Hand stamping

On my birthstone stacking rings, (and actually on all sorts of other goodies come to think of it), I now offer hand stamping on the inside of the band.

This could be a name, date of birth, or any other special text or number you care to think of.

But, there are a few things to bear in mind. First of all, the nature of hand stamping is very different to engraving.

Hand stamping involves, as it's name implies, using a steel stamp and hammer to imprint each letter individually into the shank. This is done before the ring is soldered and shaped, whilst the wire is still laid flat.

As each letter is stamped individually, it's unusual (for me anyway) for them to be completely straight, level and equally spaced.

I like this "higgledy" effect. It's the reason I love handmade jewellery - rather than the factory made, super perfect, never been touched by a human hand sort.

However, I do understand that there are occasions when it's lovely to have your text beautifully and neatly engraved (I am hoping to add this string to my bow at some stage in the future!) And if this is the case you could get any items I make for you engraved at a local jewellers after they're made.

A couple of other things you need to know...

Bear in mind the number of digits or letters that will fit inside the band. This will vary very slightly from size to size but is generally approximately 20 characters.

I have 3 different size sets of stamps now. The 1.5mm stamps to fit into my standard 2.3mm width band, 2mm and 3mm stamps. All the stamps I have at the moment are capital letters.