One Cent Battlestar Galactica Dog Tag

So your want to become a member of the Colonial Fleet ?!  Well your going to need a pair of standard issued dog tags. In this instructable I'll show you how to make your very own Colonial Fleet personnel dog tags. looking around on the net I saw that BSG Tags go for around 39.99 + and I thought to myself that's a good little bite into my party budget what could I do to get a tag but not really require me to spend money then it hit money itself was the answer, Use a penny to make my own BSG dog tag.

Materials needed:

Hammer
A Penny
Anvil or Anvil like surface
Sandpaper
Tin snips or a good pair of scissors
Rub on Transfer Paper
Drill or Dremel
Small sheet of paper
X-acto knife
needle-nose pliers 

For all you out there using Cubit's a penny is a form of currency used by us members of the Thirteenth Tribe. Ok with that out of the way go ahead and get yourself a penny. Place the penny on your anvil or anvil like surface, hammer the coin until you remove the facing from it . Make sure you make even hits as you hammer. Flatten the coins as much as you can to make the next steps easier. If you go to far the edges will start to crack and tear.

Colonial Dog Tags are shaped like hexagons so what your going to have to do unless you can perfectly draw a hexagon is print out a template.The with a pencil or piece of chalk draw out a hexagon onto the coin.

Use your chosen cutting implement to cut out the design in the coins. Use needle-nose pliers to hold the coin while cutting. Cut out the hexagon. Make the cuts as close to the design drawn on the coin as possible. Once that is done figure out which end you want to be the top and what end you want to be the bottom. The simply use your drill or dremel to make a small whole big enough for the chain to go through. When all is said and done take your sand paper and smooth and sharp edges but do not sand the face of the coin or you'll get a silver dog tag and not the copper battle worn look.  

Now its time for your Rub-on I chose this because its inexpensive and can be purchased online or at stores that sell craft and graphic arts supplies. Find the design you want, I got  the BSG logo and name by  just searching Google images with the key words being "battlestar galactica dog tags" once I found a photo of the tag I liked I imported it to photoshop and masked the logo and name and got rid of everything else once that was done I printed it on the Rub-on transfer and used the X-acto knife to cut it out.Next I Peeled off the plastic backing sheet that covers the tacky (slightly sticky) surface of the transfer. Placed the transfer, tacky side down, on the coin. Then used a pencil to rub back and forth over the transfer. Make sure that you have rubbed the pencil over the entire design. Slowly pull off the backing of the transfer and there you have it your very own BSG dog tag. Now go out there and kick some Cylon butt.


*Note* When I get some more free time I'll be uploading a few different templates for those that don't have access to Photoshop. Also stay tuned for more instructables and soon to be upcoming blog/series of instructables- Geeking Out on a College Budget.