punch. If you want to extend the life of your punch we suggest using materials that take less pressure to punch.

FINISHING TECHNIQUES WE HAVE USED ON PICKS WE HAVE MADE SUCCESSFULLY

1. NO FINISH. THE PICKS WILL WORK WELL UNFINISHED AND EVENTUALLY THE EDGES FINISH OFF THEMSELVES ON YOUR STRINGS. WE PREFER TO FINISH OFF THE NICER HARDER MATERIALS ALTHOUGH.

2. OUR MOST SUCCESSFUL TECHNIQUE IS TO FINISH THE PICKS BY HAND AND THAT IS THE WAY THEY USED TO BE MADE: STARTING WITH APPROXIMATELY 120 GRIT SANDPAPER SAND OFF ANY ROUGH EDGES. IF YOU HAVE A DRILL PRESS THEN BUY A MEDIUM OR FINE GRIT FLAPPER WHEEL TO HELP. BUT WE FOUND THE HAND FINISHING IS HOW YOU GET THE BEST RESULTS. MAKE SURE THAT YOU GIVE HARDER MATERIALS A BEVEL EDGE FOR BETTER RESULTS. AFTER USING THE 120 GRIT SANDPAPER THEN FINISH OFF WITH SOME CROCUS CLOTH 605GRIT OR SUPER FINE SANDPAPER. WE SUGGEST BUYING ONLY SANDPAPER THAT IS ACTUALLY CLOTH INSTEAD OF PAPER AND IT WILL LAST A LONG TIME. *Other sand paper combinations will work. We do suggest using at least two different grits to complete the finishing.

3. TUMBLER METHOD (NOT TRIED YET) SOME PICK COMPANIES USE TUMBLERS TO FINISH OFF THEIR PICK EDGES. THEY USE MATERIALS SUCH AS PUMICE AND CRUSHED CORN COBS AND OTHER MATERIALS. WE JUST PURCHASED A TUMBLER AND WE WILL GIVE YOU OUR RESULTS SOON.

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GENERAL PICK RELATED INFORMATION:

Some great sources out there.

Pick! by Will Hoover (A great book about everything guitar picks related) I love this book!

Google has quite a few videos related to making guitar picks. Many are just guys cutting them out of plastics but there are some really good ones out there.

Making guitar picks is pretty easy. If all you need is a pick and you don't really need to print something on them then it is super easy. Most of the difficulties in guitar pick making come in when printing them. I have printed guitar picks with just a stamp with plastic compatable inks and they look great. If you want to just make one of a kind picks then just do them by hand.

PRINTING METHODS: There are many ways to print on plastic including, hot foil stamping, pad printing, printing machines, stamps, etc.

RUBBER STAMP SECTION

MAKING YOUR OWN RUBBER STAMPS FOR GUITAR PICK PRINTING:

I found at least four different ways to make stamps that would work well for guitar picks. I will experiment with these more but I am sure they would all work well. I did find that if you print out a logo on regular paper and then place it face down on a sheet of eraser stamp material and rub it from the back then the negative image will transfer to the eraser ready to be carved out. You can also draw with regular pencils and rub the back and it works well for hand drawn. Let me tell you that the results are absolutely better than any store bought printing methods I have ever seen. Where can you get hand drawn, custom hand cut stamp images on picks? These I believe will be truly amazing and probably the crown jewel of all our do-it-yourself printing methods.

BANDS KEEP THIS IN MIND ...WHEN YOU HAVE PICKS MADE THE PICK SHOPS MANY TIMES MAKE EXTRA ONES SO IF YOU THINK THERE ARE 500 OF A CERTAIN PICK OUT THERE THINK AGAIN. IF YOU REALLY WANT A TRUE COLLECTIBLE THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR OWN STAMP. I HAVE VIDEOS BELOW ON STAMP MAKING AND YOU CAN MAKE WORKS OF ART AND PRINT THEM YOURSELF AND KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IS OUT THERE. You will never be able to produce these on a computer!

How much do you think a Handmade guitar pick from a famous band would cost if the picks were made from custom or handmade stamps from a band member? At least you can be more confident that there are not as many fakes or "extra" printed picks out there diluting the market. You will have the stamp and make them yourself!

Method #1 is to make eraser stamps. Here is a great video showing how to do it. Some people use lead pencil drawing and then rub it onto the stamp material so you get the reverse image. There are four movies in this series this is jut the first one.



Method #2 This is a stamp made from cheap foam sheets. The results are really great with these. I will give this a shot eventually but believe it will work with the StazOn ink and plastic. IGNORE THE PICTURE HERE. IT DOES NOT REALLY SHOW WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS VIDEO.



Method #3 The third method is to use a Cricut machine. They cost about 200 or 300 dollars and you have to get some other items also but these work great! There is a software package out there called "Sure Cuts Alot" that works with this machine for another 75 dollars and you can make your own logos and use any tru type font on the internet. But the key for us is the logos. Here is a general video about the Cricut making stamps. I warn you that if you ever get a Cricut machine you will forever be lost in their world. This stuff is very addictive. You can do all kinds of stuff with this machine making stamps is just one small idea.



Method #4 is to pay something like 12 dollars and have someone make the stamp for you. All you need is a black and white image and send it to them. Me personally I like the idea of a handmade one that can't be copied.



Hot foil Stamping guitar picks:

Is done by pressing a heated printplate through color foil onto the guitar pick. The high temperature and pressure activates the glue on the color foil, and it's glued onto the surface. This is a very durable way of printing.

Small ways, medium ways, and large scale ways of printing hot foil: The most common mistake is printing guitar picks using hot foil is trying to print using small details and thin lines.

Here is small, medium, and large scale type hot foil printing videos of other items being printed so you get the idea how picks are made.

A short video about a product that lets you hot foil: There are other hot foil pens out there that are only about $10 to $20 dollars including foil.

A hot foil press video:



Another hot foil press video: (I have one of these and they are very very useful for all kinds of projects.



A great video showing the new 3D Plotter stamp making machine:





MORE PRINTERS: Some companies just print on to cards and pre-punch out the cards. Pretty simple isn't it?







This video shows how to make stamps from a 3D Printer Pen: (These look really nice and a great idea)

Here is a guy making his own stamp from a printer and eraser:



The folks at Lutherie.net have a really nice article about guitar picks. http://www.lutherie.net/picks.html

Here is something new I have been thinking about trying. The idea is to use a soap bar and then make the stamp by casting the stamp. I can see doing this to a small piece of soap and then using some type of rubber casting material or something with some flex to it and make your own stamp. If someone tries this please send me some pictures. I think this will work great and it appears to be a cheap way to make stamps.



Here is a video of our new Guitar Player Gift Pack



Here is a Video of our new collar stay punch



Lastly who could forget Wikipedia. Here is their link to "guitar pick". Which has some general information on picks.