Most people consider that making custom hard enamel pins is a long and complicated process. It’s actually pretty simple, and in most cases, it doesn’t take longer than 2-4 weeks.

So, how do you make custom hard enamel pins? The process of making custom hard enamel pins can be divided into these 6 steps.

1. Get ready a PDF file of artwork design

Before start production, a pin factory will ask for is a PDF file of the design you’d like to get produced.

You can draw a color sketch of your idea on a white piece of paper and scan it as a PDF file.

Or, if you know one graphic design software shop / agent outside, you can send them a digital file of the art of a pin you want to produce.

I’d recommend two useful tips for you as follows:

1)Use Bold Lines And Strong Colors

Pins are small, there are thin lines and muti colors, it is difficult to see easily. Use bold lines and strong colors for artwork design.

2)Avoid Shading

Colors within a pin are exclusively delimited by the lines, this means that any type of shading within a color is not possible. Please do not include shading in your pin design.

2. Choose the material for your pin

Pins can be made from a wide variety of materials, but there are two traditional formats most pin-makers stick to. Hard Enamel and Soft Enamel pins. What’s the difference?

Hard Enamel Pins

Their remarkable feature is the thin metal lines separating each color and a smooth, hard enamel finish.

They are made from die-struck iron metal and produced by heating to a high temperature and then polishing to create creating a smooth surface, which usually gives them a high-quality, durable feel.

Soft Enamel Pins

The remarkable feature is their textured pin surface with allowance to more detail and slightly lower cost.

They are made from die-struck iron metal, electroplated, and optional epoxy coating, which usually gives them a thinner feel in comparison to Hard Enamel pins.

You can choose both materials for a great pin. Select the style can best fit your design!

3. Choose the size that best fit your design

Now that you have your artwork and pin material ready, how do you pick the size of your lapel pins?

Smaller pins are usually between 0.75-1.25 inches wide or long. This makes them more portable, easier to fit onto any surface and usually lower in cost because they use less material.

The disadvantage of smaller pins is that they usually don’t have enough space for much detail to the design.

Larger pins, which are larger 1.25 inches, suitable for much more detailed design, but their size also limits the places where they can be pinned too.

If you have a limited budget and have a simple design, smaller pins are good enough.

Pin price is usually decided by pin size, so they are likely to be cheaper. If you want to create a very detailed pin and can afford to pay a higher price, then larger pins are good for you.

4. Choose the order quantity of custom hard enamel pins

After your artwork, material and pin size are decided upon. It’s time to choose how many pins you want to produce, and this is easy.

All factories have a minimum of 100 units for your first order. I’d always recommend to order 100 pins and then re-ordering more in future.

Usually we can not predict how well your pin will be received. Do not order large quantities of a pin in case no one is buying.

5. Choose how many pieces of pin backs to attach

A pin-back is the needle attached in the rear of a pin, it is used to fasten it to a surface.

About pin-backs, there’s only one thing very important:

Always put at least 2 pin-backs on all of your pins!

Because using only one pin-back will allow your pin to stumble around wherever you place it and it’ll be a lot more likely to fall off and get lost.

6. Find a good factory to produce custom hard enamel pins

Kingtai is the right lapel pins manufacturer in China, with more than 20 years’ experience. Please send email to info@kingtaicrafts.com or call 86-752-5706551 now.

Lapel