Dog tags

Just before Thanksgiving we brought home a new family member.  Josie is a Mastiff and has just the best personality anyone could ask for.  She's sweet and fun and loves to snuggle.

I was playing around with some new pancake dies the boys gave me for Christmas and decided Josie needed a personalized tag for her collar.  The hydraulic press makes quick work of the shape cutting and it was nice not to have to do any sawing; the temperature at the workbench was about 18 degrees.

This one is copper and the bone added to it is sterling.  I stamped her name and our phone number on the tag and finished it with a heat patina...there is something about that unpredictable red coloring that I adore.

I decided to make more.  And more.  I realized after I started if I was going to make tags for other dogs in my extended family, I needed to make one for all of them.  Josie's is huge because of her size, so I tried to tailor the size of each tag somewhat to the size of the dog.

The second group of tags in process:

 

And the whole set of tags prior to final finishing (that cool purplish cast is a reflection...I love how it looks but it's a little bit misleading):

I finished them all with a liver of sulfur patina, then polished them in varying amounts.

I've really enjoyed making these so I'm adding them as a custom option in my Etsy shop - maybe there are other pet owners who need one?