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03/28/2013

Spring Bling Week – Stamped Washer Necklace

I’ve been having so much fun with these different jewelry projects this week.  I hope you’re not getting tired of them because I have one more for you today before tomorrow’s big jewelry giveaway!  Today, I made a simply-styled stamped washer necklace.

Stamped Washer Necklace

The disc is silver, and the washer is copper, and I’m going to talk to you a little about using liver of sulfur to darken your pieces.

I want to say, first of all – I am clearly NOT a stamping expert.  The people who are beautiful stamp artists practice a lot and have a lot of experience.  Personally, I’m trying to get more practice in (if you do a lot of stamping, well… you know this piece is amateur!) and I do like to show you all what I’m working on, even if I’m not nearly as close to perfect as I wish I were. ;) (Besides… imperfection lends charm, right?   RIGHT?  Right.  LOL.)

Stamping is NOT hard to do!  But experience is what sets designers apart, so if you’ve been itching to try stamping as a hobby, I would encourage you to go for it!  I wrote a tutorial last spring about Jewelry Stamping for Beginners.  I’m not going to go into a lot of detail in this post because that one covers a LOT.  Anyone can make a beautiful keepsake piece with no experience, but be prepared to do a lot of practice stamping before you’ll have the steady hand and even rhythm that it takes to sell quality pieces.

Stamping on washer shapes is an easy way to stamp curved text.  You’ll just center your stamps vertically when hammering them, and they should line up pretty well.  I stamped a little message for myself: love, family, home.  Then, I found where the washer would be centered over my disc, and stamped a little heart.  I also punched a hole in the blank in a place where my washer and disc would line up nicely.

Stamped Washer Necklace

Next, I ventured out in the 30 degree weather to oxidize my pieces.  The reason for going outside is that sulfur smells just awful.  I don’t need my house to smell like it for three days, LOL.  Copper and silver will both oxidize.  Aluminum will not.  I don’t know all the reactive metals off the top of my head so I could be totally wrong and overlooking one – but I’m pretty sure copper and silver are the only two you can darken this way.  Alloys will also oxidize to a certain extent, but it will depend on the silver or copper contents of that particular alloy.

When I take things outside to oxidize, I have a 3-cup method that I use.  First, I clean my pieces really well, and put them pieces in a cup of hot water to warm up.  It seems to take a patina the best this way.  The second cup is where I will dilute my liver of sulfur – that’s cold water.  And third, I have a full cup of cold water for rinsing.

It will depend on which form of liver of sulfur you are using, and what the instructions are for that particular concentration.  I like to use the liquid because I find it easiest, but everyone has their own preference.

I take my disc(s) out of the hot water and drop them into the sulfur cup for about 30 seconds – but this will depend on the instructions for whatever form and concentration you are using.  I fish it out with a plastic spoon (that is NOT for eating), and drop it into the cold water rinse cup.  You will still need to rinse your oxidized discs really well in cool water, but because I go outside (and away from the sink), the rinse cup is sufficient to stop the oxidation process, and won’t stink when I bring it back indoors to finish the job.

Stamped Washer Necklace

I usually seal up my leftover sulfur in a plastic jug (like a used milk carton) and throw it out.  I have to confess, I don’t know if that’s a bad way to dispose of it, but I can’t imagine it’s good for pipes or yards.  If you have a safe method for disposing of yours – I’d love to hear about it, leave a comment!  You could always let it evaporate and throw it away when dry, but the would require stashing it somewhere that you don’t mind if it smells like sulfur for a while.  Yuck.

The cold water rinse cup is diluted enough that I don’t mind dumping that water.  Then, just dry them off and prepare for LOTS of polishing with a soft cloth. :)

Stamped Washer Necklace

When your hand feels like it might fall off, you should be about halfway done polishing. ;) But once you’ve finally buffed it back to a beautiful shine, it’s ready to assemble and string on a chain!

Stamped Washer Necklace

If you love hand-stamped goodness, then you will definitely want to check out Amy at One Artsy Mama’s post today for Spring Bling Week – this gorgeous hand-stamped aluminum ring!

ringpinnable

Drop by these other fabulous blogs for even more jewelry projects this week – and stay tuned for tomorrow’s big giveaway!!

spring_bling_button
Holly from 504 Main
Kate from Cheap Crafty Mama
Kara from Happy Go Lucky 
Rebecca from My Girlish Whims
Natalie from North Shore Days
Amy from One Artsy Mama

Adrianne

Filed Under: Fashion, Jewelry, Metal Stamping, Necklaces, Tutorials Tagged With: necklace, stamped

copyright policy and terms of use

I love it when you love my work! All tutorials and photos published at Happy Hour Projects are copyrighted. If you would like to feature my tutorial on your website or share it on your social media you may use one photo to feature, as long as you provide a link back to the original post.

If you feature a photo, it may not be accompanied by the project tutorial or recipe, whether in my own words as it originally appears or paraphrased by you. This also includes personal sharing on social media and Pinterest. Publishing multiple photos from a project, or including instructions with an accompanying photo are not permitted and you will be asked to remove them.

I love to share my projects, and my tutorials, recipes, and e-books are ALL free for your personal use. However, photos and ideas that are published to this site are my protected intellectual property. You may print them at home, but please do not copy or distribute them. I also allow all designs to be made and sold at fundraisers, craft fairs, etc. If you are selling a piece made from one or more of my free tutorials in your online shop, I require that you use your own, original photography, and include a link back to my website to credit me as the designer.

I hope you enjoy what you read here, and please be fair when you share!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Meg says

    06/22/2014 at 8:55 pm

    Hi! I love your website, your beginner stamping post is actually what got me into it. I was hoping that you could tell me what size washer you used for this project? It looks like it would work for what I wanted to do but I’m ordering washers offline and have no idea what size to pick!

    Reply
    • Adrianne says

      06/23/2014 at 7:08 am

      You can use anything you like. In my case, I just chose one 1/4 inch smaller than my disc. I believe these are a 1-inch disc and 3/4 inch washer, but if you need to stamp more letters just size up!

      Reply
  2. mona says

    04/01/2014 at 7:21 am

    Thanks Amy!! I have always wanted to do some stamping and you have inspired me.

    Reply
  3. Jessi says

    06/15/2013 at 11:16 pm

    Gorgeous! Where did you get the washer and disc? I’m not finding any blanks like that at my local craft store. :-(

    Reply
  4. Natalie says

    03/28/2013 at 7:07 pm

    I love anything stamped!!!! Just gorgeous girl….

    Reply

Trackbacks

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Hello, and welcome! I'm Adrianne, an artist, author, designer, and blogger in mid Michigan. I work from home, chase my two kids, and this once-city-girl is learning how to care for chickens and adjusting to life out in the country. I have a compulsion for daily creativity... sometimes it's jewelry-making, paper crafting, metal stamping, mixing and baking, or giving new life to recycled items. But with 2 young kids, time is short! My goal here at Happy Hour Projects is to share projects and tips that you can do in an hour or less. The ideas you find here are designed to add a little creativity in your day, no matter how much (or how little) time you have!

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