Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi. I'm really excited you're here. I'm Wendy. And this is intro to hand stumping metal jewelry. I've always loved the way that hand stamped jewelry looks. And with a little bit of research and tons of trial and error, I learned how to do it myself. I'm really hoping this class is gonna make it much easier for you. The first piece of jewelry made with simply a gift for a baby sitter. And as I practiced and got better, I decided to make an Etsy shop to sell my jewellery. Right now, hands stamping jewelry is more accessible than ever, due to the fact that most hobby stores carry all the tools and supplies that you'll need to get started. It's a really fun, creative outlet. And it's also a great way to surprise people with meaningful and personalized gifts and keepsakes. I'm gonna do my best to give you a budget friendly hacks and tips. I'm gonna help you get started and let you know all the tools and supplies you're gonna need. I'm gonna help you practice before you commit Teoh hand stamp in your mouth jewelry. And I'm also gonna guide you through a really fun class project, which is gonna be a simple hands camp dependent. The one thing I do want you to know about and stamp jewelry is it doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, I really believe that the imperfections in each piece only adds character and charm. So just kind of check your perfectionism at the door and have a great time. I really hope that you're gonna find this class to be really informative and fun, so let's go.
2. Tools & Supplies: So now we're gonna talk about the tools and supplies that you're gonna need to get started . First. You're gonna need stance. There are a lot of different types of stamps. It depends on your goal. But what I would suggest it's starting with something very simple. This is the very first stamps it I ever bought, and it's from a hardware store. It was very inexpensive, and it works fine. Its upper case and I don't really know the size, but stamps come in a lot of different sizes. So, like I said, it depends on what you're stamping. How big your pieces. So keep that in mind some of the other stamps that I got over time after I started stooping Mawr and realizing that I needed different sizes. I've got upper case that a really tiny I've got different lower case, so it's just it depends on what you're needed. So just keep in mind that there are different sizes, cases, different sizes, stance, different cases of the alphabet. There are even number stamps and different fonts, so you can really go crazy, but save that for later. Also, they're designed stance meeting. You can get different pictures. So they're waves, trees, pop, print things like that. So next you are going to need a hammer. I would suggest sticking with a smaller hammer. If you get a hammer that's too big, like a construction hammer. You're not gonna have the kind of control and you risk hurting your fingers or just messing up your your stamping. In general, I would go with a smaller, more controllable size. You can try and mallet. That's probably gonna be a little bit of trial and error decided that works for you. But this is just I think I got this at the hardware store as well. So nothing fancy and nothing expensive. Next, we have an ankle. This is basically my stamping block. It's solid metal, and all it does is ensure that I am stamping on a very hard surface. Next, if you don't have a work surface that can get beat up or dirty, like in your garage or anywhere else, I would suggest going with a sandbag to put your amble on top of If you're stamping and say your dining room table, I doubt you're gonna want this anvil directly on your table. It will probably dent it. So this Sambou this sandbag takes the brunt of the force when you are hands stamping on the anvil. Next thing is Matthew, take, I would go with a thinner, masking tape, But this is just what I had and I cut it. Basically, what you're gonna do with the masking tape is you're gonna take a piece and you're going to put it on either side or you're gonna just use it to secure your your piece of jewelry to your animal. The next thing you want is a piece of sheet metal. This is the piece of sheet metal I used to practice my stamping before I tried on my metal jewelry. Especially if it's something new that I haven't tried before. Like a design stamp or a new idea that I have spacing size things like that. You decide that you don't have Doria, but you still want to try this project. Please do. All you need to do is get something. That's a circle. This is a key chain. Put it down. Trace it. And the backing that little section that could be your pendant. Teoh practice. There are so many different kinds of jewelry or items that you can snap. For instance, this is a piece of rhodium, which is probably the cheapest metal that I've found. I've got this in a pack, but I believe these end up being less than 20 cents apiece. I use this as a key chain. I just put a little hole in it and stamp what I want. Here's sterling silver, which is probably certainly silver and gold are going to be the most expensive, but these are different shapes and sizes, and they'll all work. Another option is just a simple brass piece, very inexpensive. And then this is pewter, different sizes again, different shapes. And it's pure, very inexpensive. I don't feel like you have to get started with the most expensive or the highest quality metal. I would actually start on the opposite end. I would go, is cheap and inexpensive and just is easy. As you condemn. Don't don't think you have to be toppled. One. After you hand stamp, you're gonna see these three intentions. You can use a simple Sharpie to fill in the letters that you stamped or leave it like you don't have to darken it. I prefer the way dark looks on some pieces, and I prefer the way that it looks without a Sharpie. On other pieces, they do sell a specific marker four metal jewelry. But again, like Sharpie, I'm sure you have at home. This is a fine tip Sharpie. Just use that. It's cheap. When you're done stamping your jewelry, you might want a polishing cloth just to shine it up. It might get fingerprints on it or anything like that. It's that easy. If you just want. You don't actually need a jewelry polishing cloth. You could use a dish towel or something that soft. So yeah, that's it. I think we're ready to go. The one thing I do want to advise is, before you go out and buy stamps, I want you to think about the fact that the high the upper case letters are gonna be easier to stamp when you start. The reason is all uppercase letters lay or sit on the same baseline meeting. They're all the same height, and they all the bottom of the letters all line up when you are hands stamping. Lower case. You have different baselines. For instance, a B, the letter B will have one baseline. Where the letter. Why the bottom part of the wide drops below the baseline of the B. So you're going to want to have something that isn't so complex to start. Just start with all upper case. It just makes it much easier. You can focus on your kind of your technique to start or if you do want to get lower case because you like lower case letters. Better start with the worldly love L O V E all fall on the same baseline. There's no shifting stance around to figure out how to make him line up. Just stick with all the lower case letters that all on the same baseline. So that would be my advice for which stamps you decide to purchase.
3. Where To Buy: Now that we've talked about what to get, let's talk about where to get it. You can pretty much go to any hobby store nowadays in my area. I've got Joan's Michaels and Hobby lobby. All of those places offer coupons weekly on either on the app on their one site may be in the newspaper. I don't get the newspaper anymore, but I'm sure that you know those those options are available. You can get jewelry pieces. This is a simple pewter piece that waas four bucks to start. But I guarantee you are either how to coupon or it was on sale. I this point, I never buy any DRI supplies or tools full price that you don't need. Teoh. You can also buy letter sets stamp sets at the hobby supply stores. They do have a bunch of different font sizes cases, so you're you're probably gonna get more of an option than I had when I started. And also coupons Don't forget your coupons, because I think I got this at 50% off, So I believe maybe it was $20 to start, so I ended up paying 10 for it. Like I mentioned before, Also, you can go to hardware stores. I got my first stamp set a hardware store. You may or may not find that. Now. I'm not sure how how common that is, but hammers things like that. You can get all of that stuff at a hardware store.
4. Workspace: Let's talk about workspace. Um, I have a work space in an indoor patio attached to our house. We don't have a studio. I don't have anything like that. I don't have a specific room for it. Actually using my kids old changing table from when they were babies. It's, you know, it's beat up, whatever. But this is something that I don't mind if it gets dented or stained or marked on. So this has been ideal for me. If you're using something like your kitchen table or your kitchen dining room table, that's completely OK because those things I mentioned, like a sandbag t protect the surface. Or this is a cutting that if you've got something like a map T to protect your work surface , that's fine, too. You just need somewhere where you've got space, Teoh. Lay your tools out and you know, just a little bit of elbow room to work. If you guys based in your garage, that's great, too. So just kind of start with whatever you have. Please don't think that you need some special studio to get set up, because I certainly don't. So let's get started
5. Practice Stamping: I want to start by showing you some of the pieces that I've made so that you know what's possible. There's plenty more that you can do. But this is just an example of what I've made. Some necklaces, a key chain, a couple of different bracelets with some meaningful coordinates and a little bit different kind of bracelet. But with with those same coordinates when choosing what word you want to use were initials . Consider the size of your blank something like this, I would say. Maybe four letters maximum. Something like this. Maybe three letters maximum until you get a little bit more practice and you can figure out spacing a little bit better. Also, it depends on what stamp size you have. So take all those things into consideration when you decide what you're stamping on and what word you are stamping. Next thing I want to mention is to take your time patients is huge when you are stamping any time I've rushed, I have messed up seal of these. It could be stamping letters upside down or backward, but let me say, if you do have a piece of metal that you stamp on and you mess up, use it as a practice. Peace if you're not. I mean, if it's already messed up, use it, keep using it. See this? I kept practicing and practicing and practicing all of these. I kept practicing, so keep that in mind. If you do mess up, you can always use it is a lesson Learned something I want to mention is when you stamp, you can dio you can do it a few different ways. If you've got a three letter word, you can either start with the middle If you have your tape is your guide. And you know your piece is this wide, you can come in and say Okay, I want my middle letter here. So then you could start by stamping your middle letter over your mark. And then from there, you'll know. Okay, my first letter in my last letter. Go on either side of that or if you have a three letter word and you think that's too difficult, just go in order and just give yourself You could do the same thing. Give yourself a mark of saying okay. I think I want my first letter to start where that mark is let's practice on our sheet metal. First, I want you to pick what stamps you're gonna use. I have my three letters. I'm going to do initials D J and s. I've got my initials in the order, the letters in the order that I'm going to stamp them and I'm going to keep them in order. I have my sheet metal ready to go, and we're going to start with masking tape. I'm going to get a couple of cases to secure my sheet metal to my surface, and I'm going to have another piece for the baseline of my letters. I'm going to pick my first letter, and I'm going to make sure that my letter is facing the right way. A fun little trick for, if you're not sure, is to use a stamp pad and a blank piece of paper, take your stamp and decide which way you were going to stamp it. Put it on the pad and Stanford on a piece of paper. Well, that's a D. And to me, that looks backwards. So I am going to turn my d around. Try it again. Okay, That's right. I'm gonna use use my staff this way. I'm going to wipe it off on a piece of paper towel and get started. So my stamp is facing the right direction. I'm holding my stamp firmly and I get my hammer. How hard you strike your stamp is going to be up to your strength. It will be some trial and error. First, I'm going to place my stamp flecked completely flat on my surface and I'm going to slide it . So slide it until I feel my letter hit the edge of my baseline. So I'm putting it down flat sliding it. I felt it stop. Which means my letter is now on the baseline of my tape. I'm holding my stamp firmly. I'm going to take my hammer and I'm going to strike straight down straight down on my stamp . I have practiced, so I know that I'm going to hit my stamp three times. But because I will strike it a different strength than you, you're gonna have to practice. How many times? That's what this is for. Let's do the first letter. I'm holding my stamp firmly. Here I go three times now I'm looking at my stamp, but I think maybe I want to stamp it a little bit harder next time, so that's okay. I'm gonna go to my next stamp. I'm gonna make sure it's the right way. I'm gonna put my stamp down flat slide it. It caught on the tape, so I know it's in the right position. This time. I'm going to hit a little bit harder. Okay? I like the intention of that. So now I'm gonna do my next stamp the same way. And I'm going to use my lex letter. EPPS, I'm putting my stamp down flat. I'm sliding it. I'm holding my stand firmly, and here I go. My goal is to stamp flat, flat, flat on top. If you do not stamp flat, one side of your letter or the other might be more indented. Okay, that one skipped, which means I was not holding my stamp firm enough, so I'm gonna try it again in a different spot. That's what this is about. It's about practice. Okay, I'm gonna try it again. So, going back to my first letter and putting it down flat, sliding it and I'm holding the stamp firmly reposition your hand if you're not sure if that's the way you want it. Here we go. That one felt good, Chairman X later. Yep, that felt good. So now I know what strength I'm gonna hit my my stamp with. And I know how many times I'm going to snap it again, holding the stamp firmly. I'm pressing. I'm also pressing down on the sale. All right, I like that. So that's what I'm gonna do when it comes time, Teoh stamp on my actual piece of jewelry. If it helps you watch this video a couple of times and practice all over until you get it. Just how you want it rewatch and re watch and rewatch if you need Teoh.
6. Stamping Your Pendant: OK, now it's time to stamp on your piece of jewelry. You should have practised a few times on your sheet metal or on a spare piece of jewelry that you have that you didn't mind messing up. But now let's go for it. So in this case, I'm gonna get my and bow and I am going. Teoh, Since this has a around piece on it, I'm putting that over the top of my anvil. It makes it a little bit easier for me to make the dependant lay flat. I'm gonna get a nice fresh piece of masking tape and I'm gonna use this edge of the masking tape as the baseline for where I want to stamp. Let's start with my first letter, my stance, her in order. I'm going to just stamp in order of my letters, I'm holding my stamped firmly and pressing down. I like that next to the J. I can see a tiny bit of a mirror image and the reflection of my metal, and that's also helping me line up my letters. I think you'll be able to tell what I'm talking about. When you do it yourself. There's my J I like that. Even though it went a little below the line. I am okay with that. I like that And my s. I like that a lot. As you can see, the spacing is not perfect. Even the baseline is not perfect. But you know what? I am definitely okay with that. I really like the way that turned out. And the best part is those initials Air meaningful to me. So I will wear this. Now I want to show you what it looks like if you use the Sharky. I don't want to use the Sharpie on the piece that I just stamped. I really like the way it looks without the Sharpie. So I'm going to show you an example on my sheet metal. Here is one of my practice, uh, initials that I just territo. Okay, now that I have used the Sharpie to fill on the black, I am going to get a paper towel and wipe away any excess black on the outside. Just clean it up a little bit, and you may need to use your nail or even get a little bit with and you can really see on this D how it stands out stands out a little bit more than maybe these letters that weren't darkened. Now comes the time when you might want to use your polishing cloth. You may not need it at this point, but if you have a lighter piece may be a silver piece. You can see fingerprints on a solar piece. So you would wanna really polish it up so that it looks really nice and shiny. I'm gonna go ahead and publish this anyway and see what it looks like. Yeah, I like that.
7. Final Thoughts: Thank you so much for taking this cost with me and learning the basics of hand stepping metal jewelry. I hope you had a good time. I cannot wait to see what you guys do with your cost projects. So please, please, please take photos and post them in the project salary below. Also, you can take pictures of your workspace or progress photos as you're doing Your class project also asked me any questions you can think of in the comments. And I will definitely get back to you. I really look forward to interacting with you and helping you out. So thanks again. I'll see you next time.
Wendi Solari, photography + art + jewelry
