What are Lapel Pins / Badges ?
A lapel pin is a small pin often worn on the lapel of a dress jacket. Lapel pins can be purely ornamental or can indicate the wearer's affiliation with f.e. A football team. Before the popularity of wearing lapel pins, boutonnières were worn instead. In recent years, pin collecting has also become a popular hobby. Badges/Pins are a hot collectible that offer an added advantage over other collections – they are small and do not take up much room.
A lapel pin is a small pin often worn on the lapel of a dress jacket. Lapel pins can be purely ornamental or can indicate the wearer's affiliation with f.e. A football team. Before the popularity of wearing lapel pins, boutonnières were worn instead. In recent years, pin collecting has also become a popular hobby. Badges/Pins are a hot collectible that offer an added advantage over other collections – they are small and do not take up much room.
Process Step 1: Stamping Molding
Molds the metal surface to form the design.
Step 2: Outline Cutting
Cutting molds are made separately, then cut to the exact outline of the design. Additional outline cutting molds may be required depending on the complexity of the design. If a center hole or cut-out is required, an additional cut-through mold must be used.
Step 3: Attachment
Solder attachment onto the back of each piece.
Step 4: Plating
Plating now can be processed. The quality of plating varies with the length of time the metal is soaked in the plating liquid.
Step 5: Polishing
The metal surface is then polished until it is smooth and shiny. This applies to copper material only. Iron can be polished if required, but this will incur a surcharge.
Step 6: Colouring
Soft enamel is carefully inserted by hand, one color at a time, using different sized syringes. Drying. To prevent defects, a high degree of skill is required in order to keep each color and the correct amount of enamel in the proper area.
Step 7: Cleaning
Excess color and impurities are then wiped off the metal surfaces.
Step 8: Baking
The metal piece is baked at approximately 450F for 12 to 15 minutes.
Step 9: Epoxy Coating
Clear epoxy is then applied to the surface to protect the enamel from color fading and cracking. (Epoxy coating is optional and provided according to customer’s requirements)
Step 3: Attachment
Solder attachment onto the back of each piece.
Step 4: Plating
Plating now can be processed. The quality of plating varies with the length of time the metal is soaked in the plating liquid.
Step 5: Polishing
The metal surface is then polished until it is smooth and shiny. This applies to copper material only. Iron can be polished if required, but this will incur a surcharge.
Step 6: Colouring
Soft enamel is carefully inserted by hand, one color at a time, using different sized syringes. Drying. To prevent defects, a high degree of skill is required in order to keep each color and the correct amount of enamel in the proper area.
Step 7: Cleaning
Excess color and impurities are then wiped off the metal surfaces.
Step 8: Baking
The metal piece is baked at approximately 450F for 12 to 15 minutes.
Step 9: Epoxy Coating
Clear epoxy is then applied to the surface to protect the enamel from color fading and cracking. (Epoxy coating is optional and provided according to customer’s requirements)
- The standard colors are based on the Pantone Chart.
- Bolder designs are recommended in order to prevent any unsatisfactory coloring caused by lines and figures that are too thin or too small.
- General enamel coloring requires a surrounding metal space to ensure good quality painting results. Therefore it is usually necessary to allow for a blank metal rim (0.3mm minimum).
For budget considerations, iron material can be used instead of copper, but without polishing. Almost all manufacturing is currently done in China, specifically in and around Kunshan, a satellite city in the greater Suzhou region that is administratively at the county-level in southeast Jiangsu, China, just outside Shanghai. Inexpensive labor in China has made non-Chinese production of lapel pins non-existent.
Types
In the die struck manufacturing process there are five basic types of pins: cloisonné, soft enamel, photo etched, screen printed and 4-color printed. In all processes, the outer shape of the pin is stamped out from a sheet of steel, aluminum, copper, brass or iron. In the case of cloisonne and soft enamel, the shape and the design are stamped out.
Cloisonné (Hard Enamel)
Sometimes called epola or hard enamel, cloisonné is stamped out from a sheet of copper. The stamping leaves recessed areas, or pools, which are filled with enamel powder and high fired at 800 - 900 degrees. After cooling, the surface of the pin is ground down to a smooth finish and then the copper is plated.
Soft enamel
This process is like epola and cloisonné in that strips of metal separate areas of color. Unlike cloisonné, the areas of color rest below the metal strip surface, which can be felt when you run your finger over the surface. Like the photo etched process, the top can be covered with protective epoxy so that the piece appears smooth.
Photo etched
In the photo etch process, only the shape of the piece is stamped out. The design on the face of the pin, is chemically etched into the base metal, then color-filled by hand and baked before being polished. In the final step, a thin coat of clear epoxy can be applied to the surface.
Screen printed
Screen printing, a.k.a. silk screening is produced by applying each color to the metal base using a "silk screen" process. These are blocks of solid color. A very thin epoxy coat protects the color material from scratching.
4-Color process
4-colors process, a.k.a. offset printing, allows for bleeds and blends of colors, as is used in magazines. The colors are printed in the traditional CMYK process. This style is can be used for complex art and photo reproduction. An unlimited amount of colors can be used
Types
In the die struck manufacturing process there are five basic types of pins: cloisonné, soft enamel, photo etched, screen printed and 4-color printed. In all processes, the outer shape of the pin is stamped out from a sheet of steel, aluminum, copper, brass or iron. In the case of cloisonne and soft enamel, the shape and the design are stamped out.
Cloisonné (Hard Enamel)
Sometimes called epola or hard enamel, cloisonné is stamped out from a sheet of copper. The stamping leaves recessed areas, or pools, which are filled with enamel powder and high fired at 800 - 900 degrees. After cooling, the surface of the pin is ground down to a smooth finish and then the copper is plated.
Soft enamel
This process is like epola and cloisonné in that strips of metal separate areas of color. Unlike cloisonné, the areas of color rest below the metal strip surface, which can be felt when you run your finger over the surface. Like the photo etched process, the top can be covered with protective epoxy so that the piece appears smooth.
Photo etched
In the photo etch process, only the shape of the piece is stamped out. The design on the face of the pin, is chemically etched into the base metal, then color-filled by hand and baked before being polished. In the final step, a thin coat of clear epoxy can be applied to the surface.
Screen printed
Screen printing, a.k.a. silk screening is produced by applying each color to the metal base using a "silk screen" process. These are blocks of solid color. A very thin epoxy coat protects the color material from scratching.
4-Color process
4-colors process, a.k.a. offset printing, allows for bleeds and blends of colors, as is used in magazines. The colors are printed in the traditional CMYK process. This style is can be used for complex art and photo reproduction. An unlimited amount of colors can be used
