The Difference Between Screen Printed Pins and Enamel Pins
Like any enamel pin, screen printed lapel pins start as a blank piece of metal. However, instead of using a custom die to stamp impressions of your artwork into place, silk screen pins are created by applying enamel paint directly to a flat metal surface. Without raised and recessed levels in the artwork, screen printed designs have a smooth surface with colors that aren’t separated by metal borders.
One of the biggest reasons our customers choose a screen printed pin over a soft or hard enamel design is because they need to recreate a brand image with perfect accuracy, or because their design incorporates a lot of text. However, if you’re looking for the traditional feel of a molded pin, there are ways of combining silk screen printed artwork with a hard enamel design that will give you the best of both worlds.
Situations Where Silk Screen is the Best Way to Go
No matter what kind of artwork you have in mind, a custom silk screen lapel pin will provide vivid detail. Since colors are printed one at a time on the surface of a flat pin, silk screen lapel pins let different colors touch, sometimes layering different colors on top of each other to add crisp detail to the artwork.
This makes them the best choice for company pins that incorporate intricate brand artwork, or designs with a lot of small text or details. Screen printing enamel pins is often the best way to include sharp, clean images on a small pin design. A 1” custom lapel pin only has so much room available for artwork and text, limiting what’s possible with a cloisonne or soft enamel design.
Using a silk screen stencil allows your images and messages to be printed in smaller fonts without losing their clarity or legibility. However, even if you choose a larger size for your custom silk screen lapel pins, the level of fine detail available makes for some of the most incredible designs we’ve seen.
If you prefer the unique texture and look of a cloisonne pin over a full-color silk screen design, you can still benefit from the higher level of detail provided by screen printing. In situations where text or artwork is too small to capture in a molded cloisonne design, our production team can add them to your pins using a silk screen stencil.
Getting Started On a Silk Screen Lapel Pin Design
All you need to get started on a custom design is to fill out a free quote form. This is the best way to get in contact with our sales team and send us your ideas for a custom artwork. Once we have an idea of what kind of design you need, our art team will set to work and have your first free proof ready within 48 hours.
Gold and silver are two of our more popular plating options, but we also offer black nickel plating that has a shimmering charcoal color, bronze plating that has a classic hew of pale gold, and dual plating that mixes and matches different styles of metal plating together in the same design. Dual plating is one of the best ways to add a sense of contrast to a design and to help certain elements of the artwork stand out from the rest.
Because colors need to be added one at a time, the process of creating a set of silk screen pins is a little more time consuming and expensive than some other types of pins. To cover the cost of creating and setting up the stencils for your artwork, there is a flat fee of $19 for every silk screen color in your design. However, artwork is always free and we offer free unlimited revisions.
Be sure to let us know how we can improve the design after you take a look at your first proof. We’ll include free quotes with your revisions, and you won’t have to pay a dime until you’re ready to order. All of our products are backed by a 100% quality guarantee and come with free overnight shipping as well. Give us a call today, and see what makes Signature Pins the best custom pin maker online.
