First up... it's not engraved!!! 
I have to laugh because this is the thing I get asked about most, and despite having detailed descriptions mentioning hand stamped (and it even being included in my name!) people still ask to have something engraved so I thought I'd break it down.

So with our hand stamping, we start with a raw piece of metal. This one is sterling silver. We can use most metals but certain fonts/ designs work best on different metals due to their toughness. If we tried to use a really intricate design stamp on stainless it’d probably not leave a brilliant impression- but, stamp it on aluminium or annealed (softened) silver and it'd be perfect.

Here we've cut pieces of silver for our single stem birthflower necklaces, when stamping I need to choose the letter or design stamp and place it on the metal. I then hit the metal stamp with a hammer and the impression is left behind. Hitting too hard though and the stamping left behind is mushed (technical term) and hit it too lightly and the impression won’t all be there. It’s tricky finding the right balance. You also need to know exactly where to place the stamp to line it up if using letter stamps and want the word to flow.

Stamping needs to be done on a metal block, I also place a rubber mat under to soften the sound and use a stamping post to stop double impressions and the blank bouncing back. When you stamp the blank, the metal is then displaced, some will raise slightly around the edges and it also pushes it to the back. After stamping a lot of polishing and clean up is required! My favourite part.

The thing I love best though is you're left with a really dark clear impression which will last for ages. With engraving, you only remove the very top layer so this can end up buffed and polished out over time. Hand stamping is truly a work of art and a great skill to learn. If you have any questions please pop them below!

Nicole 

With weddings tentatively taking place this summer, we thought it’d be great to put together some hints and tips as well as gifts! It’s been such an uncertain time but it’s such a lovely day to show off how certain you are about each other. I can guarantee you’ll look back afterwards and the things that you were worrying and stressing over will be long forgotten. Great pictures are something that I think are essential, I love looking back at ours and we have a fantastic photo album. It was something that I thought of when adding a special limited-edition decal to the wedding teaspoon set, weddings and marriage can be such an adventure, so this decal is perfect for adding to a photo frame of your special day.

Starting from the beginning, a lot of thought is often placed with who is going to help make your day special. From groomsmen to bridesmaid and all in between. I’ve seen some wonderful gift boxes made up with lots of your friends’ favourite things and we can help with that. Beautiful boxes can be found in many card shops and some more slightly expensive versions from Amazon, filling them with tissue always gives them a luxurious feel. One of my favourite pictures I’ve been sent was some yummy looking cake jars, tied with a ribbon and our hand stamped bridesmaid spoons. Who would resist?

We also have some gift boxed hip flasks; we adhere a stamped plaque to the front so you can customise it with your own wording! They even come with a funnel so filling it up with your favourite tipple isn’t a problem.

When you’re planning your wedding, I found it best to create a vision of everything you wanted- I had a notebook full of things ripped out from magazines whereas now I’m sure it’d be a Pinterest board full. We have one here which we’re adding to all the time to help with some extra ideas. Thinking of our wedding rings I knew exactly what I wanted and was lucky enough to have a jeweller come over to visit us with a huge range of samples we could try on and see what we liked. He then went away to make them to our specifications. It’s another reason I love handmade. The very first set of wedding rings I made had a heart stamped over both of them, so it was only complete when together, I’ve since done them with dates or special wording inside, other languages on the outside and even different finishes including a brushed finish. If there’s something you’d like to change get in touch.

One of my favourite things I’ve made for a wedding is this children’s top! I love weddings full of children and they bring so much fun. This cheeky little top can be customised to your wedding colours too and it makes fabulous pictures, especially when it’s on a cheeky little one!

Lastly, this wedding cutlery is super special. It was one of the first cutlery sets I did and it’s something I’ve decided to push this year in the hope it adds an extra special treat to a limited amount of customers with the decal mentioned above. The spoons are stamped with your new wedding names and tied together with ribbon and the heart shaped tag has your wedding date on- something that I feel is really important now with couples who are having to postpone and change wedding dates for various reasons… we can just include more tags!!

Nicole