Stamp Jewelry

I was digging through our arts and craft cabinet when I came across a bag full of old stamps I had gotten in the mail.  Knowing one day it might come in handy, I shoved them under some cardstock and forgot about them.

One crazy thing about  jewelry making addiction is that pretty soon, anything becomes fair game.  As I pawed through the stamps, I realized there were some really interesting and gorgeous fare for making jewelry!  It was like free material!

Knowing they'd be too vulnerable to stand on their own, I rolled out some polymer clay on the largest setting of my Amaco pasta machine.  With a 1/8th hole punch (the same used for making shrink plastic jewelry), I punched holes in the stamps, laid it on the clay, cut out the clay, and then used a small metal dowel to make holes in the clay.  After cooking the clay, I used Mod Podge Gloss to adhere the stamps.  Once that was done, I sprayed a Mod Podge finish on and allowed them to dry over night.

Today I used larger oval jump rings to create links in the stamps and then used two jump rings each to connect the stamps.  With chain, jumprings, and a magnetic clasp, I finished it up and voila, a gorgeous stamp bracelet!

Tip:  For large stamps like these, be sure to connect the bracelet for a somewhat snug fit.

Glues, Adhesives, Finishes

When walking down the craft aisle for adhesives, your mind may become boggled in the broad choice offered.  Which is best for sticking polymer to plastic?  Which will give a nice finish to paper beads?  Which is going to stick its middle finger in the air to all that hard work by warping everything in its site?  These were my questions.

The other day, I found a used stamp collection in the craft bin that I had totally forgotten existed.  These things are going to make great jewelry, I thought, and began Googling possibilities.  I knew I had to stick them to something and then find a way to finish them.  As anticipated, there were many possibilities:  glass slides, bails, polymer, wood, or cardstock to name several options.  Since I already had wood, polymer, or cardstock, these seemed my best choices.  But I began to experiment to see which media would give the best results.

My criteria:
Warping
Expense
Shine/Overall Appearance
Time
Ease of Use
Problems with Bubbling

I used several adhesives and finishes:
Diamond Glaze
White Glue
1/2 Glue 1/2 Water Mixture
Mod Podge Gloss
Mod Podge Spray (Matte)

Testing was completed on cardstock.

Results:
Most of the adhesives warped.
The shiniest was the Diamond Glaze, but this was not the best result.
The best results came from the Mod Podge Gloss (sealer, glue & finisher).  Whether used to adhere & finish, it came out best.  Also, using it in conjunction with the Mod Podge Matte to seal also worked well.

Below I scanned in images from the results.  Unfortunately, the scanner did too good a job making everything look good, so it's hard to tell the difference in photos.

Sadly, although I wanted Diamond Glaze to be the end-all panacea of finishing my pieces, I've just not enjoyed the success I get with other products.