Step 1: A chromed appearance isn't so difficult; it only looks that way. The first thing you'll need is a slightly-messy gradient running A-B-A-B (dark to light, dark to light) with an abrupt edge between the central B-A section. I'm supplying one here to help demonstrate what I'm referring to. One version is in grays (to simulate silver/chrome), the other in golds (for simulating brass or gold). Feel free to copy these gradients to help you make your own, but keep in mind that these are compressed JPG and therefore not as smooth as what you'll prefer to work with. A basic effect such as Motion Blur or Wind can be used to add the minimal streaks to the gradient, but take care that the streaking only goes from dark to light, not light into dark. When your gradient is prepared, save it to your storage area. You'll use and re-use it many times.

Step 2: Now prepare two copies of your chosen text. I like adding a simple border around the text; you may or may not care to do that, but experiment and find out what you prefer. We're going to call one copy of the text the "back" and the other copy the "lettering." Prepare the "back" copy by filling the letters and border with a wild color, like hot pink, and the inner back portion with something mild like green as shown here. Your actual working background area should be filled with a solid tone unlike the others, such as the blue I'm using. Prepare the "lettering" copy by filling the characters and border with the mild green, then adding a tight shadow in black and a highlight in white. It already looks kinda cool, doesn't it?

Step 3: Open a new window the same size (or slightly larger) as these others and paste in a copy of your metallic gradient, re-sizing as needed. Make a duplicate of this window so that two copies of your gradient are waiting for you.

Step 4: Set your background (transparent) color to the mild green and paste your "lettering" copy over the metallic gradient. There are many uses for it already, just like this!

Step 5: Now paste the "back" copy over your second gradient window. Adjust this alignment slightly so that the harsh light/dark division of the gradient will fall slightly lower on the image than it did on your "lettering" copy.

Step 6: Reset your background (transparent) color to the wild hot pink. Copy your "back" version and paste it over the "lettering" copy. Take care to align the letters and border so that everything fits together smoothly...and voila! There is your finished result, created "by hand"!