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Enamel Pin How To Guide

We provide a FREE artwork setup service for all our manufacturing services. Simply submit your artwork using the 'Upload Artwork' buttons on the relevant product page or email it to us direct at hello@enamelpinfactory.com.  Remember to include any design details or instructions that are important to your design when submitting your artwork.

If you are confident using design software and would like to set up your enamel pin badge artwork yourself, this handy guide will help... 
 



The Process

Enamel pins are essentially metal pins or badges made up of two main elements. Plated metal and enamel paint. 

To make an enamel pin, The Enamel Pin Factory will take your artwork and create a die, which is used to stamp your design into a sheet of high-quality metal, which is then cut out around the outline of your design. 

The cut out shape is then plated in a choice of finishes; gold, silver or, the most popular black nickel, before raised areas are polished to a quality finish and recessed areas are filled with enamel paint. 

The coloured enamel areas of your designs can be colour matched using 'Pantone Solid Coated' colour values. 

Each colour sits in its own recess with raised metal areas acting as a barrier, surrounding each colour and preventing them from mixing together. 

The enamel paints are then set using high temperatures before any additional finishes, such as resin domes, are added.

Minimum Raised Metal Line Thickness

Each enamel colour of your design has to be separated by a line of raised metal, which acts as a barrier, preventing colours from mixing together. These lines should be no thinner than 0.2mm

 

Minimum Areas of Colour

Coloured areas of enamel paint are added to the recessed areas of your pins using a thin, needle-like applicator.

Text Size

The smallest text that we recommend using is 5pt. Please note that this is based on a plain font, such as Helvetica. More complex fonts will require a larger font size. 

When using text in your designs, please make sure that you follow the size rules for the minimum raised metal line thicknesses and the minimum filled areas of colour.

Any raised metal areas of text should be no thinner than 0.2mm and should contain no recessed areas of colour smaller than 0.3mm.

 

Pantone Colour Match

For the most accurate colour matching, we recommend using the 'Pantone Solid Coated' guide.  Clearly indicate which areas of your designs you would like to be coloured by using the correct colour values when creating your artwork or by clear instruction when placing your order.

 

A quick overview...

  • 0.2mm minimum raised metal line thickness
  • 0.3mm minimum recessed area for enamel colours
  • Minimum 5pt font size based on a plain font like Helvetica
  • All text converted to outlines
  • Use the Pantone Solid Coated guide for accurate colours

Got any questions on how to make enamel pins? Drop us an email to hello@enamelpinfactory.com

 

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