Description

Custom hard enamel pins for artists, bands, indie brands, and the creative teams inside companies. The enamel is baked and polished flush with the metal, which gives a smooth, flat surface that holds color well and shows up clean under light. Our most-ordered pin style, and typically the right call when you want a polished finish that wears well over time.

Takes a little longer to produce and costs slightly more than soft enamel. The tradeoff is finish and durability. Good for designs with bold color, clean lines, and any merch that needs to hold up on a jacket, tote, or pin board for years.

Because hard enamel is buffed flat after baking, some fine metal lines may thicken slightly during polishing. That’s a normal part of the process, not a defect, and usually not visible at arm’s length. If your artwork has very thin lines you’re worried about, email us before ordering and we’ll review the file.

What the price includes

Every quote includes custom mold creation, full production, and priority shipping worldwide. Large or complex shaped pins require a die-cast zinc alloy mold instead of the standard iron stamping mold (the zinc mold costs more because of the material and process difference):

Simple vs complex shapes

Simple shapes (rectangle, circle, square, triangle, and anything with soft continuous edges) can be stamped from sheets of iron. This is the standard, lower-cost mold process.

Complex shapes with deep cut-in areas, holes, or tight interior sections (cut-ins around legs, arms, hair, or intricate negative space) need to be cast in zinc alloy. Zinc is a softer metal that holds finer detail in the mold. The mold type and raw material both cost more, so complex-shape pins are priced higher.

If you’re not sure which category your design falls into, email us the artwork and we’ll tell you. If you check out with the wrong category, we’ll either refund the difference or send a request for the balance, so you’re never locked in.

Simple vs complex shape flowchart for custom hard enamel pins

Common questions

Do I see a proof before production?
Yes. We send a digital proof for your review before production is officially scheduled. Once approved, the factory starts. If you want adjustments, we’ll keep sending new proofs until you approve.

Can I get a full physical sample before the main run?
Yes, but it roughly doubles the turnaround. The factory has to do a full labor run for a single item, and if approved, they restart the process for the main run. Worth it for large orders or first-time brand partners, often not worth it for smaller runs.

How long do they take?
About 4 weeks from proof approval to delivery. Requesting a physical hard sample first adds roughly another 4 weeks.

What’s the difference between soft enamel, hard enamel, and soft with epoxy?
Soft enamel has raised metal lines you can feel with your thumb and recessed color inside those lines. Hard enamel is buffed flush so the surface is smooth and flat, and slightly more durable. Soft with epoxy is soft enamel with a clear epoxy dome added on top at no extra charge, which flattens the surface to mimic hard enamel. Soft with epoxy is a strong middle ground if your design has thinner details that hard enamel would thicken. We’re big fans of soft with epoxy for certain projects.

Can I do variants (multiple colorways, different designs)?
Yes. Simple variants or runs with at least 50 per colorway are no problem. For more complex splits (lots of variants, specialty inks, numbering, or many color changes), email us for an exact quote. Pricing is based on materials and labor, so 100 pins across 4 colorways at 25 each creates more labor than 100 of a single colorway.

Can I use more than 10 colors?
Yes. We cap the site at 10 colors for simplicity, but more colors are available on request. Email us for a quote.

Can you make features not listed on the site?
Yes. We can make spinners, latched pins, multi-piece pin-on-pin, translucent inks, pearl inks, and more. Email us with what you’re thinking and we’ll quote it.

Do I need to pay upfront? Do you do 50/50 deposits?
Custom merchandise is paid in full upfront. If you want something proofed before paying, email us and we can walk you through the process and get a proof set up first. We also offer split-payment options at checkout that let you spread the cost over time at no extra charge.

What if my order has issues?
We’re making handmade products, and things occasionally go wrong. A color mixed up, a plating issue, something off-spec. Any order made with issues can be remade or refunded with the bad product returned. We never want it to happen, but when it does, we have your back at no cost to you.

Templates

Procreate users: Download our Procreate template and brush set. It’s a 10" x 10" 300 dpi canvas with brush sets for ink minimums, metal line minimums, and cut-out areas.

Backing card templates (for pins and keychains):

Alchemy pin pixel minimums reference

Metals

Hard enamel pin metal plating options

Backings

Enamel pin backing options

Pin Size/Shape and Backstamp

Alchemy Merch - Compare enamel pin sizes

Pin Sizing

What is the right size for your pin?
The USA Quarter is 0.95".
• 1" pin are meant to be simple and subtle.
• 1.25" is a goldilocks size for circles. Not too big/ not too small.
• Artist pins start going 1.75" or larger often

Custom Soft Enamel Pins - Alchemy Merch - Make your own custom Soft Enamel Pins - custom merchandise

Simple or Complex?

How can you tell if your pin is a simple shape or a complex one? Check out this guide to help you find out.

Backstamp

Adding a backstamp is a flat $40 no matter the size of the order and puts your logo on the backside of the pin forever. You can also re-use the same backastamp on future orders at no added cost.

Metal & Backing Options

Backing Styles + Colors

Pick the backing style and color you prefer

Pin Metal Options - Soft Enamel

What metal is best for your pin design?

Pin Metal Options - Hard Eanmel

Hard enamel pins have fewer options because of the buffing process and need an electro-plated metal.

Add Ons

Glitter

Everything is better with Glitter. We have over 150 different glitter options and can help pick ones to best suit your design.

Backing Cards

Step up your branding and presentation with backing cards. Pins come assembled on the cards and individually bagged.

Glow in the Dark

Glow can be added to any ink color to give your design some excitement in the dark. It works best on lighter colors.

Sequential Numbering

Is your design a limited run? Add sequential numbering to help raise the collectability.

Printing

Added printing can allow for details that are too small for regular ink or to add details without needing to be surrounded by metal.

Translucent Ink

Choose from one of our stock 10 translucent ink colors. Go even further by designing multiple levels in your pin and having the translucent ink go over it.

Pearl Powder

Pearl can be added to any ink color and done subtly for some texture or with a heavy swirl to give movement.

Metallic Ink

We have stock Gold and Silver metallic inks. It can be added to other ink tones upon request.

Get a custom quote