Studio Saturday lingers into Monday....Stamped Copper Saucers for Giveaway

This past Saturday, I was over on Art Bead Scene for Studio Saturday. If you were over there, you know I was busy stamping onto some brass and copper sheet metal I had won in the Rings n Things Blogger drawing.

I stamped a few months back and seemed to catch on quickly. I even wrote a Stamped Bead Bravely Art Ornament tutorial for the holidays. I was confident I could create with any stamps. So I ordered smaller sized script style stamps so I could stamp longer quotes. What I didn't realize was when you switch stamps it's like starting all over again!

I have Lisa Niven Kelly's book out and was going for a variation on the stamped ladder bracelet - making a ladder pendant with a quote from the Buddha, "the way is in the heart." 

I measured.

I counted letters.

I measured and counted meticulously.

Everytime I'd put the script style stamp down in the measured area, it was either too far or too close or too high or too low. They weren't behaving like the larger boxy type style.

Arghhh!

I made 8 scrap pieces to every 1 that came out half way decent.  I say half way because take a look at the finished products....

They didn't turn out the way I envisioned through no fault of the materials. I ran out of the brass sheet trying to create what I had in my head.  After the brass, I switched to copper round blanks without any quotes. These came out much better although the photo is a bit blurred - my Canon is on the fritz and I had to take these pictures with my iPhone!

I used my Euro Power Punch to make a hole in the 3/4'' inch 24 gauge copper blank.  Then I stamped the flower on and used my center punch for the pollen. The rounds were then dapped to a slight saucer shape. I aged them using liver of sulfer and polished using baking soda.

That, my friends is how I finally finished the project I started last Saturday! I'll give away a set of two of the stamped copper saucers to the winner of the July 9th Studio Saturday. If you haven't made a comment, be sure to go on over and tell me about how projects move through your studio!

Favorite Things - borrowing from scrapbookers

Every so often, I wander the scrapbook aisles at my local craft store. Being so pre-occupied lately, I found myself needing to get out of the house and wander on Sunday. I have a small but growing collection of stamps that I use to create my wrapping and shipping materials. So I gravitate toward the stamp section and on Sunday I fell in love with the Inkado clear stamps like these sweet winter birds



But I had to have the Tim Holtz Word Keys. I have a collection of vintage skeleton keys but I'm not quite able to alter them. The Word Keys are just the thing - I can alter them all I want and they have such meaningful words on them.
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Do you have a favorite thing for your jewelry that you've borrowed from another craft?

Full of Words....

Sometimes you're so full of words, they just spill out onto anything and everything. I had words spill out onto these washers the other day....

...if you've got too much to think about, words will fall out of your head and onto your worktable!

Ok ok, so the words didn't *really* fall out of my head and onto my worktable but it was a cute story don't you think?

Not only do I use my stamps for personalizing my shipping envelopes, I also use them to personalize my beads and findings.

I've used a permanent ink in a rich brown. I line up the washers in rows and stamp the words across several washers. Each washer has a partial word - put a few together to find out what word is stamped on them.

Try making your own or you can pick up a few from my store.

Have you been full of words lately?