The Pin Master’s blog

I have been designing trading pins for a long time.  In sports, particularly baseball, trading pins are a hot commodity in both professional and amateur levels.  Players, fans, coaches, family members and more all have fun with their baseball trading pins. 

Below are some of my pin designs over hte past couple years, done for various companies that I freelanced for.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of them :)

Photo Etched Lapel Pins are the most popular type of lapel pin for promotional products, Sports Trading Pins  and Political Campaigns. Photo etched lapel pins offer a similar look to the cloisonne lapel pins but are less expensive. The photo etched lapel pins process allows for more detailed designs and a wider spectrum of colors to choose from. The design is then filled with the colored enamels of your choice. The lapel pins are fired in a kiln to ensure durability and high quality. The Photo Etched Lapel pin is polished and then a clear protective epoxy finish is applied to protect the underlying colors

Material: Brass, Stainless Steel
Enamel: Soft Enamel or without (liquid)
Enamel: Soft Enamel or without (liquid)
Plating: Gold, Silver , Nickel, Black Nickel, Brass, Copper, Rhodium, Double Tone Plating
Epoxy Coating, Resin: With or Without
Additional Process: Laser Engraving, Photo Engraving, Sanding, Pad Printing, Offset Pad Printing
Attachment: Safety Pin, Butterfly Clutch, Rubber butterfly Clutch, Magnetic Disc
Standard Packing: Each piece, poly bag
Color reference: Pantone Color Chart

Transferring
  An exact image of the design, photo or artwork is transferred from a photographic onto the metal surface by special process.

Etching
  Your design is etched into brass using an acid etching process

Rinsing
  Acid and impurities are rinsing out.

Coloring
  The design area is carefully hand-filled with soft enamel, one color at a time with different size syringes and mounted to dry.

Baking
  Pins are baked at 450 degree F for 12-15 minutes.

Stoning
  After the metal board is cool, each is scrubbed with a carborundum stone until all excess color is removed.

Outline Cutting
  The metal board is cut with pins in rows, then the individual pins are cut separately.

PinAttachment
  Pin Attachment is welded on to the back of each piece.

Plating
  Now plating can be processed with various plating.

Epoxy Coating
  A clear protective epoxy coating (epoxy dome) can then be applied to the surface of your pins to protect the image from fading or peeling off or getting scratched.

Final inspection
  Then each pin is inspected to ensure only the highest quality is individually packaged and send for final inspection.