Hammered spoons are a beautiful addition to your wedding tabletop. Perfect for an elegant, rustic wedding, use them as favors, escort cards, or table numbers – the options are endless. I’m so happy to have McKenzie Brickl of La La Soiree and Kate Sommers of KNG Sommers Photography stop by EAD today to share a step-by-step tutorial for creating your own hammered spoon place cards, and you can see them in action on a lovely olive green and gold tabletop they created!
Scour local thrift stores, flea markets or yard sales for spoons and make sure that they are not stainless steel – look at the handle – which appears too shiny and is very difficult to pound out. Select pieces that are made of silver (you can tell because it does tarnish).
You will need:
- Safety goggles
- Ball peen hammer
- Small sledge hammer
- Bench block
- Metal stamp set (we used ¼ inch letters, and wouldn’t recommend going any smaller)
- Fine grit sand paper
- Sharpie
Instructions:
1) Begin by turning spoon upside down and, using sledge, pound down curved shape of spoon. Do not do this on your table or countertop, on tile or wood floors (cement or a work bench is perfect).
2) Flip over and pound down edges. Flip again and even out. Make sure to pay attention to the handle, so that you’re also straightening it out.
3) Once you’re happy with the flatness, place spoon onto bench block (or on same solid surface you used to sledge the utensil flat).
4) Using letter that falls in the middle of the name or word you’re using, align in center and hit (hard) 20 times with ball peen hammer. Check to confirm that you’re content with depth of imprint. If not, carefully realign and hammer another 10 times with a bit more force.
5) Continue with remaining letters (hit each letter stamp 20 times or more).
6) Fill letters in with Sharpie.
7) Using fine grit sandpaper, sand surface of letters to remove any Sharpie marks that are not in the imprinted area.
Voila! use spoons as place cards, table numbers, etc!
Thanks to these talented Minneapolis wedding vendors for sharing this DIY tutorial:
Styling – McKenzie Brickl of La La Soiree \ Photography – Kate Sommers of KNG Sommers Photography \ Floral – Indulge and Bloom \ Linens and rentals – Apres \ Venue – Pizza Luce \ Cheeses – Kowalski’s Market
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This is really creative! I just love it! Although I may not be able to do this myself. I am not much good with tools, but I know a lot of brides would find this inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
You need to try it. It dont have to be perfect work.
!!!!!!!!!! LOVE THIS!!!
these are so absolutely creative + charming!
xoxo, chrissy.
I really love this. Seen them before but never knew how they were done. This really is a cool idea for small gatherings. Thanks for the tutorial! Must give it a whirl!
Lisa
Very cool. If you didn’t have the inclination to hammer the letters in, acrylic paint done in calligraphy would be a nice substitute. Hmmmm, I may have to try this!
Hi Lisa and Debi! If you make these will you share a link or pics? Would love to see your end result!
beautiful! It might be quite a bit of work to do one for each guest but I could see the same treatment for table name/numbers in some kind of arrangement.
This is very funny to me. Looking at this project and then for some reason scrolled down to the comments :0) stopped on yours because, I saw my name, well (your name) but something else caught my eye, not only do we share the same name, you wrote this comment on my birthday!!
Just incase this dont post under your post. My Name is Leah my birthday is JUNE 29th Bahaha!!!
I absolutely love this idea – beautiful!
I’ve always loved these, thanks so much for the tutorial! :) I’ve featured this post on Craft Gossip here:
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/diy-hammered-spoons/
If you would like a “featured by” button, you can grab one here:
http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/
thank you so much Amanda, that made my day!
I always wondered how to do this! Looks awesome!!
I LOVE these and some very old spoons that I had no idea what to do with. I was wondering where did you buy the letters at and just what are they called. I tried to do google search and could not find them. Thanks!!
hi carol! i did a little search for “metal alphabet stamps’ and came up with this page – hope it helps! http://www.etsy.com/listing/76798933/uppercase-metal-14-inch-letter-alphabet
Thanks Ami!! That is a great help :)
I love this! I would love to feature this on Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle. Feel free to stop by and grab a featured button. Thanks!
Thanks so much for sharing this! It’s a wonderful recycling project & personal present too! :)
PERFECTION….
If you don’t want to sand your spoons, a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol will take away the excess marker. Sharpies are just alcohol inks in convenient, fine tipped applicators :)
I just saw a link to your tutorial on pinterest, and I had to check it out, because my daughter’s name is Leila and I never see it anywhere! These are super cute!
Clicked over from pinterest cause I have those metal stamps and wanted to check out what you did with them. Cool tut! Thanks for sharing!
Kristina
Thank you so much! What a great tutorial. I am doing this tonight for Valentine’s Day. I know I am cutting it close, but you’ve given such great directions, I can do this!
Are these done on silverplate, silver, or both. Finding silverplate would be much less expensive.
I thought finding old silver spoons would be easy peasy. NOT! Silver plate maybe, sterling is $20-30 a spoon! Love the tutorial. Tks!
I’ve flattened spoons for garden markers and found that using a rubber sledge hammer or mallet leaves a nicer finish on the spoon than the metal sledge hammer. Place cards are a great variation on this theme!
what a great tip, thanks colleen!
this is adorable and a great project. I’m sure guests would love them, too, as a kind of party favor. but where in the hell do you find that many silver spoons, really?!
thats really creative idea
Beach Wedding Invitations
What a neat idea. Not only will the guests be able to find their seat, but they’ll have a memorable keepsake they can display in their own homes. It will become a conversation starter and inspire others to be just as creative. Jennifer with http://www.LinenTablecloth.com
What the heck are you doing, destroying perfectly good silver spoons? So they will decorate your special day?! I’m all about upcycling but this is not it. Two thumbs down.
Where would I find the tool for lettering?
Very creative I think it is nice for baby suviners thanks
Very creative I think it is nice for baby suviners also I love to do that thanks
How could these be used ad Christmas ornaments?
Very Creative idea! Love this http://goo.gl/fvd0y4
Awesome! What a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome DIY tutorial.