Practice your stamping technique on a stack of paper about 10 sheets thick. Use a felt tip pen to “stamp” or dot the paper in the desired shape or design before working with the actual metal piece.
Trace the design you have decided on onto a piece of paper with your pen. Position a scrap piece of metal flat on a stamping block for practice. Place the paper with the traced design on top of the scrap metal piece. Make sure the design is centered in the desired position over the metal piece.
Position your design stamp over the paper with the stamp mark facing up. Hold the stamp over the edge of the first pen mark and hit the end of the stamp with a hammer so it strikes the paper and metal scrap piece.
Remove the paper and check the indentation the stamp left in the metal. If the indentation appears shallow, strike the stamp again with the hammer. If the indentation appears too deep, make sure to use less force with any future strikes. It may take some practice to achieve the desired look for your stamp. Continue stamping until the entire design is imprinted on your practice piece of scrap metal. If satisfied with your stamping technique, move on to the actual metal tag, jewelry or other item you wish stamped. If you feel more practice is needed, repeat the stamping process on another piece of scrap metal.
Use a premade stamping letter set to make the process easier if stamping letters on metal. Trace the letters onto a piece of paper. Practice spacing out the letters to get the desired letter spacing and to ensure all the letters will fit on the true metal piece.
Strike the stamping letters with a hammer, using the technique outlined in the first section, so the stamping letters leave letter-shaped impressions on your scrap metal piece. Strike the letters from center to left on the metal, and then from center to right.
Move on to the final piece of metal and stamp on the lettering when you are satisfied with the proper letter spacing and your letter stamping technique.