… I have a button maker now. Two big ass buttons
“I bite resellers.”
“Down with the 1990s.”
Answer
Of course! Grab yourself a drink, it’s a bit long.
Two things to know first: You can either make them yourself or order them. This is a choice you have to make yourself and there isn’t really a good or bad answer for weither you choose the first or second one. So far this is what I realized
Pros of ordering your badges:
•Good quality
•Template easy to understand for most websites
•You can choose different shapes (heart, star, cat, circle)
•You can order from every country mostly (which is useful if you’re European like me and dont want to pay the huge fees of the us and would rather order locally if I can)
•More affordable than keychains in general
Cons of ordering your badges:
•You cannot see your designs errors until you received it
•You have to wait for production and shipping and it can take longer than you’d like (especially when a con is close)
•Even if it’s more affordable than some merch, it’s still a budget for a limited quantity
Now pros of making your own badge:
I have this machine:
(Yes it’s pink💅, my dad bought it for me for Christmas so it was free!) It has different sizes of molds for different sizes of badges
•If you can have this machine (which is around 130 eur I think) it becomes cheaper to make badges in the end as the material comes with it and is pretty cheap to order
Let’s say you pay 60 eur without shipping for 50 badges when you order buttons online, with this machine (which again was free for me) I ordered from the machine’s website 500 pieces of material for 37 euros. Which allows me to create 500 buttons. You can calculate how worth it it is.
•You can make anything. You have a sudden idea for a design? You can test it out rn!
•You’re late to a con and have less than expected? You can make more rn.
• You don’t know how many badges to make? Just do them when someone order. For cons, you can take your machine with you and make them there, it’s great advertisement and you can be sure you’re not bringing too much/not enough merch.
Cons of making your own badges:
•A lot of trials and errors. You have to understand how the machine works and why it doesn’t work sometimes. You also have to calculate the right sizing for the designs or it won’t set properly when you make them. You’ll have a lot of faulty buttons before doing the right ones.
•You need a good printer. This is very important as you’ll have to print a lot of pages for your designs. And good quality paper is important as well. I wasted a lot of paper just trying to have good quality badges before realizing the paper was not good enough and thats why it didnt print properly. This is a budget as well. I have an Epson Ecotank personally.
●Advices:
•You need space. For cutting out the designs and for using your machine. Also for storing material and merch.
•You need a lot of patience AND time. You’re doing everything by hand. It will take you hours
•My hand hurts from pressing many badges 🥲 don’t forget to not do everything in one day and don’t hesitate to ask for help
•Different machines exist. You might want to go for a cheaper one if you’re not sure if you’re going to use it, but go for a stronger, more expensive one if you want to use it very often and go years with it (there are plastic and iron ones)
Hope this helps!
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this is such bullshit why do i have to buy button adaptors to make smaller ones 😭
and why does it cost twenty flipping dollars
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Not the best photo, but I made these Mechs buttons for me and my friend. Used alcohol markers, sharpie, and a white gel pen. Took forever though.
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I wanna buy a button maker but am not sure which one is most reliable cause according to Reddit posts what used to be the top machine has gone down in quality massively and seemingly the only one that doesn’t warp is over $100
what I’m really asking is should invest in the fancy one
I mostly just don’t wanna drop any amount of money on something that’s gonna warp and fail to align after 5 buttons
and then there’s still the question of which button material sources are best
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How niche is your blorbo?
I’m drowning in official and fan merch
I can usually find merch online or at events
It’s pretty rare but I find merch sometimes
I can never find merch anywhere
Nuance/im bald/etc
See Results1.5 in Buttons
- 10 for $12 USD
- 20 for $20 USD
- 30 for $28 USD
2.25 in Buttons
- 10 for $15 USD
- 20 for $28 USD
- 30 for $40 USD
No limit on number of designs and I’ll layout the art for you!
Important Info
- US shipping only
- Shipping $5-10 for most orders, may increase for large orders
- Provide your own art or official art
- Prices negotiable if your finances are limited
- I don’t care if you resell the buttons
- Ask about quantities not listed
I don’t bite, ask me any questions! Currently funding my silly old man’s vet bills :)
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Our teens used some discarded manga as well as their own original designs to create buttons at our latest TEENS GET CRAFTY program!
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Oh wow, my dad was making pins for a whole night. And soon making money out of it.
Now I’m gonna do smth similar and first give some to friends then make money out of it too
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heyyyyy if you want to help me monetize my SFW arts n crafts hobbies, you can contribute towards a button maker and the starter supplies on my Ko-fi <3
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Prepped Button Making Zone in the new backroom of Toutoune Gallery (Toutoune Derriere)
Lots of art supplies, button making press and parts, and some books to cut up for collage purposes.
Airlifted some art out of harms way : o )
I’m very excited to see what people make! Hopefully some will allow me to document their buttons and I will share them on the blog here later.
See you this weekend!
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Check out the creative, innovative, and cute button designs from yesterday’s TEENS GET CRAFTY program!
