What is hand stamping?

Hand stamping is the method of creating a permanent mark on metal.

This technique involves placing a letter, number, symbol or design stamp upon the metal and then carefully hitting it with a hammer to leave an impression.

Due to the nature of hand stamping, sometimes a slight impression of the design may be seen on the reverse of the metal. This is due to the fact that the force of the stamp will displace the metal slightly and push it through to the reverse. I try to keep this to a minimum where possible and in most cases you won't notice it at all.

Each impression may vary slightly in its position upon the metal and the depth of the stamp may also vary slightly.

Sometimes the impressions are made bolder by filling it in with colour via an enamel maker pen, gilders paste, enamel liquid or a patina. Most often the colour is black. This allows the impression to stand out more. For a more subtle effect, I don't always colour fill my designs.

Please note that each letter/moon/star/symbol is stamped by hand so each piece is unique and any variations should be appreciated as part of the design.