Have you ever seen someone wearing a super cool enamel pin and thought, “yeah, I want to make one of those!” No matter if you are an artist, entrepreneur, or simply someone with a strong passion for making things, creating custom enamel pins is a great way to share your creativity, send a message, or even start a small business. These wearable pieces of tiny art can carry inside jokes, share the message of a cause, or allow you to turn your crazy doodles into beautiful physical end products.
In the last few years, enamel pins are making waves across Canada, appearing in everything from backpacks in Vancouver to jean jackets with personalized sports pins in Toronto, and even at pop-up booths in Montreal. With a wide variety of pin styles from good old-fashioned one-liners to beautifully illustrated pieces, pins are truly making a statement. And the best part is you don’t need to be a large company using lots of machinery to make them! With companionable local manufacturers and simple online tools, the process of designing and manufacturing enamel pins is easier, quicker, and more accessible than ever before.
Whether you’re looking to create a side hustle, sell creative merchandise, or turn your passions into a product to wear, sell, or enjoy, there are resources available in Canada to help you on your journey to becoming creative. So grab your sketchpad (or your laptop) and let’s go through everything you need to know to take your pin dreams from concept to production, from thinking of the ideal design, to actually wearing it or selling your design as a product.
Custom Enamel Pins – What Actually Are Those?
Before we jump into the custom pins manufacturing guide, it’s important to understand what a custom enamel pin is anyway. Enamel pins are a specialty of lapel pins that modify the process of making images and colours with enamel to make them quite different than other lapel pin-making processes. Believe it or not, before all of this (the addressable market) started with enamel pins, they were jewellery and decorative pins, and now they exist in so many industries and are so colourful. And as if that wasn’t enough, people are using them as custom/kooky keychains. All of these examples of these pins have a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Let’s dive a little deeper to gain an understanding of these cutesy pins.
How Enamel Pins Are Made In 4 Simple Steps
Badges like personalised baseball pins are not just cute fashion and accessory items; they are small pieces of art providing symbolism, representation, conversation starters, and communities. Canada has a robust ecosystem that supports artists and entrepreneurs to realize their enamel pin ideas, along with a dedicated audience wanting to wear art. Let’s explore the four steps to getting your custom enamel pins made in Canada.
Step No.1 – Pick a Unique Niche for Your Custom Enamel Pins
Before setting your sights on designing your custom enamel pin, you should take some time to define the niche you will be operating in. Are you creating a line of metal pins or die-cut pins? Using screen print enamels for things such as: mental health, pop culture, local wildlife, or killing it with some great Canadian humour? When you have a strong niche, you can help your pins stand out in a crowded space and capture and build an audience that is enthusiastic about your work.
Step No. 2 – Design Your Custom Enamel Pins
Once your niche is in focus, it’s time to get to work and see your ideas come to life in the form of enamel pins. Start by sketching something out or using design software like Adobe Illustrator to create a vector file. Enamel pins can only be produced in certain ways, so be sure to keep that in mind. Bold lines, solid colors, and as little text as possible will yield the best results.
You need to determine whether you want your custom pins made of hard enamel (high-polished and smooth) or soft enamel (textured and colourful). Then you will need to decide your size, plating (gold, silver, black nickel), and backing type (rubber clutch, magnet).
Step No. 3 – The Fun Part, Manufacturing Your Pins
Now comes the most exciting part: production! Canadian pin makers generally start by making a mould from your design. Then they go on to stamp a metal blank and do the plating and the filling with colour with enamel paint. Hard enamel is a more lengthy process where the manufacturers have to bake and polish. In contrast, soft enamel will be faster but has a rougher texture and is not smooth.
- Dye Making & Stamping: Noise with the designs prepared, you will have to make the dye. This is just basically a stamp made out of a hard metal. This dye will help you shape your metal into the shape you want.
2. Colour Filling: Once you have stamped out your design, it is high time that you start the colour filling period, soft or even hard enamel pins.
3. Metal Plating and Coatings: Next, you will have to get your pins metal plated or coated to look like metal. Some plating types that are well used are gold, nickel, and brass. In contrast, other manufacturers use a black spray to coat their pins.
Step No. 4 – Enjoy Your Custom Enamel Pins
Enjoy and appreciate your pins on their arrival after all of the hard work. Keep in mind, your pins represent your creativity, your values, and your brand. Put them in packaging with custom backing cards, post them online, or sell them online and at local craft markets.
The world loves enamel pins, especially in Canada. Those who identify as collectors, artists, and small businesses all claim their place in the world of custom enamel pins. You may choose to give, trade, or sell your enamel pins, but no matter what, your pins become a part of a vibrant community that celebrates self-expression and craftsmanship.
How can I do custom pins myself?
Custom enamel pins in Canada can be done by yourself; however, it requires a certain amount of creativity, patience, and access to the right tools. Usually, you will first create the artwork (you could use vector-based artwork software like Adobe Illustrator), and then you will need to mould your pin with simpler designs with things like epoxy resin, or shrink plastic. If you are attempting to create more professional-grade pins, you will need access to tools like die stamping, enamel paints, and plating. Those would be costly and very technical.
What are enamel pins made of?
Enamel pins are made with steel or other metals like zinc alloy, brass, and copper that can be stamped or die-cast into a shape. Those are the base metals. The enamel paint fills in all of the parts of the design that are recessed, either soft enamel or hard enamel. Once filled, the enamel pins are baked at high temperatures to cure the enamel paint before they are plated with finishes. After the custom pins are plated and all components are ordered, the product is polished and fitted with a backing before being packaged and shipped. It can then be worn right away or displayed.
Why are enamel pins so expensive?
Enamel Pins are expensive for a few reasons, most notably the lengthy production process, quick turnaround time, and static mold setup costs. To make a pin, an artist will create a custom mold, add the enamel, bake, polish, and rinse, all of which are tasks requiring skilled labour and unique equipment. The more expensive materials (like stainless steel or high-end or multi-plated metals) also drive the price. And if you are ordering a small batch, your cost per pin goes up because you still pay for the setup and labour as if you ordered larger quantities. Lastly, shipping costs can play a huge role in price, especially with manufacturers overseas. There are many ways to save money. You can save costs by ordering in any of the three ways above. But you can use simpler designs, order more pins for bulk savings, and order from Canadian suppliers, which should all ultimately save you some costs while maintaining great quality.
Conclusion
Creating custom enamel pins in Canada is not just a craft. It is a fully embodied creative journey. Finding your creative niche, developing your artwork, connecting with skilled manufacturers, and finally holding the product you created allows you to experience each step of the creative process as a meaningful transformation moment. With a robust maker culture and a growing desire for unique and locally manufactured products, Canada is a great place to create enamel pin products. Regardless of whether your pins are for your brand, giving as gifts, trading at conventions, or starting a small business, your pins are more than just accessories; they are an extension of your story.