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04/30/2014

Upcycled Stamped Spoon Necklace

I had the opportunity last week to get in on Happy Mango Beads’ Annual “Trash to Treasure” Challenge for Earth Day.  The mission is to repurpose or upcycle an old item, and turn it into a beaded jewelry piece.  There were several categories but when I saw “scrap metal” – well, you know me.  Of course I was all over that!  So I stamped up this old sugar spoon and added some beaded charms made from recycled glass.

Upcycled Silver Spoon Stamped Necklace at www.happyhourprojects.com

This isn’t intended to be a full tutorial today.  I didn’t snap a lot of photos while I was working – which is pretty typical when I’m doing design work for a challenge or contest.  If you’re already into stamping or metal work, I’ll explain what I’ve done and give you some pointers, but this post won’t have as much full detail as my typical tutorials.  If you’d like to know more about metal stamping, I have a whole category dedicated to it, including a beginner’s metal stamping post with both photo and video instructions that you can check out.

First things first: get inspired, right?  I made a storage unit run not too long ago (ugh, that’s been a process, but let’s not go there today).  And as I pulled a few more boxes to bring home and unpack, I spotted my parents’ old silverware chest.

Upcycled Silver Spoon Stamped Necklace at www.happyhourprojects.com

Light bulb.

I didn’t have the heart to break up the set, but as it turned out, there were a few stray/extra/mismatched pieces in there that weren’t the same pattern.  So I didn’t feel bad at all taking this spoon with some very cool detail on the edges and turning it into a pendant.  Here’s how I made it happen.  A note about metal here – this is a silver plated spoon.  So it’s a softer metal.  This won’t work on stainless steel.

First, I flattened the bowl of the spoon.  The fluted edges prevented me from flattening the whole thing.  But that’s okay, because I just needed a flatter surface to stamp on.  I used the flat side of my chasing hammer for this.

Next, I attempted to cut the handle off with tin snips, and that didn’t really work at all.  Instead, I just positioned the spoon on my anvil at the spot I wanted to cut it, and bent the handle down.  Bending it back and forth a couple times made it break right off.

I hammered and filed the sharp edge so that it wouldn’t scratch me.  Depending on how yours breaks, this may or may not be necessary – for me, it was.  Though that may be because I gouged it up with the tin snips first. :P

Upcycled Silver Spoon Stamped Necklace at www.happyhourprojects.com

Finally, I stamped it.  I chose “live happy” as my sentiment.  And I polished all the tarnish off, too.

Then, I needed to create a loop to make a pendant.  The metal was a little too hard to be able to use pliers on – I could get it to bed a little, but not get anywhere close to actually closing.  So, I just hammered it down and that worked really well.  Just be sure if you go this route that you don’t flatten the loop too much, or it will be tough to string it on a chain.  If you have a steel mandrel, you may want to hammer around that to make sure it stays open.

Upcycled Silver Spoon Stamped Necklace at www.happyhourprojects.com

So now, I had my pendant.  But it still needed a little something more.  So I wire-wrapped a couple of charms made from recycled glass beads.  Because the edge of the spoon made it look a little “leafy”, I coiled my wire more than I typically would, going for a “vine” look.  (If you’re new to charm-making, I recommend checking out my charm bracelet post for the how-to.)  I attached these with a couple of 16mm jump rings – which had to be large to fit around the spoon handle.

 

Finally, I chose a heavy 5mm chain to match the heft of the pendant, and strung it on a 16″ length.  The spoon isn’t heavy or anything – but visually, it’s large.  So it needed a solid-looking chain to balance the look.

Upcycled Silver Spoon Stamped Necklace at www.happyhourprojects.com

What do you think?  Have you turned anything into jewelry lately?

Upcycled Silver Spoon Stamped Necklace at www.happyhourprojects.com

Adrianne Signature

Filed Under: Fashion, Featured, Jewelry, Metal Stamping, Necklaces, Tutorials Tagged With: charms, metal stamping, necklace, spoon, upcycle, wire wrapping

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. hint says

    08/31/2017 at 6:07 pm

    ?his is very interesting, ?ou are an ex?essively skilled blogger.
    I’ve joined your feed and sit up for in quest ?f ?xtra of
    your wonderful post. Also, I ?ave sha?ed your website in my
    social networks

    Reply
  2. Dolores says

    09/13/2014 at 10:50 am

    Love how your necklace turned out, great way to use a spoon. Did you do anything to the letters to darken them after you stamped it?

    Reply
    • Adrianne says

      09/13/2014 at 12:17 pm

      I did, I used Sharpie. The silver plating means it could be oxidized (either chemically or naturally over time) but I went the easy route. ;)

      Reply
  3. Robyn says

    07/09/2014 at 12:32 pm

    Such a pretty piece – thanks for sharing your process.

    Reply
  4. Jake says

    05/02/2014 at 7:24 am

    Beautiful piece!
    I really love the necklace.

    Reply
  5. Ruth E. says

    04/30/2014 at 10:49 pm

    Adrianne, I really like your sugar spoon pendant. It turned out so beautiful and has special meaning because it was from your parents. I have a sugar spoon that looks very simular which originally belonged to my great-great aunt. You have given me an idea as to how I can make it even more special…that is if I can learn how to make jewelry like you can. : )

    Reply
  6. onel says

    04/30/2014 at 7:01 pm

    Beautiful piece!! And I like the flowery edges very much.

    Reply
  7. Marilyn says

    04/30/2014 at 10:46 am

    Adrianne, this necklace is simply gorgeous! I love how you were able to keep the silver set intact and yet still have a stray piece available to create this stunning piece of jewelry!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Easy DIY Metal Stamping Jewelry Tutorial says:
    09/22/2014 at 5:00 am

    […] out this free jewelry making tutorial that uses recycled spoon that adds a bit of ingenuity. Adrianne’s metal necklace is a beautiful […]

    Reply
  2. Upcycled Spoon to Stamped Jewelry — Totally Green Crafts says:
    07/09/2014 at 8:48 am

    […] Head over to Happy Hour Projects and learn how to make this DIY Upcycled Spoon Stamped Pendant. […]

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  3. DIY Jewelry Ideas | says:
    06/08/2014 at 5:30 pm

    […] Link […]

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  4. 12 Unique Metal Stamping Projects - i can make says:
    05/09/2014 at 12:32 am

    […] a flea market find silver spoon into a one of a kind stamped spoon pendant with Happy Hour Projects. We love the heirloom […]

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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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