Stamp Camp: DIY Stamped Metal Jewelry

I don’t know how it happened, but I’m strangely addicted to metal stamping right now.

Have you ever tried it? It’s kind of awesome.

And now that I discovered it, I’m stamping things like crazy – necklaces, earrings, little bracelets…everything. The process is a whole lot like leather stamping, which I remember having a similar reaction to when I first tried it. There’s something about using a hammer that makes me feel super official.

So, today, I thought I would share a tutorial for how to make your own DIY stamped message metal bracelets. And to make things super easy, I also designed a new DIY kit for Darby Smart (that launched yesterday) that has all the materials you need to make your own. So you won’t need to go searching for all the jewelry making and metal stamping supplies on your own. Yay. Super easy!

Want to make your own stamped bracelets? Here’s how…

Supplies:

This Darby Smart DIY kit that I designed has all the supplies you need to make your own set of bracelets. You get to choose which metal you want too…copper, silver, or brass. Copper and brass are my faves.

How-To:

1. Start by placing a metal strip onto the metal block. Then gather all of the letters that you’ll need to create your message.

2. Once you have the letters, you can start stamping. Turn the first alphabet stamp upside-down, so that the letter is touching the metal. Position the letter where you want it and then hit the top of the metal stamp with the hammer included in the kit. It took me a couple of tries to get the hang of this, but here are a few tips to make this easier right from the start…

Make sure the stamp is straight up and down on the metal plate, so the letter will be stamped evenly (if it’s at an angle some areas of the letter may not get stamped). And hit the top of stamp fairly hard with the hammer, so you get a nice deep impression.

3. Once you’ve completed your stamped message, it’s time to form it into a bracelet shape. Using the bracelet bending bar provided in the kit, place one end of the stamped metal in the slit / holder area and bend the other side down, creating a curve. Repeat this process with the other end of the stamped metal bar. Now, you have the basic bracelet shape.

4. As a finishing touch, run a permanent marker over each letter indention and then wipe away any excess. The color from the marker will remain in the indention, so you can more easily read your stamped message or phrase. Just be sure to wipe off the excess marker immediately before it becomes permanent on the top part of the bracelet. It worked really well for me and I had no problems removing the marker from the top, non-indented areas. But I thought it was worth the reminder to mention it.

And that’s it. Now it’s ready to wear.

If you can read any of the messages and phrases on the finished bracelets, you’ll see that I got a little creative with some of the bracelets.

My favorite bracelet message was ‘Cat Lady’, but I had a few inspirational phrases in there for good measure as well. And after photographing the bracelets shown in the photos, I made a couple more with old song lyrics (‘Baby Got Back’, anyone?) and the obligatory ‘Haters Gonna Hate’.

You could also stamp your name or an important date, etc. Or even turn these into friendship bracelets.

They would be a great gift for a friend’s birthday, or even when the holidays start to roll around. The way this year is flying by, December will be here before you know it.

Model Amanda Toman
Concept, photography, and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff

You can check out my new Darby Smart DIY kit here and all of my past kits right here, if you’re interested.

Have any phrases or words that you think would be fun for these bracelets? I’d love to hear your suggestions…I do have a few more bracelet blanks, after all.