How to Make and Use Enamel Pins

An enamel pin is essentially a metal pin or badge composed of two main elements: galvanized metal and enamel paint. If you’re a pin designer, finding the right supplier to design your enamel pins might feel like a daunting task, but it really isn’t.

When starting your search, you have two main options. A custom enamel pin manufacturer can act as a liaison between you and overseas manufacturers or you can work directly with overseas manufacturers.

Both options have pros and cons, and today we want to talk about what happens when you choose one or the other. We also cover how to submit your work for production so you get the highest quality product and clarify turnaround times and pricing.

1. How to Choose An Enamel Pin Manufacturer?

Some designers who sell enamel pins online through Etsy and Shopify claim that working directly with enamel pin factories in China is the best way to go, but over the years we’ve learned that’s not always the case. The benefits of working with a hard enamel pin manufacturer far outweigh the benefits of choosing an overseas factory. It depends on your needs, of course.

1) Purchase Policy

In both cases, you can expect the following: Working directly with a factory vs. working with a custom enamel pin manufacturer: When you work directly with a manufacturer in China, you will not get any quality assurance. What you receive is what you get. There is no system for replacement pins or refunds for any pins that are defectively shaped, visibly changed in color or missing design elements. The factory is not in the return business.

2) Price

The price of enamel pin orders should also be considered when sourcing from factories in China. You might think you’re saving money and going straight to the source, but many times you’re not. Keep a close eye on your country’s currency exchange rates and factor these costs in to ensure you get a good deal. On top of that, some factories will try to add hidden fees when you place an order that is masquerading as import fees, exchange fees, or shipping.

3) Shipping Term

Most factories say they offer free shipping, but not all shipping methods are created equal. Standard shipping from China can take weeks or even months in some cases. Faster shipping is always available but at a higher price. These are some of the key areas where enamel pin manufacturers offer an advantage to designers who want to sell pins online. We provide 100% quality assurance for all customized products we produce. This gives you peace of mind when purchasing.

In the rare event that there will be an error with the final product, we will replace the pin for you free of charge. This is not something you can negotiate with overseas manufacturers. We also offer honest and up-front pricing and free overnight shipping on every order.

As a custom pin manufacturer, we do a lot of shipping and receiving every month. It is not uncommon for us to submit orders in excess of 1,000 pins per day, making it easy for us to absorb shipping costs into our standard operations. As enamel pin specialists, we know how to work with the best custom pin makers and prepare designs for production. In order to make a pin, you need to submit your design.

2. Prepare Artwork for Custom Pin Manufacturing

We’ve had the privilege of working with several well-known pin designers as well as hundreds of independent pin designers on Etsy, Squarespace, and several other e-commerce sites. The artwork they create is incredible, but not always ready for custom pin making. That’s why we offer a free artwork setting service.

If you are familiar with the minimum values ​​and tolerances required to manufacture custom pins, setting up manufacturing files will be easier for you than most. If not, our art team will help you get your artwork ready. The first thing you need to know is the type of artwork file you are submitting.

1) The Best File Types for Custom Pins

Vector files are the best way to submit artwork for your pins to a manufacturer or custom pin maker. The files can be in. Ai, .PDF, or. EPS format. Bitmap files like. JPEG and . PNG is also acceptable, but they will be converted into vector files ready for production. A lot of manufacturers do not offer this service or will only accept vector files prepared for production.

The most important thing to keep in mind when creating custom pins is production minimums and tolerances. When artists send us enamel pin design files, one of the biggest mistakes they make is not creating the artwork in production-friendly proportions. Sometimes, just scaling down your artwork isn’t enough. We can get into some crafting stuff quickly, but first, let’s talk about colors.

2) Pick A Color for Your Custom Enamel Pin

In terms of color, all professional factories use the Pantone color-matching system. Be sure to choose colors from the Pantone Color Book, not from the options on your computer screen. Colors may appear differently on your monitor than they may appear on a printed page or on someone else’s monitor. Even if the difference in the display is small, once the enamel pin is produced, it may end up looking nothing like you imagined.

Using the Pantone color swatches to pick your colors and including the color codes in your creations will ensure that your custom soft enamel pins end up looking exactly how you want them to. You can buy Pantone color books online from Amazon or several other sites. Having one nearby will always help you get the color just right as you design your custom pins.

3) Create Custom Pins that Meet Minimum Production Requirements

Let’s take a quick look at minimum production quantities. Creating custom enamel pin designs yourself that meet all production requirements can be tricky. As we mentioned before, many of the pin designers we work with create beautiful artwork, but the vector files they create are not scaled for the physical product they want to make.

When a custom pinout design is sized for production purposes, it often does not meet all production minimum requirements. This can mean that some text and illustration details are too small to retain color, or too small to even appear on the surface of the pin.

Remember that custom soft enamel pins have a raised layer and a recessed layer. To prevent enamel paint from flowing into the wrong parts of your artwork, include color within a closed, recessed portion of your design. It is a good idea to reserve 0.3mm dots in your artwork.

This is the size of the syringe used to add the enamel paint to the recessed part of the needle. If a 0.3mm dot fits within the enclosed colored area of ​​your design, you’re good to go. If you’re not familiar with the process of preparing artwork for fabrication, you’re in luck.

We offer a free artwork service to get your pin design ready for production. We will provide you with a free quote and digital proofs within 48 hours after you submit a free quote form and upload your custom pin design.

3. Process

To make enamel pins, The Enamel Pin Factory will take your artwork and create a die that will be used to stamp your design onto a sheet of high-quality metal, which will then be cut around the outline of your design. The cutout shapes are then plated in a variety of finishes; gold, silver or the most popular black nickel, then the raised areas are polished to a premium finish and the recessed areas are painted with enamel paint.

Colored enamel areas of your design can be color matched using the “Pantone Solid Coated” color value. Each color sits in its own groove, with raised metal areas acting as barriers, enclosing each color and preventing them from mixing together. Then use high heat to set the enamel paint before adding any additional finishes such as resin domes.

1) Minimum raised wire thickness

A raised metal line must separate each enamel color of your design, which acts as a barrier and prevents the colors from blending. Thinner lines should not exceed 0.2mm.

2) Minimum Color Area

Use a thin needle applicator to add colored areas of enamel paint to the recessed areas of the pin.

3) Font Size

The minimum text we recommend is 5pt. Note that this is based on common fonts such as Helvetica. More complex fonts will require larger font sizes. When using text in your designs, make sure you follow the size rules for minimum raised metal line thickness and minimum fill color area. There should be no recessed areas smaller than 0.3 mm in any raised metal text areas.

4) Pantone Color Matching

For the most accurate color matching, we recommend using the “Pantone Solid Coated” guide.  Make it clear which areas of your design you want to be colored by using the correct color values ​​when creating your artwork or by giving clear instructions when placing your order.

5) Quick Overview

• 0.2mm minimum raised wire thickness
• The minimum recessed area of ​​0.3 mm for enamel color
• Minimum 5pt font size based on common fonts like Helvetica
• Convert all text to outlines
• Use Pantone Solid Coated Guides for Accurate Color

4. How to Order Your Pins?

Once your creation is ready for production and you have a pin maker you are happy with, the only thing left to do is order your pins. The price of lapel pins will vary depending on the customization options you add to your artwork, such as glitter enamel, cutouts, and gemstones, however, the cost of the pins will depend primarily on size and quantity.

1) Pricing Pins for Size and Quantity

Knowing how much it costs to make a lapel pin is pretty simple. Best of all, the more enamel pins you order, the lower the unit price of your enamel pins. The unit price is the cost per pin in the whole order. The price per pin is significantly reduced when you order 300 pins. Price breakouts happen for quantities of 100, 200, 300, and 500, and then all the way up to orders of 10,000 pins.

For a more detailed unit price breakdown, check out our Pushpin pricing page. The size of the pin also affects pricing. The larger the pin, the higher the unit price. So when you’re ordering pins, you need to balance the right size and quantity to get the best price, and be sure to allow a little extra for shipping if you’re working directly with a factory. If you want to learn more about custom options and pin pricing, check out our blog on the budget-friendly way to order custom pins.

5. Important Things to Know When Creating Custom Pins

Creating custom pins still involves some important considerations besides choosing a pin supplier, submitting artwork, and ordering pins. Your pin designs may be subject to copyright laws if you work with an overseas factory or a custom pin manufacturer.

1) Turnaround Time for Custom Pins

All customers receive free shipping. It takes us no more than 10 days to complete your order. You can expect soft enamel pins to be delivered within two days after our production team completes them.

Considering we ship and receive a lot of custom pins each month, it’s easy for us to absorb the costs. For overnight shipping, you’ll have to pay an extra fee, otherwise, you’ll have to settle for standard shipping, which takes up to 12 weeks if you order directly from our factory in China. As you design custom lapel pins, copyright should also be considered.

2) Design the Pin Using Copyrighted Material

Without the express written consent of the owner of the copyrighted material or intellectual property rights, we are unable to create custom pin designs that violate those rights. In the world of custom collar pins, designs featuring famous pop culture icons and characters from books and movies are hugely popular.

However, we will not be able to manufacture the pins for you unless you agree to use copyrighted material in your design. If you are unsure whether your design is suitable for production, please email us or call us. We’d love to take a look and let you know if it’s ready for production, or if there’s a small aspect of the design that needs to be changed before you get the pins into production.

3) How Should You Select Custom Pins?

At the end of the day, it’s up to you. Creating custom lapel pins should be a simple and straightforward process. With our free artwork service, upfront pricing, free overnight shipping, and 100% quality guarantee, we’re the perfect custom pin manufacturer for you.

You may prefer working directly with an overseas factory to working with your own, but be careful. Quality cannot be guaranteed. Plus, between time differences, language barriers, and import costs, getting your pins delivered on time at a good price is no easy feat. Choosing a custom brooch maker will give you more time to focus on creating interesting and unique designs while we handle the production. Send us your work today and get a free quote!