Overview of Metal Punches for Jewelry Making

	Impress Art Stamp Straight Tape - For Metal Punches - Lines Up Letters Perfectly SKU: XTL-0199 $4.95
	27 Pc Lowercase Vivaldi Script Alphabet Letter Punch Set For Stamping Metal In Wood Box 1/8 Inch 3mm SKU: XTL-0712 $86.99
	Impress Art Stamp Straight Tape - For Metal Punches - Lines Up Letters Perfectly SKU: XTL-0199 $4.95
	Stamp Punch Holder, Thumb Saver for Metal Working, 1 Tool SKU: XTL-0181 $23.99

Note: This audio transcript is auto-generated and may not be completely accurate.
Hi, this is Julie and in this overview video I want to show you some of your options when it comes to metal punches metal punches are great because they allow you to customize your handmade jewelry now I use the vintage big kick to create this overall embossed pattern but inside when you open it up I went ahead and I punched the word explore now I could have written a name a date done a design a whole bunch of different options I went for a word but you really the sky is the limit when it comes to metal punches because you really are able to do whatever you like when it comes to actually purchasing the punches you can purchase them individually like you see these pieces here they can be animal themed sports themed nature skullenbones heart people that's just a few of the themes available there are many more you can also purchase them as a set here's a little nature set which is a really fun way to get started and I have some individual punches out here so you can see what they actually look like so they've got the the stamping on one side they've got a smooth end on the other side for you to hammer and they're actually quite easy to use and they do vary in sizes and what's nice is on the website you'll be able to see the actual dimension of the punch as well which is good if you are new to punching the tools you're going to need are a bench block and a hammer there's lots of individual choices to choose from where you can purchase these separately or you can purchase a set such as this by impress art which has the alphabet charm some punctuation a stamping block and the hammer already put together as one complete set so you just have to buy one thing and then you're ready to start stamping which is nice but if you know that you want this particular type of alphabet or you've already got the hammer and bench block there are individual alphabet sets so when you're looking at purchasing these you'll want to take into consideration what size do you want your lettering to be so there's three millimeter there's four millimeters a set I have right here there's uppercase lowercase six millimeter 1.5 millimeter bunch of difference and a bunch of different types of actually lettering as well you can see here's a newsprint one this one is Jeannie it's a little bit more fanciful this one here that I have his chalkboard and it's lower case so there is upper and lower case available a lot to really think about but that's part of the fun is you're going to be able to really customize your pieces I've also pulled out a couple tools which I want to show you which are really handy to use with metal punches the first is this thumb saver metal punch holder so it with this you would just go ahead you'd put your punch in the center so you'd unscrew it put your punch in the center screw it back in place so it's solid and then you can hold it like so and hammer it down and then you don't have to worry about accidentally hammering your thumb and then there's also stamped straight tape I really do love this product it's taped that you put right on your metal punch so then you have a straight line to use as a guide you feel so right on a tape if you want to mark where you want your letters to be so I wouldn't feel right doing this video without showing you how to actually punch so I have a stamping blank right here you can see it's been used before I highly recommend using a piece of practice metal to begin with before you start using the pieces that you actually plan to incorporate into a design so if you have you know a scrap or leftover piece or something you've marked up before go ahead and use that pick up your punch and you're going to look and see the orientation of the design so I've got a little cross right here so I'm going to turn it around so that the cross is facing up and I'm gonna grip the stamp down towards the base and I'm going to try to hit it once with a nice hard back if you look closely here you can see I've got the cross punched now if you want it bring out the design a little bit you could do something like I did in this example here where I filled the recess of the lettering with some patina which really made that word pop so you could do that or you could leave it how it is if you are interested in metal stamping please do check out our website there are a lot more tutorials on it and also you'll see the entire selection of metal punches there's a lot to choose from and a lot of fun to be had you