Tutorial : Vegetable Garden Markers from Old Spoons

Today I am going to show you how to make markers for your vegetable garden, using old spoons.


You Will Need:
Some old silver spoons
A hammer (or rubber mallet)
A black permanent market
A set of alphabet metal stamps
A piece of steel wool
A piece of steel, or something hard to hammer the spoons flat on

Instructions:
As these markers are for the garden, it doesn't matter what condition the silverware is in. I used some pretty crusty ones I picked up at a garage sale. I got 30 spoons for $3!

First you will need to flatten the spoons. I did this by placing my spoon on top of a piece of steel and then whacking it with a hammer:

Hammering it in this way will leave marks (like in the picture below), so if you don't want the marks you are best to use a rubber mallet instead and wrap your spoon in a piece of cloth (which is how I flattened the spoons for the coat rack)

You will need to turn your spoon over periodically to flatten it out successfully. I sometimes need to turn the spoon over a good 8 or 9 times, so don't give up too early! Eventually it will be flat, like this:


Once your spoon is flat, grab a black permanent marker and place large dots where you want your letters to be. This helps the letters to stand out once stamped in. As I am making a marker for 'lettuce', I have placed 7 dots on the spoon.


Next, place the spoon on top of the piece of steel. I clamp it all to the bench so that it doesn't move around too much during the next step.


Take your metal stamps and your hammer and punch the word into the top of the spoon.


Next, get a piece of steel wool and buff away at the black marker until it disappears.


Now make as many markers as you need and then pop them in your garden!