Stamp It!

So lately, I've been really into metal stamping my own bracelets and dog tags.  It's pretty easy and getting started is not that expensive.  The worst part is missing the stamp entirely with the hammer and getting your finger instead, which I have definitely done.  And lining up the letters... My first tries probably looked like a drunk gorilla tried to stamp a word into the aluminum.  It takes practice but the results are really cool, especially since you can put whatever you want on your own jewelry without paying someone else to do it!

I bought all of my supplies from the starter kit beaducation sells.  It's pretty inexpensive, and the tools seem pretty high-quality.  The kit will come with a set of uppercase letters and number stamps, a pair of metal hole punch pliers, steel bench block, copper practice sheet, some blanks, and a few other small supplies you might need.  I bought my bracelet blanks and bracelet bender (far left) from gottagetadeal on Etsy.

First you have to decide on the quote you want to put on your bracelet.  Choose something with only a few words to start with.  I like to start in the middle of the bracelet so just figure out what the middle word should be and start from there.  For this bracelet, I'm going with the phrase "so it goes" from Slaughterhouse-Five because I'm kind of a book nerd.  Plus, Kurt Vonnegut was from Indiana.  How cool is that?  

It can be helpful is you use tape to mark where your letters should go.  As you can see, it's really hard to get the letters even and straight, but I like to say that the imperfections make the piece more unique!  Heh.

Okay, this is the weird part.  You're going to have to mark over the indentations with a permanent marker so you can get that vintage, antique-y look.  Don't worry about making it perfect because the extra around the letters will rub right off with a little bit of nail polish remover.

See?? Pretty cool, right?

And last step.  Just slip the end of the bracelet into the bracelet bender and bend the aluminum strip around its rounded curve.  Make sure you bend it all the way or you'll have an awkward little crease in the middle of the your bracelet.  Do the same with the other side of the bracelet.

And you're done!  Enjoy your new bracelet.  You totally have every right to brag about how you can make your own jewelry now. ;)