The minute I saw these washer necklaces, I was in love. I think they are so cute. But the best part is that they are super easy to make. You just need the right equipment. I first saw them on Sugar Doodle who provides you with a great tutorial to make them here. Lately I have also seen them a few other places.
So go ahead and make some for yourself. After I saw the tutorial, I went to Harbor Freight to buy a steel stamp set. They just happened to be on sale that day and I had a 20% off coupon that I had found online. They let me use the coupon in addition to the sale price. It ended up costing me $4.00. Wahoo! I added some cute little charms which I found in the bead and jewelry aisle from Robert’s.
My sweet hubby bought me this necklace right after I had my fifth child for Christmas. Cute huh? I don’t think he paid $4.00 for it. But now I can make these cute gifts for my friends with their children’s name on them. I am currently looking for a place that sells disks like the charms above rather than washers. If I find them, I will be sure to update this post with a link.
I have also seen some cute washer necklaces that are made with cute paper. Check out what Stacie from the Creative Crate, has made. She provides you with a great tutorial here.
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Jacylann Nix says
how stinkin cute!!! i am going to make me one!
whoa! those are cute and great idea! i'm going to look into this!!
Love the idea – thanks for posting! I just purchased my own stamping set to try it out!
Oooh, I love that! I'm going to have to make one for myself.
such a clever idea! once i've got a few spare bucks, i'll get one of those stamp sets and try it myself. how fun!! thanks for sharing :)
What a really cute idea! good for a grandma gift, too
Oh, I am so excited. We already have one of those stamp sets. I've never thought of using them on washers. This is so much fun. We've used our stamp set on fishing pole weights. You can take a tear drop shaped fishing weight and hammer it flat (takes just a few whacks). It already has a little metal loop attached to the top. Once the weight is flat, then use the stamps to hammer in a short name or initials. These are great for boys' necklaces or backpack tags or key chains. Thank you for posting about the washers – another use for these stamps. I can't wait to try.
I love these also. Fire Mountain Gem and Beads has tons of stuff. You might be able to find discs online.
is this what you're looking for?
2 pack 5/8 inch 22 gauge off center sterling silver washers:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26517318
I love this necklace! I love reading the blog and seeing all these great ideas. I've already gotten so many great Christmas ideas!
Thanks for posting this!!! I have been wanting to try it out. I love you blog!
Wow that is cool! I love checking your blog out everyday! You have so many great ideas- thanks for all the ideas.
wonderful idea, as always….. do you have any ideas on where to get the chains for a reasonable price?
Anonymous–The chain in that picture was, believe it or not, from target. I can't remember exactly how much but I think it was around $6.
Just curious, what size letters were your stamps? 3/32 ? (Looking to buy off Amazon and wondering what works best with the washers. :-)
Thanks!
Megan…YES! Those are exactly what I am looking for! Thank you! Kara–the stamp set I bought was 1/8" and the washers are 5/16". Hope that helps.
Or trey here for different shaped washers :
http://www.beaducation.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_23
http://www.beaducation.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_23&products_id=735
Another option similar to what you were looking for.
what is the best washer to use and where is the best place to get them? I got some from Home Depot, and maybe it's just me, but I can't get the letters deep enough. Any suggestions? thanks for all the ideas and info. I love your blog
I just came back to check this post for te link that I left in your comments to beaducation! lol I have no idea why it posted as anon!
So glad to see your update and happy to be of help!
I couldnt find the tutorial for this craft,would you please re post it again? I would like to make that for Christmas.
Thanks a bunch.
These are cute. I think it is unfair, however, for the people that are actually trying to make a living making the sterling silver necklaces, for you to share the sources on where to buy them. I for one, make and sell these and I am single and trying my best to keep a roof over my head. It’s hard when someone comes along to share sources and a how to do it yourself. The washers above are fine and most people wont actually buy the best quality stamps it takes to make a nice peice of jewelry. However, I just think it is unfair.
Jennifer…sorry that you feel that “sharing” ideas and “sources” are hurting your business. I for one have to say that for many years I sold online and craft shows, and never felt threatened by someone “learning” how to create or purchase items. I was one of the few out there who on my blog and website would give weekly tutorials on how to create items, which included all the sources to purchase those items. I have NEVER felt my business was threatened by that. I will say MANY people do NOT have a creative bone in them…or the time…and will just purchase the item. I think we should feel more threatened by “importing” than from another crafter!
SO, HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH…TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR WORK…AND YOUR WORK WILL SHINE ABOVE THE REST!
I agree..I’m always glad when people share sources because on the off chance I have the time/energy to do a project, I like to challenge myself. But Char you are right..9 times out of 10 I’ll just buy something pre made…And I totally respect that your response wasn’t petty and defensive… You seem like a good egg!
to be honest with you, if your making a living on these types of necklaces and such then you are probably using high quality materials, like real silver and real gold and cutting it by hand, really putting your heart and soul into each piece. And as I have read many have respect for someone that does this sort of quality work. But making something like this shouldn’t worry you in the least bit. These are just washer’s ‘galvanize steel washers’ to boot. So they are a cheap and easy stand in for what some might consider to be a ‘knock off’ of the real thing and others would prefer to have a high quality items such as yours.
and not to sound rude because I know it it would read that way in text, but you’re not the only one that thought of this idea. There are many out there that have the same vision as you and they take it to the level that they see for each piece. I for one have thought of this as well (before I even saw any of these things on the net) and never took it any further then buying the washers. My vision focused on wire work instead.
So I would think of myself as an ‘Inspiration’ to others and make it a complement and not a burden on you. You must have talent to be able to sell the things you make, take pride in that and breathe easy.
I’m sure you art is safe and many will buy it, I really don’t think you have anything to worry about. :)
Instructions for virtually everything are all over the internet and have much more exposure now, thanks to Pinterest. I sew/sell baby items…burp cloths, tag blankets, bibs, etc. I absolutely realize that there are thousands of people out there making the same things and trying to sell them. I also know that tutorials exist for all of these items and are available to everyone with just a few key strokes, but I don’t consider that unfair. It is what it is.
I agree with Monica. I’m sorry that it puts others at a disadvantage, but sooner or later everything (if not already) is available via the internet. I don’t consider it unfair either. Jennifer, perhaps your quality of stuff is much higher but if someone can save some money (as we are all about saving), then why not?
How did you learn how to make your jewelry Jennifer? You learned it from someone somewhere.
P.S. Amy – thank you for all of your wonderful ideas! I’m not crafty enough to make this stuff but I can still admire it all! :)
where can i get an inexpensive stamping set? LOVE LOVE LOVE your ideas and site!!!!
I just wanted to chime in here to say that jewelry designers making sterling silver hand stamped jewelry are not using washers from Home Depot or $4 metal stamping sets. Those are fine for a DIY home crafting project but not for a real jewelry artisan. I used an inexpensive stamping set for practice for months on scrap metals before I starting using the real thing. Real jewelry stamping sets are more like $100-350 and more if you have something custom made. We also hand cut our own discs to various custom sizes and shapes, hand sand, polish, stamp, oxidize, polish more etc. Very labor intensive to make fine jewelry and sterling silver is expensive too. Just wanted to throw that out there as compared to a quick DIY washer necklace with basic home improvement tools.
Christine how did you learn to hand cut your own discs? I am learning different jewelry making techniques and would appreciate any tips you might be willing to share.
So glad I saw this! I love these for a mother’s necklace, but I never knew how inexpensive the stamps were. I may really have to give this a try sometime!
To make this affordable and beautiful enough for an heirloom use silverclay if you have access to a gascooker ring or a brulee torch these are a cinch I made some from a silmilar post but used silverclay and rubberstamped letters. Goodluck!
i have washer wine markers…that say dream… love….destiny… etc… gave them out as bridesamaid/wedding gifts to the ladies….
Don’t want to bug you… but I wasn’t able to get the links in your post to work. Because you mentioned the name of the blog you got the tutorial from, I was able to find it by searching her website. Just thought I would let you know in case you wanted to try to fix that. BTW.. thanks for the idea. This is the first project that I have shared on my website that I actually jumped in and tried. LOVE the results. I didn’t actually bother looking at the tutorial till I realized that your impressions are darker. Now I realize I need to use a sharpie marker to get the darker impression. THANKS!
While I appreciate all the work an artisan has to do in order to perfect his craft, the price for such an item is way out of my budget. That is why I make my own, It might not look as ideal as the more costly ones, I know where it came from and the love I put into making things for my kids and grandkids.
I was looking into the metal stamp sets and realized all the different sizes, what size would I be looking to order? These would be so cute for kids too wear, if they lose them it’s not like they lost an expensive piece of jewelry.
Jennifer HOW DID YOU LEARN
not sure if any one has suggested it but you could make them out of flatten nickles as well. That is if your not to shy about using money in a project. Just hammer the nickles flat, make a circle and cut it out and use a nail to punch a hole at the top, then sand it all nice and smooth, give it good buffing and walla, a nice little round disk to punch on.
I might try this later, after I finish all the rest of my ‘give away’ projects that I do Christmas.
These are great! I have to get a different stamp set now and will be going to Harbor Freight (which I love anyway). Thank you for posting!
i was wondering if you had to use the stamps or if you could just write with the sharpie and bake it please get back to me i need to know
The Sharpie will come off fairly easy. If you want it to be long lasting I would use a stamp.
I have started making my own bead necklaces and bracelets with the Bead Gallery line of beads at Michael’s Craft store. They are pricey but you can see and touch the beads which is nice. Anyway, I started looking at stamped necklaces and came across this site. I looked around for the washers in the necklace you got for Christmas. It looks like they are called “offset washer” because the circle is not centered. I agree with other posters that the materials and beauty in the items you buy on-line can vary from what you can do at home. Everything seems easy until you try and do it and I don’t necessarily want to pay a lot of money for materials until I choose to. I think there is room in this world for everyone.
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Could The discs above be regular washers that have been punched ? My craft wall has a coin that was punched and made into a ring, there is a tutorial.
Oh great, I will have to look at your tutorial. Thanks.
Amazon has these and eBay also just. Type in off set washer for stamping
Great. Thanks!