Hand Stamped Dog Tags Tutorial

I love just about all animals. It’s ridiculous and has found me rolling on the ground with a stranger’s dog at Petsmart more than once. Just the other day I was sitting at my desk and working on my computer when a big ol’ hairy best slowly walked by my window. I hopped up like my panties had caught fire and was out there calling for it in a heartbeat. Turns out this beastie is super sweet and was super thirsty. Some sort of a Saint Bernard mix, this guy was big with a head bigger than my own. I named him Thor though all of the hair kept me from determining if my new friend was indeed a “he”.

But I’m getting sidetracked. My parents dogs are great, too. Cooper is a poodle with a no nonsense attitude and a bark that can pierce your eardrums. And maybe your soul. Roscoe is a sweet bichon that likes to sleep around my mother’s head. Seriously. She looks like she’s rocking a frizzy white do when she lays down. And Ruby is my special gal who keeps me company and lets me pet her as I fall asleep at night when staying with my parents. She’s Boston terrier with more energy than she knows what to do with. She’s crazy and rambunctious and I’ve had her tongue in my mouth because she’s a sneaky little beast more times than I’d like to admit.

I love them, these furry siblings I have acquired. And like all of the family’s pets they are loved like nobody’s business. Which is why I decided to make them their own hand stamped dog tags in cute colors that remind me of their personalities.

For this project you will need:

• Size 5-6mm letter stamps (these 5mm stamps are about $20 – that’s crazy!)
• Stamping / bench block
• Jewelry hammer
• Masking tape
• Bone shaped blanks
• Black Sharpie marker
• alcohol and rag (optional)

Take your bone shaped blank and use masking tape to stick it to your block and define the line that you want to stamp along.

To get the name well centered, start from the middle and work your way left and right from it. If the name has an even number of letters (like Ruby, Roscoe and Cooper all do) You’ll have to center the space between the middle two letters of the name.

Write the name down on a piece of paper if you need to and make sure you’re actually starting in the middle. Ain’t no shame and that’s exactly what I did!

To get your stamp on is really easy. And if you’re new I have found that the larger stamps are easier to wield as a newbie. Simply hold the stamp as straight up and down as you can. Slide it until the bottom hits the tape. Give the top of the stamp three good whacks with your hammer.

Oh, and be sure you have the letter the correct way up because I gotta tell you, having an upside down “y” as the last thing you do is pretty darn irksome.

To get your letters to stand out well, take a black Sharpie and run along the letters. I like using an older marker that’s kind of frayed out because it gets in there really well.

Wipe the extra ink off of the tag. Because I can be slow, I have taken to using a cloth with a tiny amount of rubbing alcohol on it to help me get rid of the extra ink. It works like a dream!

To finish up I wrote the phone numbers for my parents on the back side and sprayed a sealer on to keep them on. If you only have a single number you can easily stamp the number to the front of the tag as well.

I went with gold for Cooper because he’s regal like that, the light blue for Roscoe because it seemed sweet and hot pink for Ruby because Miss Thing is a firecracker.

How easy was that? These make a great gift for your two-legged friends who love their four-legged babies! Or your own furry ones :)