What's In A Name?

What’s in a name? Everything. Names have meaning. Names have identity. People have understood this since the beginning of time. Your name becomes part of who you are.

In the world of jewelry; stamping or engraving a name on a necklace, ring, or bracelet singles that jewelry out for a particular, chosen person. This carries a lot of meaning.

So when my daughter Grace asked me for a necklace that would present her name and occupation, I had a pretty good idea as to how I would create it. Grace is a realtor and selling is her passion in life. I caught onto this when she was 7 years old and selling water in our front yard. No, not bottled water. Tap water. It wasn’t even cold water at that. And yes, people bought it.

I had just gotten a new set of letter stamps from Beaducation and I was itching to use them on the project.

​I looked through my copper blanks and chose a size I thought Grace would like - 1.5” - not too big, but big enough to work with what I had in mind.

I had a small, 5mmx30mm curved rectangle that I decided to engrave her name on. I liked that it was curved because my background blank was a circle.

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​I positioned my letter A stamp right in the middle of the blank, knowing this would center the name - 2 letters to the right of the A, and 2 letters to the left.

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Next, I covered the name in ink with a black sharpie. Then I used the  pro polishing pads from Beaducation to polish the piece leaving the letters in black.

​Now it was time to turn my attention to the circle blank which would serve as the background for Grace's name and two sterling silver charms I had purchased. One charm was a dollar sign and the other was a house with a "sold " sign in front of it. They were perfect symbols for a realtor.
​I painted the copper circle with Pebeo fantasy paints - Moon Turquoise, Vitrail Citrus Lemon, and Vitrail Green Apple.  When the paint was dry, I lay the name tag and the charms on top.

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​Then I put the piece on a special rubber mat that allows for minimal dripping, and poured ice resin over it. Ice resin comes in two bottle - a resin and a hardener. You mix one part resin to one part hardener. I let that set for 12 hours or more.

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​The next day, my piece was ready for the bail. I glued a copper bail onto the back with E6000 industrial strength glue.  I let that dry for a good 6 hours and then attached the pendant to a snake chain necklace. 

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The only thing left to do was to surprise my Gracie with the necklace. And surprise her I did. She loved it!

There's nothing like making jewelry with meaning to let someone know how special they are to you! Isn't she a cutie?!