I sometimes see a new craft project I want to try but I don’t feel like investing in specialty tools. This has been my feeling about metal stamping.
My husband is a toolmaker, and so works with metal for a living. He has a set of letter stamps that he uses at his job to stamp steel, so I asked him to bring them home so I could borrow them.
My first attempt (not pictured), was on cheap metal spoons I bought at the dollar store. They were 2 for $1, so I figured it would be an inexpensive way to practice. I don’t know if it was the curve of the spoon, or the metal being particularly hard, but the stamps barely made an scratch on them, and when I tried hitting them multiple times, the stamp moved making a blurry barely-a-scratch impression.
So on to plan B. I remembered I has some aluminum flashing in my ‘miscellaneous’ craft box, so dug out a strip of that I had cut for some project in the past. I thought it could make a cute plant marker if I cut it down and mounted it on the wooden stakes I also seemed to have in the ‘wood and cork’ craft box.
The metal is either too thin, too soft, or I need to try to hit on a firmer surface than the wooden work bench I used. When the stamp was hit, it pulled the sides up and basically wrinkled the metal. At least you can see the letters this time though. I’m going to try some new techniques, and if it is still looking wonky, I may invest in some stamping blanks. Metal stamping may have won the first two rounds, but I am determined to make a come back.
I actually think the look is okay with the crimping. Good efforts and what a creative idea!
The biggest problem with the crimping is that it doesn’t lie flat on the stake. But if I was making it with just the metal, it could work. Hmmm…I may need to rethink this.
I think it’s that the metal is too thin. Maybe try gluing the metal to the wooden stake first and then hitting the stamp with a lighter hand. You can figure this out!
It is really thin metal, I could see that continuing to cause problems. I’m not giving up yet!