Silver Spoon Ornament [DIY Metal Stamping]

DIY Metal Stamping is easier than you think and a fun way to make this unique silver spoon ornament.

Welcome to another fun Pinterest Challenge, hosted by Cindy from County Road 407! This month’s focus is DIY Christmas ornaments.

You’re in for a treat, because all my blogger friends have a unique DIY ornament to share with you, just in time for the holiday season.

If you’ve found your way here from Our Southern Home, welcome! Weren’t Christy’s decoupage chinoiserie ornaments simply stunning? What a great idea!

I love making my own ornaments. They are so much more personal and unique than anything you can buy at the store.

Here are some favorites that I’ve shared in the past:

• Ribbon Angel Ornaments
• Painting Old Christmas Bulbs
• Wood Circle Ornaments [Wood Burning Tool]

Follow The House on Silverado on Instagram to see even more creative projects!

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How to Make Easy DIY Metal Stamped Spoon Ornaments

Supplies:

• Vintage silver spoon– look at a thrift store or antique store.
• Letter stamps— I bought THIS set of stamps from Amazon.
• Stamping block
• Hammer– you can buy a stamping hammer, but a special hammer isn’t required. I just used a regular old hammer.
• Ribbon— you can use any ribbon you like, but THIS twine, bead, and star ribbon is adorable!
• Glue gun

Polish the Silver Spoons

–>TIP: Make sure you are using antique or vintage silverware. Older, sterling silver pieces are made of softer metal. Newer stainless steel pieces are made of harder metals that won’t easily accept the stamps.

My silver pieces were just a little tarnished, so I used a soft cloth like THIS one, which contains a compound meant for cleaning silver with light tarnish.

I just rubbed each silver spoon with the micro-fiber cloth in a circular direction, and the tarnish came right off onto the special silver cloth.

I wasn’t worried about making them look brand new, because I liked the rustic look that a little tarnish in the grooves provided.

If your silver items have heavy tarnish, you might be better off trying one of these silver cleaning methods:

• Fill a large tub with hot water, 1 tablespoon of baking soda, and a piece of aluminum foil. The aluminum foil and baking soda cause a chemical reaction that is an effective way to remove built-up tarnish. Allow to soak for about 10 minutes, remove with kitchen tongs, and rinse with clean water.
• You could use a cleaning solution like this ONE, that rubs on in a thick paste. It comes with a polishing cloth.
• Or, combine 1 tablespoon of lemon juice with 1/2 cup of instant dry milk and 1 1/2 cups of water in a glass bowl. Let the silver soak overnight in the mixture. In the morning, rinse with cool water and wipe dry with a soft, lint-free cloth.

Once your silver spoons are cleaned to your satisfaction–a little rustic and tarnished, or sparkling, and shiny clean– you’re ready to proceed to the metal stamping part.

Easy DIY Metal Stamping

1. Choose the lettering for each spoon. I used initials for our children and grandbaby, but you could also stamp short, seasonal words like JOY, SANTA, HOPE, PEACE…
2. With the bowl part of the spoon on the metal block, firmly position the first letter stamp where you’d like it to imprint on the spoon. (Using a piece of masking tape across the handle is a great way to help hold it still).
3. With the spoon pressed firmly against the steel block, give the metal stamp a couple of good whacks, making sure it imprints the metal deeply enough to see the embossed letters. Be sure you don’t lift the metal stamps until you have a nice deep impression in the spoon.
4. Continue this stamping process in a straight line on the bowl of the spoon until you have stamped initials or words.

–>Tip: You really want to make sure your letters make good impressions on the spoons, but if you still can’t read the lettering as well as you like, the best way to resolve this is by using a little bit of ink from a black ballpoint pen or permanent marker.

Just write over the stamp letters, filling the impressions with ink. Then, remove the excess marker with a paper towel. This will darken the indents of the lettering and make them stand out more against the cool metal.

This thin Sharpie marker worked perfectly to fill in the stamp initials.

Bend the Spoon Handles

You could leave your spoon handles upright if you choose, or you could bend them over as I did.

A good way to do this is to use a round, wooden dowl to brace the spoon handle on as you bend. This way you’ll get a nice curve in the handle, rather than a flat bend.

Add Ribbons

The final step is to decorate your silver spoon ornaments with ribbon. You can select anything that you like, but I have found that a thinner ribbon works best.

I bought a few to try, but ended up really loving THIS usual mixed-media ribbon that I’d never seen before!

The combination of the red ribbon, twine, pearls, and plaid stars just looks so cute with the antique spoons!

I cut the mixed-media ribbon fairly long, to leave some hanging on each side, and tied it around the bend of the spoon handle. Then I made a bow out of another narrow red ribbon and hot glued it to the top using my favorite WorkPro glue gun.

Finally, I used a simple silver cord and looped it under the bend of the spoon handle for hanging it on the tree.

You guys, this metal stamping project on my antique silver spoons was such a fun project! A DIY project where I can learn a new skill– DIY metal stamping– and make something beautiful (and vintage!) at the same time is my kinda project!

Next, I hope you’ll stop over to see Amber’s easy DIY Christmas ornament at Follow the Yellow Brick Home.

Plus, check out the many more beautiful ornaments linked up below!

Let’s stay in touch!

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