Here's my collection of e-ki stamps!

...As you can see, it's empty.

What's an e-ki stamp, anyways?

Have you ever been to a train station in Japan?

I haven't. But while I was researching ink stamps - so I could design one to use on my topbar - I discovered eki stamps!

An eki stamp is a collectible ink-stamp found at train stations in Japan. They're usually circular, and each stamp features a respresentation of the station it came from on the design. Visitors stamp them into stamp books to show that they've been to that station.

Sound familiar? It's pretty similar to how we use buttons on our websites. So I wondered, why not combine the two?

An e-ki stamp is the same thing as an eki stamp...

...only online!

A usually-circular graphic styled after an ink stamp with only one color (two at a push), which people can collect when they visit your site!

But what's so great about them?

I'm glad you asked!

They're compact!

Want to make an e-ki wall? Circles fit together beautifully in a honeycomb pattern!

Prefer a square layout? It'll still work. And maybe you could fit some smaller e-kis in-between... or just wedge some full-sized e-kis in there!

They're versatile!

Crowded together or standalone, circles will always look good! You could have a page dedicated to each stamp you find with a caption to describe what you love so much about them. You could have just a few stamps on each page, arranged to represent the sites they come from... Or you could just crowd as many as possible onto a single page - they're transparent, so you'll get some pretty cool effects!

They're customizable!

Want an element of your e-ki stamp to hang over the edge? No worries! With 81x33 buttons and DeviantArt stamps you'd have to make the main body smaller... or increase the size of the graphic as a whole, which can mess with the formatting of button and stamp walls. But since e-ki stamps are circular graphics on a square image, there's plenty of spare room to get creative!

Want your e-ki stamp to hold a sword? No problem! A coat of arms or a skull-and-crossbones? Still fits just fine! Want a hexagonal or diamond-shaped stamp to stand out? That works too!

They're iconic!

There's a reason ink stamps have been used for so long. A single-color design pops!

No need for a standard size!

The internet has grown since buttons and stamps - there's more than enough pixels to go around, now. Why bother enforcing a standard size at all?

Circles don't need to fit in a box anyways! They work well with other circles, no matter the size - think of bubbles, raindrops on a window, pawprints across the page or a stylized flower with circular petals!

And they're just plain fun to make!

So, a webring?

That's the plan!

This will be a webring for sites with an e-ki stamp somewhere inside them! So get drawing and I... will figure out how to code in javascript!

(I've been coding in C-family languages for years - don't worry, it shouldn't take too long to learn!)

Here's the rules:

• Your site must have an e-ki stamp!

  • It should represent you or your site in some way!
  • The main page will only feature static stamps with a single color.
  • There might eventually be a page for moving e-kis and for e-kis with multiple colors, but they won't be accepted to start off, and they won't be the focus.

• Your site must have at least one page of content!

  • If you can experience the whole site with a glance, that's not enough!
  • An about-me, a shrine, a blog... you've put effort into your e-ki stamp - make sure the destination can do it justice!

• The page you link to must include this webring's widget!

  • A webring is a chain - don't be the missing link!
  • (still figuring out how I want to make it... stay tuned!)

• For NSFW content:

  • The page you link to must have none!
  • Anything more than artistic nudity on your site must have warnings!

• Zero tolerance for:

  • hate-speech and discrimination.
  • violence and gore.
  • illegal content and substance abuse.
  • Artistic depictions of these are acceptable with warnings, but encouraging or defending them in any way is not.
  • This applies to you and your users. If you have a guestbook or submissions page, moderate them!

• I reserve the right to remove webring members for any reason!

  • So use your common sense!

Contact Mie!

If you're interested in joining the webring, send Mie an email: Mie@MieCreates.art!

Update 2026-01-01: If you messaged Mie before now, you might need to send it again! I had my email address set up wrong...