We recently started playing with letter stamps, and let me tell you, it is addictive!  We carry a number of blank silver pendants and charms.  In the last few months, we’ve received quite a few questions about stamping: how is it done, which pieces do we recommend, does it work on our gold plate?  We decided to experiment and find out! We set up a workstation in our office with the basic tools (steel plate, heavy brass hammer, set of steel alphabet stamps) and went to work. See our classroom for more detailed step by step instructions and tool information on stamping. After playing for about an hour, this is what we discovered:

Thicker silver takes letter stamps very nicely.

1. The cleanest results were achieved when stamping on thicker silver, such as our plain round disks, rectangle disks, etc.  The letters stamped fairly deeply into the silver without bending the overall pendants.  The back of the pendants have minor scuff marks opposite the letters, but both sides of the pendant are still flat.  See our “groovy” example below.

2. The new thinner spangles work with the stamping, but result in a more rough, handmade look.  The thinner silver spangles disks become warped after being stamped with the alphabet letters.  The letters also show through on the back of the disk.  Additionally, the silver became depressed around the letters, making them a bit more indistinct.  We found the letters difficult to read until we added black dry erase marker to them.  See our “love me tender” example.  If you like the DYI look, the spangles are very charming and offer a larger surface area for a longer message or poem.

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Stamping thinner spangles result in a handmade, DYI look.

Stamped letters show through on the back of thinner spangles.

3. Stamped letters show through on the back of thinner spangles. Lining up and evenly spacing the letters was more challenging than expected! Even letter placement will probably improve with practice, and there’s something charming about the slightly off-kilter layout of the words.

4. Finding the right force to use with the hammer was also challenging.  It worked best when the heavy hammer was just dropped, almost without force, straight down.  Consistency was key: it looked a little strange when some letters were deep and some were shallow (notice the deep “y” on the “groovy” tag – I used too much force and hit it at an angle instead of straight down).

5. We tried stamping on the back of a gold plate hammer finish pendant, as on this “live, love, laugh” example.  The front of the pendant was a little scuffed opposite the letters, but the satin finish on the gold mostly hid the scuffing.  I like old, slightly used things, so I don’t mind the scuffing and would definitely use this gold plate pendant.

Try stamping on Gold Plate for a rich look.

Slight scuffing is visible on the front after stamping on the back.

6. Finally, stamping is addictive!  Once we got started, we had all kinds of ideas…like hanging little charms from the jumpring on the spangle, above the poem; stamping initials and dates for anniversary and birthdays; using cute phrases like “hugs & kisses” or “redheads rule” – let your imagination run wild!