Metal Stamping: The Game Is Afoot

So there are literally dozens of metal stamping tutorials by people who are way waaaaay more qualified than me to make one but here's my take on it anyway. I'm not sure why to be honest, but you know how there're all those things that are like 'For the people, by the people' So it's kinda like that. 'For the beginner, by a beginner'. Of course, it could also be seen as the blind leading the blind but I digress.

So of course to begin, you'd need materials. Starting metal stamping can be fairly pricey, even with the bare minimum. The stamps alone are usually about US$20 and the metal blanks that you'd stamp on can also add to the price.

Materials

• Metal Stamps
• Metal blanks/Flatwire
• Hammer 
• Hard surface to stamp on 
• (Masking) tape 
• Permanent Marker

Metal Stamps

I got my metal stamps from a slightly dubious seller on Amazon that sent me two sets of uppercase stamps when I had ordered uppercase and lowercase due to a listing error. I got refunded for one set tho so it's all good. But anyway, if you live in the US there are many places to get stamps like Harbor Freight, Etsy, Hobby Lobby (Don't forget to put in the 40% off coupon) or Beaducation. If you live outside of the US then I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to maybe call in a favour from a US friend or just pay the ridiculous shipping fee.

I would recommend getting a 3mm set to start with because it's not too small that it can't be read but it's big enough that you can fit phrases in tight spaces. For reasons I have yet to uncover, lowercase stamps are almost always more expensive than uppercase stamps. If you're willing to spend that little extra money though, then go for it!

Blanks

The next absolute necessity, would be the metal blanks. I was pretty set on making cuffs and rings so I got some flat wire. I don't have any tags or blanks but those could be easily bought from Etsy. There's a whole assortment like round blanks or washers or guitar picks so what you want is really up to you. For cuffs, I think getting flat wire was the most economical option but be warned that given the thinner metal (18gauge/1mm) it remains slightly flexible after it's shaped but it really only if you mistreat it. You could also buy some cuff blanks instead. Those are usually about a millimeter wider. Do be warned that if you do get flat wire, there are a few other tools you may need but I'll get into that later. 

Miscellaneous 

For the 'Hard surface to stamp on' I would recommend a bench block but unfortunately, given the fact that those are literally just blocks of solid steel, shipping was too much for me and I improvised with a wooden board thing I found. I would strongly recommend getting a bench block if you're working on any metal that's thinner than 18gauge tho because the wood backing may not be hard enough and the metal may warp upon stamping. Many people are just satisfied hammering on concrete or even using a marble slab but the best option will always be a bench block. For the hammer, really any hammer would do but if you really wanna get fancy you could buy a stubby hammer. 

You could also invest in a metal stamping kit like this one if you're willing to put in the money. This set is really worth it though in my opinion. It gives you everything you need to get started and enough to keep you going for a long while. 

Well then, that was really wordy, I'm sorry. Anyway, moving on to putting those tools to use. 

It says (lighter) under my 'I' stamp because with the smaller area of the letter, you don't have to hammer as hard. 

The first thing that you'd wanna do is to letter your stamps. This way, you you can line them up to spell your words and you can always make sure your letters are gonna be facing the right way when you stamped. I haven't had any backwards letters yet thanks to this system. 

Step One:Cutting and marking

 If you're using flat wire like me, you'd have to cut the wire to size. For a nice fitting cuff, measure the exact diameter of your wrist and subtract 1/2 an inch. So since my wrist is 5.5 inches, my wire should be 5 inches. Then, you'd wanna mark the center of your cuff. This will help to make sure your phrase is centered.  

I've decided on a quote from the TV show 'Psych'

Step Two: Planning 

When you've decided on a phrase, write it down and label each character, including spaces with a number. This shows you where the middle of your phrase is. In my case, it's between 'I' and 'T'. So the 'I' will be the letter right before the center marking and the 'T' will be right after it. I usually start with the second half of the phrase so as you can see on top, I've got my letters laid out according to the sequence. 

Step Three: Stamping 

This is where the masking tape comes in. It's not absolutely necessary. but I find it helps to keep the metal down. The tape at the bottom also helps to make sure my letters are in a relatively straight line. It's not very apparent, but in the second picture, you can actually kinda see the reflection of the stamp in the metal. Use that reflection to guide you in whether your stamp is in the correct position. 

Also, make sure you stamp in the middle of the wire. If you stamp too near the top or bottom, your bracelet might start to bend downwards or upwards respectively. 

Once you're done with the second half, stamp the first half, starting from the middle letter ('I' in my case) and then go backwards. If you're curious about the screwdriver (1.4mm, flat) I have there, I use it as a single quotation mark. You could of course get a punctuation set in case but those are a little too pricey for me. 

Step Four: Ink it up. (Optional) 

If your happy with how it looks au naturel then great! You're done. If you want to make your letters stand out more though, this is what you needa do. I personally really like step four idk why i just find it really fun. Basically, all you need to do is trace your stamped letters, making sure you get ink into the grooves. Most people use a Sharpie and I do admit that the colour pops slightly better but it takes a little more for it to come off. That's why you may need a pro polish pad but a damp rag may also do the trick. I'm using Cretacolour and this ink seems to come off with a tissue fairly easily. 

Step Five: Rounding the edges. 

So those are the tools you'll need if you're using flat wire. If you have a blank cuff then feel free to skip this. 

• File
• Wire Cutter
• Sandpaper (400grit) 
• Nail Buffer

Unfortunately, just snipping the wire off from a roll leaves a sharp pointy edge. So you're gonna have to cut it, file it, sand it and buff it. It sounds like a lot but it's really actually quite simple. 

So firstly, you're gonna have to cut off the tips so you won't have as much to file

File the sides to round the edges. I suggest holding your file in place and moving your wire against it in the depicted motion.

Look at that nice rounded edge yay

This is optional but I find that filing this edge makes it less scratchy on the skin when you slide the cuff on

Now your edge is completely rounded and not stabby at all 

Sand the edges to make it smoother

Lastly, there's buffing to make it nice and shiny so it has more of a finished look. 

Shiny!

Step Six: Shaping the cuff

If you have a bracelet mandrel or nylon jaw bending pliers then of course use that. My way is more crude I guess. First, I bend it around something to round to get a rough C shape. Then I just grab both ends as shown and apply pressure with my thumbs until i get the shape in the last picture. You can of course twiddle with it until you're happy. Try it on a few times to test the fit and adjust accordingly. 

And voila you're done! Since my wire is just 5mm wide, I like to wear two at a time. It makes me jingle like a cow though but eh, whatever. 

Anyway, I hope you've learnt some stuff through this tutorial. If you want to make rings, it's basically the same process! I can't say for sure how long to make the wire though but 5cm works for me. I'm sorry if anything was messy or hard to understand it's kinda my first blog tutorial and my second blog post. I'm still learning! That is of course very apparent in the stuff I've made as well but you know, nobody's perfect. Except maybe Tom Hiddleston because damn son, are you even real?  

Let's go through some of my more prominent flubs though, so maybe you can not make those same mistakes. Or laugh at me either way, your gain. 

Picture 1: The I is stamped too hard.
Picture 2: The D is slanted, the E is too soft.
Picture 3: My T is too high (like the prv picture as well whats up with me and Ts?). Interesting to note though, if your letter is too high, the top kinda warps because all you're doing when you stamp is pushing metal. 

If you look at my previous post, I also mention all the mistakes I made when I was making the rings. So with this, I leave you to explore the wonderful, expensive world of metal stamping. Enjoy!

okthatsallthankyoubye.

Metal Stamping: Testing The Waters

I know I'm probably 5 years too late to this trend but d a m n it's so addictive. Not only that but it;'s fairly simple and has none of the tedious processes that many other crafts have. It's almost literally just BAM BAM BAM and voila you have a new piece of jewelry now wear it and show it off to the world like the BAMF you are. 

After months of anticipation I finally ordered and received my metal stamps and flat wire. So of course, I got to work straight away.

My two passions are craft and TV shows can you tell. 

With the aid of a multitude of TV shows and movies, I stamped out these over the course of two days though that timing could have been condensed into one if I hadn't gone out because it's really that simple and that quick. The only drawback of metal stamping? I can't do it past 10pm unless I want to get angry neighbours at my door. 

Rings featuring the homes of superwholock 

So i decided to start off small with rings and unsurprisingly, I managed to make a separate mistake for each and everyone of them. It's fairly obvious that the 221B ring was my first one with the double impression of half the characters (and I still couldn't properly get the impression of the B despite that. I amaze myself sometimes). Then there's the TARDIS ring where I somehow stamped the 'I' into the edge of the D. Lastly, there's my KAZ 2Y5 ring that features a 'Y' that is seemingly being abducted my aliens

Of course, I still love each and every one of them despite the flaws the same way a mother would love her psychopathic serial killer child. Or maybe that wasn't the best analogy but you get the point. And anyway, these were  my first tries so you know I think I get a pass for that. 

Please excuse the lack of theme in my pictures, I wasn't planning a blog post and was playing around with my newly made lightbox
It has been pointed out to me by lexicalsanctuary (bless her heart) that I had made a terrible mistake with the quote on the firefly cuff. This of course means I am a disgrace to the fandom and have to go into hiding for at least a month. 

After the rings, I made the logical progression to cuffs. They seemed somewhat daunting initially because they all have much longer phrases ie more stamping but I think they turned out pretty okay aside from a few letters. 

Oddly enough, my quality seemed inversely proportional to the number of bracelets I made. Despite being my first cuff, 'Never Laugh At Live Dragons' seems to have the least flubs. My last cuff was 'Eat The Rude' that not only has inconsistent spacing but also slanted letters. Hm. How curious. 

Despite the fact that I am apparently shit at metal stamping, I actually really really love it. It's simple, easy, and the results are actually pretty great. As an added bonus, I also get to fashionably (I hope) show off my fandoms which I always love. 

okthatsallthankyoubye.