Hand Stamped Silver Jewelry- my little (former) business

Awhile back, I wanted a hand stamped silver charm with my son's birthstone and some sort of saying that summed up our infertility journey.  I found the perfect charm...for $75.  For SILVER.  I could never pull the trigger on that purchase and wondered how much it REALLY cost to make.  Very quickly, I found out the answer was both "a bit" and "not so much!"

"A bit"- start up costs.  A font can be anywhere from $25-168.  You also need a steel block with a rubber base, a good sturdy hammer, a sharpee, blank charms, a punch, jump rings, sodering tools, number fonts if necessary ($30+), decorative stamps ($9+ each), birthstones (varies, I paid around 50cents/swarovski and around $1/pearl), pretty pouches, and a dapping block.

You can get a lot of this at Michael's these days and use the 40% off coupons at will.  I mostly had to make due with online retailers and the heavy cost of shipping metal items.

All of these supplies except for the hammer live in a small drawer in my kitchen island.  The hammer lives in hubby's tool box :)

"Not so much!"- A 1" silver blank costs me 65cents.  I already own all the tools.  I'm still good on birthstone gems, but as I stated above, the most expensive ones were $1 each.  I also got into making stamped washer keychains for daddy gifts, and those cost literally pennies at Lowes for the washers and under $3 for a good sized pack of keyrings at Michaels- plus coupon discounts! :)


So, I got all my supplies, cracked out a bunch for my friends at around $10-15 shipped, and make back my money in start up costs.  That gave me a lot of practice, it gave them a great price on a lovely item for themselves or gifts, so everybody wins.

Next, I opened up a shop.  Very quickly, this sweet article appeared about my jewelery.

Screenshot of article- links won't work, sorry! :)

I had many orders and lots of fun, but hand stamping isn't easy.  Lining up each letter or number one by one, keeping them straight but on a curve...oy.  That must be where the massive retail price increase comes from!

Eventually I closed up shop and just make them as gifts, or by request for a small fee (basically materials + shipping).

Here's a look at some of my designs!

anniversary/wedding gift

Name + birthstone + small circle

birthstone of 3 grandchildren

Name + Birthstone + Small Heart

Child love + birthstone

Eventually, I branched out a bit into these items:

Photo charm- materials = another start up cost!

Daddy key rings- washers with names & We <3 Daddy, World's Best Dad, etc.

Birds Nests- pearls for # of children, or # of babies that did not make it (unhatched eggs)

Mommy charm with bird nest representing the number of children

I still do these by request, and I have a gallery of TONS of other charms and keychains I have made...all sorts of shapes, sizes, and occasions.  I love how creative my customers have been!