Home   >   Daily Wire Jewelry Tips   >   Wire Jewelry Idea April 25: Tagging Handmade Jewelry Gifts

Wire Jewelry Idea April 25: Tagging Handmade Jewelry Gifts

By on April 25, 2012
Print Friendly

Wire Jewelry Idea April 25:
Tagging Handmade Jewelry Gifts

by Rose Marion, Wire-Sculpture.com

They’re one of those cultural things that seem everywhere. On your car, in movies, needing attention every couple of years: license plates. License plates, surprisingly, began in France in the 1800s, before the car was invented. On this day, April 25, in 1901, New York became the first state to require license plates; but rather than provide a metal plate with year and month stickers, like states do nowdays, drivers were expected to make their own! Early license plates were made of cardboard, copper, plastic, leather, porcelain, and even pressed soybeans before standards were put in place.

What does that have to do with jewelry? Well, I drive a Toyota Camry. I love my car, but it’s not exactly unique; there are usually a couple other Camrys in the same color when I park at the mall or to get groceries. And if I didn’t have my electronic key FOB that I can press to make my car beep, I’m sure I’d have a harder time finding my car. Now could you imagine if we didn’t have license plates, either?

I was thinking about license plates and I started to wonder how I identify my jewelry. Sure, compared to the rest of my jewelry box, my jewelry stands out pretty well: I recognize what I’ve made (much better than remembering where I parked). Even my wild and crazy experiments still are familiar to me. But what if one of my circle of friends, who gets showered with handmade jewelry on her birthday, can’t remember who made her bracelet, can you blame her? So here are a few ideas I came up with to help “license” your jewelry.

  • Does your jewelry tarnish? Include a small polishing cloth, or an anti-tarnish strip and a plastic bag with the gift.
  • Give your jewelry in a special box: many gem shows will have a vendor who specializes in beautiful wood, silk, cloissone, or ceramic tiny gift boxes and pounches.
  • Include a personal note on scrapbooking or handmade paper that begs to be saved in her jewelry box
  • Do you have a special symbol, or a special thing that will remind your friend of you? Attach a small charm, such as a cross, peace sign, dolphin, or “Mom” charm near the clasp, so she thinks of you whenever she puts it on.
  • Search online for jewelry tags and metal jewelry stamping punches so you can stamp your initials on the jewelry tag charm

What ways can you think of to “license” or “mark” your jewelry that you give as gifts? Let us know in the comments below!
Happy Jewelry Making!

Have a Wire Jewelry Idea or Resource you’d like to share?
Click Here to submit your idea. You could be featured on our Blog!

Click to Receive Daily Tips by Email

8 Comments

  1. avatar

    zoraida

    April 25, 2012 at 4:55 am

    I love the idea of tagging your jewelry. I place labels on my jewelry boxes, bags etc with stickers meant as return address labels. Instead of my address, I have my websites and email with an image of my jewelry. The jewelry itself, has no identification once taken out of its box so including a small charm or stamped metal tag would do very well.

  2. avatar

    Sandy

    April 25, 2012 at 6:12 am

    Hi, I made a logo charm with Shrinky Dink material. Use a rounded shape so there are no corners. You have to experiment and see which markers work best, some still rub off after shrinking, most of the Sharpie brand colors work. You can get a 1/8 inch hole punch in the scrapbooking department of the craft store, make the hole before shrinking and a jump ring will fit. I also covered the back with gold leaf pen, before shrinking, and it stays on as well.

  3. avatar

    Joan Madouse

    April 25, 2012 at 8:10 am

    I bought the stamping tools and tags but found out I was better at using a Demel engraving tool. I purchased sterling silver tags and gold filled tags. I put JCC in cursive on one side for “Joanie’s Creations of Coronado” and the other side I put .925 SS or 14kt GF and I hang the tag on the back of the jewelry. This looks neat and professional. I put the tag on two sided tape on my stamping block and hold the corners of the tape with my free fingers. This keeps the tag from slipping while you are engraving since the tags are quite small.

    • avatar

      Judy

      April 28, 2012 at 9:04 am

      Where do you get the small tags? Thanks

  4. avatar

    Sarah S

    April 25, 2012 at 8:14 am

    with wire wrapped items, it would be easy to have a special twist or wrap that you do on each item, even if it is hidden on the back, that marks it as your work. Alternately, you could make a series of small charms that to put on each work – sort of like a tag.

  5. avatar

    Mechelle Fox

    April 25, 2012 at 9:43 am

    Because I work primarily in polymer clay, I have a glyph that is a stylised representation of my initials which I inscribe into my pieces before they are cured.

  6. avatar

    Janice Fingado

    April 25, 2012 at 10:32 pm

    Since my company is jfdesigns, I bought a package of tiny oval silver and GF tags and since I’m cheap (make that “frugal”) I bought a steel marking stamp with just a lower-case j. I stamp the j on the tag and then turn the stamp upside down, place it 2/3 of the way down and right next to the j, give it a whack and I have an f. The j doesn’t have a dot and the f doesn’t have a line through it, so it ends up looking like a distorted Saguaro cactus. Since I’m from Tucson, it works perfectly to remind the recipient who it’s from…….

  7. avatar

    Linda Palma

    April 27, 2012 at 11:36 am

    I make little hearts out of PMC and stamp them with my Two Hearts symbol.