Metal stamping is a fun way to add texture to your metal blanks. It's not always about stamping
words! So I came up with this very easy stamped gilded earrings tutorial to show you what I mean.
The stamping blanks were sent to me for review by ImpressArt. I had
previously reviewed their first offerings of their Soft Strike™ pewter line. They have added not only new shapes to the pewter collection but extended that of another new metal, a tin alloy (lead and cadmium free) called Alkemé™. The latter is even more cost effective tha the Soft Strike™.
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| Soft Strike Pewter™ and Alkemé™ |
Both types of these sterling silver alternatives can be polished to a high shine but rather than do that, I opted to just stamp with the go-go (reminds me of the 1960's popular shape) Alkemé™ blanks. These easy to stamp blanks meant I could really make deep impressions.
I used the flower stamp from the ImpressArt Lollipop stamp set (also used in the
How to Make a Gilded Stamped Leather Bracelet Tutorial). Tape down the blank so it doesn't shift. Use a very heavy household hammer or brass hammer if you have it.
Make repeated strikes all over most of the blanks.
There is some distortion when striking on one side. So flip the blanks over and hammer flat with a nylon or rubber mallet. This softer hammer does the job without making any more marks on the pieces.
Then heavily apply
Gilder's Paste - they come in many colors - and get it into the depressions.
Then wipe off the excess leaving the waxy pigments in the depressions. The random strikes really does create an interesting texture.
Find some pretty bead caps and hammer them flat.
Find the right size jump rings to compliment the design and attach the flattened bead cap to the front of the stamped blank.
I always try and add a second jump ring whenever possible. This is for extra security as jump rings can fail. In this case, there was an additional benefit, the two jump rings reduced the movement of the bead caps.
I rather like the holes of the blanks in this fun design. But you could always opt for fully round discs.
Before You Go: ______________________________
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