Stamping metal isn’t difficult, and with a little practice, this easy metalworking technique can be used to personalize your jewelry and other metal creations.

You will need metal stamps – alphanumeric if you want to stamp things like words and dates, or shapes and symbols to decorate your piece.

You’ll also need a piece of sheet metal – pre-cut circles work well – and a hammer and a hard surface such as a steel bench block to stamp on.

Place the metal on the stamping surface and position the stamp where you want to make your mark.

Now take your hammer (I use a heavy rubber mallet) and whack the back of your stamp. Practice this a few times on metal scraps so you get the hang of how hard you need to hit the stamp to get a good impression – too hard is just as bad as too light, so get a feel for how much force works.

I get the best results with three (or more) taps: one dead on, one holding the stamp slightly angled to the right, once holding it slightly angled to the left.

Here’s a video of me stamping with my new heart & flower stamps from artbeads:

Unfortunately, you can’t see how the stamp looks due to me being a total novice when it comes to making video, but at least you get a quick idea of the process!