Hand Stamped Penny Earrings

Hand Stamped Penny Earrings

The first hand stamped penny earrings design that I made was titled “Heads or Tails Either Way You’re A Winner.”

They sold pretty well on Etsy, extremely well at craft fairs and raised a fair amount of money for a school fundraiser. Let me get you started.

The hand stamped penny earrings came about out of my need for practice. I needed a material that was fairly cheap to practice on to get my letters straight. Can’t get much cheaper than a penny.

The two sets of earrings on this page were gag gifts at a white elephant gift exchange.  That event is where I knew I had a hot seller on my hands. Requests came pouring in.

Which was so strange to me…

Want to Try Your Hand at Stamping?

Materials:
36 Piece 1/8″ Letter Number Stamping Set
9 Piece Punch and Die Set
Solid Stainless Steel Mini Jewelry Anvil Wire Work Tool
Ball Pein Hammer
Pencil
Permanent black markers
Steel Wool
Ruler

Tip Before You Start Stamping

I’m going to save you time and frustration. Most inexpensive sets of stamps do not have marks showing which side of the stamp should face you when you stamp your letters.  Thus, you will end up stamping some of the letters upside down.

I came up with a simple fix.  Take a washable marker and color the bottom of the stamp, the part that makes the impression in your metal.   While the marker is still wet, stamp a piece of regular white paper.  If the letter is correct.  Place on X and write the letter on the front of the stamp in permanent marker.  Now you will NEVER stamp your letters upside down.

Directions

1.) Grab a penny and place it on the anvil. Eyeballing where you want your letters to go doesn’t work. Draw a line using the ruler and pencil across where you want to stamp your letters.

2.) Find the letters for the word you want to spell.  Place the letters in the order they should be stamped to the side of the anvil. I’m right handed and place the letters to the left.  I grab each letter and hold with my left hand.

3.) Place your first letter on the line you have drawn.  Hold your metal stamp tightly against the penny.  Give the top of the metal letter one, very even whack of the hammer. Enough pressure yields a perfect indented letter. Practice you get the pressure correct.

4.) Continue stamping all letters.

5.) To make your letters stand out, you will blacken them with the permanent markers.  Color over the entire area, with a black Sharpie.  Fill in all the letters.

6.) Use a piece of extra fine steel wool to remove any of the surface marker that would be on penny.  This also shines the penny up.

7.) Use the 1/4″ punch from your Punch and Die Set to make the holes for earring wires.

8.) Attach ear wires.

Lucky Penny Earring Design

The second design I made was called Lucky Penny. It has the word LUCKY stamped on each coin. The writing on the cards said “Lady luck will always be on your side when you wear this set of earrings.” They are surely a conversation starter as well!

A Word on Allergies

Some people are allergic to “cheap” metal.  I found a way around this buy purchasing this product on Amazon.  After you create the designs, you simply spray down the front and the back with the spray and let dry.  In many cases it shouldn’t be a huge issue.  Unless, the metal from the penny comes into direct contact with the skin.  It is a simple process to do – so, why not do it 🙂

Your Turn

That is it.  Thought I’d share how something so simple as hand-stamped penny earrings became a huge deal.  I guess, sometimes those silly things I do, are not as silly as I lead myself to believe.

I’m sure you could think of a slew of ideas to make.  As you gain knowledge in stamping, silver, and brass are a welcome treat.

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