Our process
How We Manufacture Pins
At Pin Hive, we’re obsessed with the artistry of pin design, but we’re equally committed to doing it right. That means prioritizing sustainability, quality, and fairness every step of the way. Here’s how our process differs from many traditional pin companies
📍 Types of pins we make
Hard Enamel Pins (Cloisonné): These pins are known for their smooth, flush surface and high gloss shine. The enamel colors are filled level with the metal lines and then polished flat, giving a luxurious feel. Hard enamel pins are extremely durable and often considered the highest quality. Because of the extra steps involved in polishing and finishing them, they take longer (and cost a bit more) to produce. The result, however, is a pin with a sturdy, weighty feel and a vivid, glossy finish that serious collectors love.
Soft Enamel Pins: In contrast, soft enamel pins have raised metal edges and recessed color areas, giving them a textured feel. The enamel paint is added in a thinner layer that sits below the metal borders. This style is very popular for its classic “pin trading” look. You can run your finger over a soft enamel pin and feel the ridges. Soft enamel pins are generally less expensive and offer a bit more design flexibility in terms of metal plating colors (since they get plated before adding enamel). The trade off is that they aren’t as silky smooth to the touch as hard enamel pins. Many everyday collectible pins (like those traded by sports teams) use soft enamel because they can show fine line detail and vibrant colors at a lower cost.
Spinner Pins: Spinner pins add an interactive element to the pin world. A spinner pin is typically composed of two layers, a base pin and a top pin attached with a tiny pivot (a post or rivet) – which allows part of the design to rotate 360° freely. Think of a spinner pin like a mini wheel of fortune or a compass that you can flick with your finger. Collectors love them because they’re eye catching and fun to play with. Technically, spinner pins can be made in either hard or soft enamel, but often they are cast in zinc alloy for precision. (Zinc’s malleability makes it ideal for complex multi part pins.) The spinning component is assembled during production so that it spins smoothly around a central axis, adding a dynamic twist to the pin design.
Pins with Pearlescent or Glitter Enamel: Not all enamel colors are flat, some have special effects. Pearlescent enamel contains a swirly, iridescent pigment that creates a marble like, pearly sheen in the pin’s colored areas. This effect is achieved by mixing a special pearlescent paste into the enamel before it’s filled into the pin, creating unique color swirls and a subtle shimmer. Each pearlescent pin can have slightly different whorls, making them almost one of a kind. Similarly, glitter enamel is made by adding glitter flakes into the enamel paint; once cured, the pin area sparkles when it catches light. These effects are popular for adding magic to designs.
Glow in the Dark Pins: For an extra surprise when the lights go out, pins can be made with glow in the dark enamel. A special phosphorescent pigment is added to the enamel paint so that it absorbs light and re-emits it as a glow in darkness. The glowing areas might look slightly duller in normal light (the pigment can tint the enamel a bit), but once charged under a lamp or sunlight, they will shine greenish or bluish in the dark. This effect is perfect for spooky or playful designs!
⚙️Crafting a Hard Enamel Pin: Step by Step
Each pin type comes with a separate process, in this blog we will focus on hard enamels, since it is our specialty. Creating a hard enamel pins involves a series of precise steps, combining traditional metalwork with colorful artistry. Here’s how we transform an idea into a shiny hard enamel collectible:
1. Design and Die Creation
Every pin begins with a design, a digital illustration showing the pin’s artwork, colors, and metal linework. Once a design is finalized, the first manufacturing step is to create a mold (die) of that design. Using computer guided tools, the artwork is etched or engraved into a piece of high strength steel to make a mold that will stamp out the pins. This process may involve CNC milling to precisely cut the recessed areas and lines into the steel. After cutting, the mold is heat treated to harden it (a process of heating and cooling) so that it can withstand the stress of stamping without deforming. The result is a mirror image cavity of the design in a steel block, ready to imprint that design into metal blanks.
Why this step matters: The quality of the mold directly affects the detail and clarity of the pins. A well-made die captures all the tiny line work of your design. Our manufacturing partners put a lot of care into this step, sometimes even making slight adjustments to ensure small details will come out clearly on the final pin.
2. Metal Stamping and Pin Blanks
With the hardened mold ready, it’s loaded into a hydraulic stamping press. Now it’s time to create the metal pin blanks. A sheet or strip of base metal is placed under the press, common metals for pin bases include iron, copper/brass, or zinc alloy, all of which are softer than the hardened steel mold. When the press comes down with tons of pressure (literally, about 5 tons of force in many cases), it die strikes the design into the metal, just like a powerful cookie cutter stamping out a shape. This creates a raised outline of the design and recessed areas where enamel will later go.
For simple shapes and 2D designs, manufacturers often use iron or brass sheets; these metals are sturdy and take stamping well. If a design has a lot of cut outs or an irregular outline, sometimes a zinc alloy is used with a casting process instead, zinc is poured or injected into a mold, but for many hard enamel pins, stamping (also called die striking) is the go to method. Each impact of the press yields a raw pin piece with the design relief on it.
After stamping the design, the pin’s outline is cut out from the metal sheet (if the mold didn’t cut it fully). A separate cutting die or machine tool will punch out the silhouette of the pin, removing excess metal around the edges. Those excess metal scraps aren’t wasted, they get collected for recycling (more on that in our sustainability section). At this stage, you have what’s called a pin blank: it has the correct shape and the design embossed, but it’s all one color (just the raw metal), with no enamel yet.
Now, an essential component gets added: the pin post on the back. The posts (the pointy bits that go into your pin backs or clutches) are usually made separately and then attached to the pin blank. Typically, the post is soldered onto the back of each pin blank using soldering machines or by hand. Most pins have one or two posts depending on size (larger pins use two for stability). After the posts are attached and the piece is cooled, we finally have something that actually looks like a pin, albeit an unfinished one. This raw pin is usually an uncolored metal with rough edges.
Quality check: The raw pins might go through a quick grinding or trimming process to smooth out sharp edges from the cutting. They may also get a polish or sanding at this stage to ensure no burrs (tiny metal shavings) are left. This helps later when we plate and enamel the pin.
3. Plating the Metal Base (When Applicable)
With the hardened mold ready, it’s loaded into a hydraulic stamping press. Now it’s time to create the metal pin blanks. A sheet or strip of base metal is placed under the press, common metals for pin bases include iron, copper/brass, or zinc alloy, all of which are softer than the hardened steel mold. When the press comes down with tons of pressure (literally, about 5 tons of force in many cases), it die strikes the design into the metal, just like a powerful cookie cutter stamping out a shape. This creates a raised outline of the design and recessed areas where enamel will later go.
Just know that at this point, if we were making soft enamel pins, we’d dunk those raw pin blanks into an electroplating bath to coat them in the desired metal finish. The science behind it is pretty neat: an electric current deposits a thin layer of metal (like gold or nickel) onto the pin’s surface from a solution. The result is a nice even plating over all the raised metal areas of the pin. (For hard enamel, we hold off on plating until after polishing, so skip ahead for that.)
(Optional alternative): Instead of a metallic plating, some pins (usually soft enamel ones) can have their metal base dyed to a specific Pantone color, or given an antique finish. This is how you get black outline pins or vintage looking brass finishes, etc. It’s one advantage of soft enamel pins, you can plate or dye in more colors early on. Hard enamel pins generally stick to classic metal plating colors, since their outlines are usually polished metal.
4. Enameling: Adding Color to the Pin
Now comes the part that gives enamel pins their name, adding the enamel colors! For hard enamel pins, this step is both an art and a science. Enamel material (which is typically a resin based paint for modern pins, or in traditional cloisonné it was ground glass) is prepared in the required colors. Each color area on the pin must be filled separately, and the metal borders act as little walls keeping colors from flowing into each other.
There are two main methods to fill in enamel: hand filling or machine filling. In hand filling, skilled workers use tiny syringes or tools to drop liquid enamel paint into each recessed area of the pin. Machine filling uses automated dispensers to do the same. Either way, the goal is to fill each cavity up to the brim with enamel for hard enamel pins. Unlike soft enamel (where the paint sits lower), here we actually overfill or fully fill each section so that the enamel is level with (or slightly above) the metal outline.
Once all the color areas are filled, the pins are placed on trays and go into an oven to bake. Baking cures and hardens the enamel. Hard enamel typically needs to be baked at a high temperature so that it solidifies into a durable, glassy state. This might be done in multiple rounds, for example, if a pin has many colors, some manufacturers will fill and bake one set of colors first, then fill the next set (especially if there are many tiny areas). Ultimately, the pin emerges with all its colors hardened. Hard enamel pins actually get an extra bake at the end as well, to ensure everything is fully set and durable.
At this stage, the pin looks pretty close to the final product in terms of design, you can see all the beautiful colors, but the surface won’t be completely even. There will be little domes of enamel or uneven bits above the metal lines, since we overfilled slightly. That’s where the next step comes in.
5. Polishing to Perfection
One hallmark of hard enamel pins is that the final surface is smooth and flush, with no bumps between colors and metal. To achieve this, the baked pins undergo a thorough polishing process. The pins are ground and polished, often using a series of abrasive wheels or belts, to wear down the excess enamel and even it out exactly level with the metal borders. Essentially, the polishing step shaves off any enamel that was protruding above the metal outlines, as well as any tiny flecks or imperfections, and it buffs the whole surface.
After polishing, you can run your finger across a hard enamel pin and it will feel completely flat, all those individual color areas now meet the metal lines at the same height. Polishing also gives the metal a brilliant shine and the enamel a smooth, glossy appearance. It’s a bit like how a gemstone is faceted and polished to shine; here the entire pin face is polished to a jewel like luster. This extra labor is what makes hard enamel pins look so premium (and why they cost a bit more than unpolished soft enamel pins). The end result is extra smooth and shiny, with a slightly heavier feel than a soft enamel piece.
6. Electroplating the Hard Enamel Pin
Now that the pin’s design is polished and perfect, we add the metal finish (plating) to a hard enamel pin. This step was delayed until now to protect the plating during polishing. The polished pins are dipped into electroplating baths just like earlier, coating the exposed metal surfaces with the chosen metal finish (gold, silver, black nickel, etc.). The enamel areas do not get plated (they’re non conductive), so they stay their original colors, while the metal borders and backing take on the new plating.
For example, if you wanted a gold pin, now the pin’s borders will become bright gold colored while your enamel colors remain vivid. After plating, the pins are rinsed and dried. At this point, the hard enamel pins really look like final products! You can see the design in full color with gleaming metal outlines.
(Technical note: Some very high end hard enamel pins, especially cloisonné with real glass enamel, actually do plating before adding enamel, then they grind the excess enamel and might do touch up plating. But most modern hard enamel (imitation cloisonné) uses the process described above, plating last, as it’s more efficient and yields a crisp result.)
7. Optional Extras: Screen-Printing and Special Finishes
If a design has tiny details too fine to be achieved with enamel alone (for instance, small text or gradients), an extra step can come after plating: silk screen printing or pad printing on the pins. In this process, ink is printed on top of the enamel pin to add those details. For example, a pin of a character’s face might have the basic colors in enamel, but the eyes or small text logo might be printed on afterwards for precision. This is common in hard enamel pins when you need details that are smaller than what can be recessed for enamel. It adds another layer (literally), and each color of ink is usually applied with a separate screen. These printed layers are cured with UV light or heat so they are durable. Only a subset of pins need this step, but it’s good to know it exists.
Another post plating option is to coat the pin with an epoxy dome a clear resin coating that gives a smooth dome surface. However, epoxy domes are more commonly used on printed pins or soft enamel pins (to protect the color); hard enamel pins by nature already have a smooth surface and durable finish, so we typically don’t add epoxy on hard enamel (you’d just be covering up that lovely polished texture).
8. Assembly and Quality Checks
Finally, any remaining assembly is done. For example, if the pin has a spinner or moving part, this is when the two pieces would be put together. A spinner top piece might be placed onto the base pin and secured with a small metal rivet as a pivot. If the pin has attachments like dangling charms or chains, those are added now. We double check that any interactive elements (spinners, sliders, hinges) are working smoothly and securely.
Every pin then goes through quality control inspections. Workers (often by hand and eye) will check each pin for flaws: missing enamel, wrong colors, scratches, or plating defects. Pins that don’t meet the standard are set aside (sometimes they get recycled for scrap metal). The good pins are polished one last time by cloth to wipe off any smudges and then paired with their accessories (like rubber clutches or butterfly clutches for the posts).
At this point, the hard enamel pin is complete, shining with color, built to last, and ready to be traded or displayed. From a sketched concept to a tangible collectible, the journey of making a hard enamel pin involves a lot of craftsmanship. But we’re not done with our story, there’s also the journey of making pins in a way that’s kind to the planet. Next, we’ll discuss how we infuse sustainability into this process.
🛠️ Eco Conscious Production
We work with small batch production partners in The United States of America, China, and Bangladesh who are aligned with our values. While we don’t name names (to protect our sourcing), we chose these partners because they:
Use recycled metal blends (like recycled iron or zinc alloy)
Practice closed loop manufacturing by recycling excess material
Treat and reuse electroplating water to prevent contamination
Offer custom plating with lower-impact chemical processes
♻️ Limited Waste, Intentional Quantities
We avoid unnecessary overproduction by:
Creating limited edition pins based on community demand
Reusing molds when possible
Offering preorders (without payment) when testing new ideas
Donating or recycling defective pins rather than trashing them
Every decision we make, from choosing enamel colors to deciding on backer card designs is filtered through a waste conscious lens.
📦 Thoughtful Packaging
Every Pin Hive pin is:
Packaged on recycled cardstock backing cards
Protected by compostable tree free paper sleeves, not plastic polybags.
Wrapped in compostable honeycomb paper or bubble wrap made from recycled materials.
Shipped in recyclable Kraft mailers or boxes. Never plastic mailers unless they’ve been repurposed.
🌱 Giving Back with Every Pin
We believe collectible art should contribute to something meaningful, not just end up in a landfill. Each pin sold helps make the world a little better. We:
Plant a tree for every pin sold
Remove 2 plastic bottles from the ocean for every pin purchased
Seasonally support organizations like the Doug Flutie Foundation for Autism and Miracle League
In the end, crafting awesome pins and caring for the environment go hand in hand, it’s all about intentional choices. We’re excited to keep pushing the envelope in both design creativity and sustainability. After all, a truly great pin not only looks good on your bag, but also makes you feel good about how it was made. Happy pin collecting, and thank you for supporting eco-conscious artistry in the pin world!
