As a jewelry designer, I often give jewelry as gifts, at least to my female friends.  I’d love to make some jewelry for my husband, but unfortunately he’s not the swinging, gold-chain wearing type (or any other kind of chain for that matter), and will only wear his wedding band.

So what’s a Jewelry Girl to do when a holiday like Valentine’s Day comes up?  I decided to make him a “Love Token” to carry in his wallet:

Jewelry Tutorial - Love Token - Holly West

Now before you say, “Hey, that picture is out of focus,” please note that I made a couple of errors when stamping the metal, which are explained below.  Instead of a mistakes, however, I prefer to think of them as “design decisions.”

Before beginning this project, give some thought to what you want to write on your token.  You can just write “Love” if you want, but give it some thought to make the token unique.

My husband and I met through an online personal ad that I placed way back in 1996.  I no longer have the text for the entire ad, but I started it with Shakespeare’s sonnet #130, which begins:

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…

And ends with this couplet:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

In the spirit of the sonnet, I decided to stamp a sun-like shape at the top of the token, and I modified the closing text to read “My love is rare.”

Skill level
Beginner (requires basic metalsmithing)

Materials & Tools


Jewelry Tutorial - Love Token - Holly West - Materials and Tools

1)  Jeweler’s saw
2)  Alphabet metal stamps (1/16)
3)  Emery paper
4)  Sharpie (preferably thin point)
5)  Metal block
6)  About 10 grams sterling silver or gold or at least an inch square sheet of 18g (1 mm) of either metal
7)  Metal file
8)  Emery stick
9)  Hammer
10) Circle template or compass
11)  Rolling mill (not pictured)

Here’s how it’s done:

1)  This being a special occasion and all, I decided to use 18k gold in this project.  Sterling silver will work just as well, and is a lot less expensive, and the process is the same regardless of whether you use gold or silver.  If you use sheet metal for this project, skip to step #6.

2)  Using your jeweler’s saw, cut at least a 3/4 inch piece of metal.  You can eyeball this–it doesn’t have to be precise.

3)  Mill your piece of metal flat to about 2 mm.  Be careful not to smoosh your fingers.  With a piece that small it’s easy to do.  My jewelry teacher offered to start it for me, so I let him.

4)  Anneal your metal to soften it for further milling.  If you don’t, it can crack or peel at the edges.

5)  Continue to mill the metal to 1 mm thickness.  You can do it thinner if you want, but 1 mm will give the token a solid, coin-like weight, which is what I wanted.

6)  Draw your shape (in this case, a circle) on your metal using the Sharpie.

7)  Using your jeweler’s saw, carefully cut the shape out of the metal.

8)  Using your metal file, emery stick, and emery paper, file and smooth the token so that all sharp edges are removed.

9)  Anneal your token again so that the metal will be easier to stamp.

10)  Using your Sharpie and a ruler (or your plastic template) draw rough guides where your letters will be stamped.

11)  Carefully begin stamping your letters/design onto the token using your metal stamps, hammer, and metal block.

I cannot stress the word carefully enough when you are stamping the metal.  It is very easy to accidentally stamp the wrong letter or to stamp it upside down if you aren’t careful.

Case in point:

Can you see that I accidentally used the “A” in love and the “V” in rare?  Oh, and I just noticed that the “S” is upside down.  Sigh.  Those tiny letters are hard to read on the stamps!

A perfectionist would’ve re-did the token but I am not a perfectionist.  Instead, I re-stamped the V and the A, hoping that the resulting design would give it a rustic, handmade look, which was my intention from the beginning, despite the mistakes.

12)  Using a few different types of hammers, I pounded the token here and there to give it a more distressed, old coin-type look.  I was also hoping to disguise my mistake, which I was only marginally successful in doing.

13)  Polish your work if you want a shiny finish, use a satin finish buff for a brushed finished.  I gave mine a shiny finish, then distressed it some more by putting it in a jar with some quarters and shaking them.

14)  Style variations:  You can do almost anything with your love token.  Try, for example, cutting a shape in the middle of it, or solder a shape (like a heart) in a contrasting metal.  For this project, I came very close to fabricating it in silver and then soldering a gold heart to the top instead of a sun.

15)  Give the Love Token to your honey and then make him take you out to dinner.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Print this tutorial

All material copyright 2007 by Holly West.  The design demonstrated in this tutorial is for personal use only.  Please do not copy the design for re-sale.

11 Replies to “Jewelry Tutorial: Love Token”

  1. Maggie Kmiecik says: May 12, 2011 at 10:58 am

    Hi Holly,
    I just wanted to let you know that I’m launching a new site that’s a collection of different jewelry projects, http://www.AllFreeBeadedJewelry.com, and that I linked to your project:
    http://www.allfreebeadedjewelry.com/Metalwork/Love-Token
    I would like to know if I can link like this to you, including your photo, in the future. Or if you would be willing to allow me to post projects in full on the site – full credit will always be given to you, of course. It would be yet another source of traffic to your blog. Once you have 2+ projects on the site I can start you a designer profile where you can tell everyone a little about yourself and include links to your blog, etsy store, facebook, etc.
    The site is still under construction, so if some things seem weird they will be fixed. Once the designing part is done the site will be more akin to our sister sites AllFreeSewing.com and FaveCrafts.com.
    Please let me know, I would love to work with you further.
    Thanks!
    Maggie Kmiecik

  2. Harj says: November 7, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    After annealing can’t one write in the metal with a scribe? Say I wanted to write a longer poem?

  3. victoria says: May 6, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    Hi there loved your love token.
    i am not a jeweler but I have been researching into making my own tags/ tokens for my small baby company. I have found Infinity who can make the stamp but I cannot find a wholesale tag company most of them are corporate & cheap looking
    can anyone help.
    thanks

  4. April says: September 6, 2007 at 5:15 pm

    Hello! Thanks for the tutorial! I found you on Google and was wondering if you could tell me…. at the bottom of this page: http://www.infinitystamps.com/jewelrystamps.html is a Blackening and Polishing kit. I am interested in blackening the impressions made by the metal stamps. I am new to all of this and was wondering what that stuff is. Do you ever blacken your letters and if so, what do you use to do this?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Much thanks, April 😉

  5. kelly says: March 12, 2007 at 2:10 pm

    thanks for the ideas. the dremel idea is what I kinda figured I would do, but it’s good to get some re-assurance that i was on the right path.

  6. holly west says: March 9, 2007 at 4:54 pm

    Hi Kelly,
    I’m not sure what kind of equipment you have access to, but there are a couple of ways you could do it. The easiest would be to drill a small hole with a dremel. If you have solder knowledge you could solder a jump ring to it. Another option might be to get a coin bezel pendant that simply snaps around the token.
    Holly

  7. kelly says: March 9, 2007 at 1:34 pm

    I loved your tutorial so much, I wanted to make one. Now mind you, I had no idea what I was doing, so I cheated a bit. I didn’t actually make my own token, I just bought a round silver charm. But I love it! So now I actually think I’d like to put it on a necklace. But my “token” needs a hole to put a jump ring through. How would I go about doing that? Any suggestions for a novice like me?
    thanks,
    kelly

  8. sguyot says: March 6, 2007 at 5:53 am

    Nicely detailed tutorial. Let’s people know how much work is involved.

  9. holly west says: February 24, 2007 at 10:28 pm

    Thanks Noelle. It’s great to hear from another jewelry designer, and I love your work. Thanks for sharing the links.

  10. Noelle says: February 24, 2007 at 4:27 pm

    I love your blogs! Very positive and cute. I read through your Weight Loss Blog, your Jewelry Blog and your Knitting Blog! Very inspiring, the running! Good For You!
    Noelle
    http://www.4theluvofjewelry.com
    http://www.jewelryloves.blogspot.com
    http://www.jadensjournal.blogspot.com

  11. Antoinette says: February 7, 2007 at 3:13 pm

    What a sweet idea. I love it! I’m sure your man will too. Simple and loving. Great idea. At least our men like buying us jewelry, if not wearing it themselves.

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