You can express your ideas and creativity through designing enamel pins. They are the most popular and addictive way, especially if you belong to a domain where you can express your creative skills. These tools are the best option to promote your business or uplift your event. These pins are vibrant in color and have important details on them.
However, if the manufacturing process of these pins is encountered, it is not easy. You need to pass through certain steps. However, the feeling of opening a fresh batch of badges is whelming. You can feel the smooth metal in your hands, and the use of vibrant colors catch your attention, but there is a long struggle behind this product.
In this blog, you will learn the steps of designing the enamel pin and the reason why these pin designs are time-consuming.
Understanding the production of enamel pins
Producing high-quality printed pin badges requires a long process. You need to pass through a meticulous manufacturing process – a combination of modern technology and traditional craftsmanship.
You need to read this blog for an overview of what it takes to create a batch of enamel pins. Here, you will get a detailed look at the steps that contribute to the overall order time.
Design and proofing
One crucial step is the designing phase before you start with the physical production. Here, artists and manufacturers collaborate, making it essential that the pin to be designed is aesthetically appealing and suitable for production. It would be best if you have prepared multiple samples before the final sample. A pin design is later passed to the proofing stage, where every minor detail is looked at with perfection specs, starting from color to line thickness. This stage takes several days, depending on the complexity and revision of the customers’ demands.
For this process, you must look for experts in this domain. They can ensure that your ideas are given a perfect shape, transforming them into the final product as smoothly as possible without compromising on quality.
Mold creation
Once, you have passed through the designing and proofing stage, you need to look for some molds to craft your pin. This stage is not easy again. You need to choose the correct shape to give your pin a correct look. This requires precise engineering techniques to get the final product according to customer demands. It is a daunting task to create a mold, but a well-designed high-quality mold can be used in future orders. This will help you cut off the time utilized at this stage for the next orders. An edge over, the future customers placing their orders that will use the same mold, they can avail discounts as you don’t need to design the mold again.
Stamping and outlining
Once you are over with creating a mold for the pin, the next step is a bit technical. The stamping process involves applying pressure by pressing the metal with the customized mold designed to give the enamel pin a shape and detailed design. This mold is a sample template for the pin’s tricky features. The process involves placing the metal sheet into the stamping press, where the machine applies high pressure to imprint the design onto the metal surface. This step is important as the outline and any recessed areas of the enamel are accurately formed. The crucial part of stamping is the requirement of precision, as this can transform the overall quality and appearance of the pin. This step is not just important for shaping the pin; it will help define the areas where the enamel will be applied in the future, ensuring consistency and detail in the final output. Although this step might seem relatively quicker than previous ones, each pin is to be given individual focus while stamping. Therefore, bulk-quality orders require time.
Adding color
After stamping, it is time to add color to your pin. Coloring is crucial; you need to carefully consider color separation to ensure the clarity of the final color. The pins are hand-painted. Each color is applied safely on the pin’s surface to prevent dyes from merging during this process. This step is also called filling. Each color is prevented from mixing by separating it through metal borders. These borders are both functional and aesthetically important. This allows each tint to retain its distinctiveness and maintain the quality of the design. As this requires expertise, you need to choose someone with brilliant skills in mixing and painting. There is a vast list of options internationally like enamel pins UK, or others. Choose wisely, as this will either produce a popular or flout pin.
Now, it depends on the number of colors, the complexity of the design, and the time used to prepare the pins. This is time-consuming. If you have signed a contract with some expert team to design these pins, you might save some time.
Polishing
Now comes the time to start finalizing your pin. Each pin is sent to the kiln to harden the enamel. The high temperature set in these kilns solidifies the color, increasing its durability. It even adds a glossy look to the enamel pin- the popularity of these pins. After it is removed from the kiln, each pin is polished for the last time to give it a smooth surface, and glossy finish by removing all imperfections. This step is important before the pin is sent for the final packing and delivering the order.
Quality control and packing
The finalizing of these artistic pins begins as the pin is ready to be packed and delivered to the customers. To maintain the quality of the pins, each pin is inspected thoroughly. Experts look for defects. Sometimes, the pins are redone if they don’t match the standards.
Once the expert team is satisfied with the quality of each pin, it is packed and prepared for shipment. Sometimes, this step is even time-consuming. If the pin does not meet customers’ demands, companies need to redo it from the initial step.
Let’s conclude
Finalizing a specific time to design and deliver the enamel pins is difficult. As we have read and learned from the blog, each step requires some specific time. If the pin designing companies can save time at one step, they must invest more time at another stage. Ideally, if your design is not complex, and the mold is available, it might take a month or a half to get your order shipped.
It is ideal to look for the quality of work rather than the time frame if you are getting your enamel pins prepared. If there is compromise on quality, your aim of using pins cannot be fulfilled.