Stamped Spoon Plant Markers

I saw some really quirky stamped spoon plant markers on the net some time ago and I recently bought myself a Christmas present of a letter and number stamping set to punch out the letters so I finally had a go at making them this week and achieved a reasonable amount of success but obviously I still need a lot of practice.

 

 

These plant markers are very popular on Pinterest and there are heaps of tutorials which come up on that Pinterest page which are much better than mine but I thought I'd show you how I made mine anyway.  I had read that the silver is much easier to work with which I would agree with as the silver spoon flattens a lot quicker than the stainless steel one but the latter still doesn't take too long to flatten. You can see the difference in the photo above where the stainless steel spoon is on the left and the silver spoon is on the right.

 

 

We have an old shoe last which we use to keep the door open and to stub our toes on and it probably came from a garage sale like most other objects in our house. My daughter will be nodding her head if she is reading this. You need to belt the spoon flat on a hard surface so I took the last outside and worked on the bricks and tried not to damage them like I did the other day.

 

I flattened the silver dessertspoon a few days ago but wanted to see how hard it would be to flatten a stainless steel soup spoon. Firstly I put some old knit fabric under the spoon...

 

...and then folded it over it so as not to get hammer marks on the spoon like my husband did when he started belting the silver spoon the other day.

 

If you try this then you can take out your frustrations on the poor old spoon as you try to flatten it.

 

Hmmm, not quite done yet but getting there.

 

Nearly done.



Okay that is flat enough so now write the word you want to punch out on the spoon and then carefully put the punch tool over the letter and bang the hammer a few times trying not to let the spoon move which I obviously did with the 'D' so it looks a bit dodgy. You can just put dots where you want the letters and some people draw a line but do whatever works for you.

 

Once you have punched the letters then use your permanent marker again and write over them so that the ink gets into the grooves.

 

Most of the tutorials I read said to get the ink off with rubbing alcohol but I wasn't sure what that was so used my son's hand sanitiser instead. Shhh, don't tell! That worked a treat.

 

Then just tuck those quirky spoons in amongst your herbs or, when you have had a bit more practice perhaps you can give some to friends who like gardening and unusual gifts.

 

Check out the Op Shops for spoons. The silver ones are as scarce as hen's teeth but you might be able to pick up a few. I asked at the counter at one shop and they said they kept them under lock and key as they 'walk'. They only had two to sell and they cost $1 each whereas the stainless steel ones were 10 cents each.

 

So there you go...something quirky to try out if you have nothing else to do with your life! As I said there are heaps of tutorials on Pinterest and there are some really cute sayings you can put on the spoons apart from plant names like 'Plantus Unknownus', 'Water Me' and  'I Kill Plants' to name a few.

 

Don't you think they are quirky?