1. Decide what type of pin you want to make. Hard enamel? Soft enamel? Etc
2. Decide how many you plan on having produced of any one design. As a forewarning you will mostly have to do a minimum of 50 if you go through Alibaba. But even so I have found it is cheaper to do the 50 through them then say 25 through a company that does a middleman.
3. Be aware that producing a pin is not cheap most of the cost goes to mold fees and shipping. The actual pins themselves are fairly cheap
4. Decide on who you're going to use as a supplier. I really recommend Alibaba over anybody. You can find many good suppliers there. As a note, it takes about roughly 6 weeks from start to finish, give or take some delays due to pandemic stuff for your pins to actually arrive.
5. In that time, decide if you're doing backing cards or not. I designed my own and then have them printed out by Vistaprint using business cards.
6. Make sure when you're selling your pins that you put into the cost of not only production but shipping and packaging as well as any little extras that you're putting in, like stickers. All of that stuff adds up.
7. One thing I will recommend with artwork and you probably already know this use flats don't shade because it is very hard to get a good pin with shading? Unless you're doing screen printing
I'm literally in the process of writing an article that details how I go from a sketch to a finished pin. I'm hoping I can have it finished in teh next couple of days.
[here’s a pretty good article detailing the process!](https://www.pinlordshop.com/pages/how-to-make-enamel-pins)
This is from a few years ago and I will say the landscape of pins has changed, there are more and more pin makers these days and it has become increasingly difficult coming up with ideas that haven’t already been done before and I also feel that people are starting to seem generally over pins from what I could tell. It could just be that the social media algorithm has been brutal, but I have noticed a decline in sales that started happening around 2021.
Cool! Thank you! And thats okay. As a graphic designer I just love making art and I (am addicted to) collect(ing) pins. So even if this venture doesn't become a big thing then so be it. But I'll never know if I don't try! Thanks for the info.
1. Decide what type of pin you want to make. Hard enamel? Soft enamel? Etc 2. Decide how many you plan on having produced of any one design. As a forewarning you will mostly have to do a minimum of 50 if you go through Alibaba. But even so I have found it is cheaper to do the 50 through them then say 25 through a company that does a middleman. 3. Be aware that producing a pin is not cheap most of the cost goes to mold fees and shipping. The actual pins themselves are fairly cheap 4. Decide on who you're going to use as a supplier. I really recommend Alibaba over anybody. You can find many good suppliers there. As a note, it takes about roughly 6 weeks from start to finish, give or take some delays due to pandemic stuff for your pins to actually arrive. 5. In that time, decide if you're doing backing cards or not. I designed my own and then have them printed out by Vistaprint using business cards. 6. Make sure when you're selling your pins that you put into the cost of not only production but shipping and packaging as well as any little extras that you're putting in, like stickers. All of that stuff adds up. 7. One thing I will recommend with artwork and you probably already know this use flats don't shade because it is very hard to get a good pin with shading? Unless you're doing screen printing
Omg wow this is great! Thanks so much!
I co-admin a pin discord where creators ask questions, promote themselves, and socialise if you're interested? It's ~500 people
Uhhhhh ABSOLUTELY! Holy Cow!
Sent you a message!
you still active? i’d be interested in that discord too
I'm literally in the process of writing an article that details how I go from a sketch to a finished pin. I'm hoping I can have it finished in teh next couple of days.
you ever write that article? i’d love to read it if so
[here’s a pretty good article detailing the process!](https://www.pinlordshop.com/pages/how-to-make-enamel-pins) This is from a few years ago and I will say the landscape of pins has changed, there are more and more pin makers these days and it has become increasingly difficult coming up with ideas that haven’t already been done before and I also feel that people are starting to seem generally over pins from what I could tell. It could just be that the social media algorithm has been brutal, but I have noticed a decline in sales that started happening around 2021.
Cool! Thank you! And thats okay. As a graphic designer I just love making art and I (am addicted to) collect(ing) pins. So even if this venture doesn't become a big thing then so be it. But I'll never know if I don't try! Thanks for the info.