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 [...]

If you have metal scraps and are looking for a way to recycle them, you might want to try water casting.
It is really easy to do and all you need is a torch, scraps of metal, something to hold the metal while you melt it, and a dish of water (I used a large ceramic [...]

Copper is a beautiful metal for jewelry, but it oxidizes (tarnishes) more quickly than silver, so it requires a bit of extra care if you want it to stay shiny.
I recommend cleaning your copper jewelry after every time you wear it. Use a mild soap and water, rinse completely, and dry with a soft cloth. [...]

Now is the time to start thinking about holiday gifts, especially if you like to give handmade gifts. You need some time to gather your supplies, experiment with the techniques you are using, and of course to make everything and wrap it up beautifully. (And, if you don’t want to make your own gifts, might [...]

I was reading a thread on the etsy forums and saw a link to this great tutorial on oxidizing silver.
Oxidizing is something that occurs naturally over time with silver as the oxygen in the air and chemicals the silver comes into contact with gradually darken it – but if you want a piece of silver [...]

To follow up my 10 second kid craft idea, here’s something you can make yourself in a minute!
What you need:
1 donut-style bead (or donut shaped found object)
3 feet of fancy yarn or cord
And here’s what you do: fold the yarn in half, slip it through the donut, slip the ends through the folded “loop”, and [...]

For the last day of August, here’s another addictive Youtube channel to browse through: Art Jewelry Magazine. If you make jewelry, you might be familiar with the magazine, which publishes jewelry techniques and projects using a variety of media.
Here’s a sample video to check out, on piercing (in non-metalsmith language, this means essentially drilling a [...]

Here’s a great video from Bench Jeweler, on using a flex shaft to add a textured finish to metal. In the example, it is a ring, but you can use a similar technique to give a textured finish to any jewelry piece. I like to experiment with different sanding and grinding attachments on my dremel [...]

Another great video from Beaducation – how to use a dapping tool. This is a very cool technique, which is used for making small domed shapes.

This tutorial is part 2 in a series – in part one, they show how to make jump rings, but you could also purchase some jump rings and start right here with part 2:

I suggest using jewelry pliers that have smooth jaws, to reduce the risk of leaving marks on your jump rings.
If you read [...]