Here’s the story of little me trying to create a metal jewelry tag with metal stamping for my upcoming jewelry line.
Let’s start from the very beginning!
Before deciding on making my jewelry tag with metal stamping, I threw myself into researching all that I can about how it’s done, watching countless Youtube tutorials, reading up on the tools and techniques required, researching different metal stamping retailers, etc.
With all that, it never occurred to me that getting a clear impression (leaving a clear mark on the metal after striking the stamp with a hammer) would be so difficult. From what I’ve seen and read, it didn’t seem to require much strength.
So as excited as I was day dreaming about the perfect jewelry tag for my jewelry line, I quickly ordered the tools and a custom metal stamp with my logo on it. It took a while for it to all arrive, but soon enough arrive it did.
I teared open my packages one by one, and with my 1lb brass hammer in hand and copper metal blanks on a bench block, I placed my first strike with the custom metal stamp. BA-BAM!!
And…nothing.
Well, not nothing. But hardly anything. It left nothing but a faint mark of a part of the logo behind. I spent a good afternoon banging the crap out of my metal stamp, but was unable to get the whole of the logo impressed.
Disappointed as I was, I went back to researching on the internet, which brought me to buy all sorts of other metal stamping tools such as a heavier brass hammer (2lb this time), leather cushions, stamp steady blocks, etc. And of course, as mentioned in the video, I decided to buy a regular letter stamp to see for myself why it looked so easy to hammer for other people on the Youtube tutorials.
And…the rest is as seen in the video. I bought the regular letter stamp set, compared it to my custom logo stamp, and wah-la. I was able to stamp perfectly fine with the regular letter stamp. Just not with my logo stamp.
Thus, the story of my struggles metal stamping.
To be continued again, next time. *Cue dramatic music*
For now, thank you so much for letting me share my story with you. I hope you have a lovely day, or night, wherever you are in the world.
Lots ❤︎
Shih-hua
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Here are some metal stamping tools/shops I highly recommend!
Stamp Steady Stamping Block, great for shaky hands:
➸ https://www.beaducation.com/zen_products/5186-stamp-steady-stamping-block
Dead Blow Hammer, a must for stamping design stamps/large letter stamps:
➸ https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-30709-Dead-Hammer-48-Ounce/dp/B00GMN4F3C/ref=lp_553198_1_2?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1466182668&sr=1-2
Jewelers Anvil, the heavier the better. Much better than stamping on a bench block, which leaves a mark behind with each strike, and we don’t want that impress on the back of our metal blanks.
A regular letter metal stamp set. GET ONE BEFORE ORDERING YOUR CUSTOM STAMP. If that’s what you’re doing, and you’re a newbie like me, trust me on this one. Don’t make the same mistake as I did, and test it out with a letter stamp first so you know what works for your custom stamp and what doesn’t. It’ll save you the money, energy, and heartache.
Well-known metal stamping tools supplier, Impress Art:
➸ https://www.impressart.com
My favourite metal stamping tools and metal blanks supplier:
➸ https://www.beaducation.com
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