What Is A "Good" Pin?

When I first opened Machine Cloud my focus was on ornate limited edition art pins. I would work for hours pouring over pins with hundreds of cells, making sure all the pantones matched with the mockups before sending things off. I worked to maintain as meticulous a quality standard as I could. 

While I've scaled back the complexity and changed the edition of my designs, my standards towards quality control have not changed. I met many people in my time off form pins who said they loved to buy pins, but were tired of purchasing pins in the $10-$20 range only to have a post break, enamel chip out, or in some cases, pins actually bending out of shape. I was actually heartbroken because a lot of these pins they spoke about were gifts for friends or family, and held a lot of meaning.

So what is a good pin? I will summarize what I think makes Machine Cloud enamel pins a high quality product, and how I generally feel about the QC of pins on the market:

I prefer a zinc alloy pin at a thickness of 2 millimeters. Zinc alloy mills better than other pin metals like brass or iron. Zinc alloy is lighter than both, so it is especially important that zinc alloy enamel pins be thick so as to be both durable and maintain a luxurious feel in the hand. Enamel fill is more saturated with a thicker pin, and so a good thick enamel pin will also look more appealing.

Enamel fill should be smooth and even, and free from obvious foreign debris. Enamel plating should have very minimal scratching or pitting. There may be a slight imperfection on occasion as they are handmade. but no serious flaws should be obvious from looking at the enamel pin for 10 seconds at 12-18" from your face. If epoxy is used it should be even and smooth, with minimal drips that distract from the design.



Pins should have at least 2 premium back posts. I prefer the posts like in the example below, as they are quite secure and if strained, the posts can wiggle freely within the base to prevent severe bending/breakage under strain. Since none of my pins are very large (2 inches at largest) they typically don't strain these posts at all anyway, but they're much less likely to detach from the pin back as well.

With Machine Cloud I want to make sure people have a premium pin buying experience. It's important to me that they receive a pin that will last a very long time. I stand behind what I'm doing here and always want to make sure people know they are getting a premium handmade pin when they buy anything on my site. Art is incredibly important to me, and I want to share as much great art with people as I can. That's the Machine Cloud way!