DIY Metal Stamping

As the holiday approach and the leaves start to fall, it’s a great time of year to start some crafting projects.  I love to craft some things that I can give as gifts.  They are thoughtful, unique and often, inexpensive.  I’ve done a lot of crafts over the years, but I’ve never tried metal stamping.  It was surprisingly easy.  I had some vintage silver spoons lying around (mismatched), and I purchased some metal blanks and keychain attachments from the Etsy store Extremely Charming.

I also purchased a bench block (small metal block) on Amazon.  (They don’t have the one I purchased anymore.) and a stamping set from Plaid Barn. (They don’t always carry the same items.)  I had a hammer already.

From here, the rest is really simple….take the item you want to stamp, place it on the metal block and hit it with the hammer.  There are two tricky parts.  First, make sure you measure out and plan the word you want to punch.  Once you start, you can’t erase it and if you don’t leave enough room, you’re in trouble.  Secondly, you need to hold the item in place while making sure you don’t hit your fingers.  Hit the punch hard enough so that you indent the item you’re stamping and don’t have to hit it over again over again.  Doing so, increases the likelihood that you won’t get a clean stamp.

I made five key chains and four spoons.  The process was fairly quick once I got the hang of it and it’s something that’s customized and special to the person I’m gifting it to.  It’s also something I can do over and over again.  These supplies don’t dry up over time.  Well worth the investment and no training needed!