How to Create a Pinback Button

Create your own pinback buttons with a button-making machine.

A pinback button consists of a metal dome with a paper graphic insert and a protective Mylar or plastic cover that is crimped onto a metal disc with a pin attached to it. The name of the pinback button comes from the pinned metal disc, which is called a pinback. You can make your own pinback buttons with a button-making machine. These machines are die presses, meaning there are dies (circular stamps with depressions in them) that crimp together the button components.

Things You'll Need

• PC with Adobe Photoshop CS and printer
• Crisp white printer paper, 24-pound bond, 100 brightness
• Button graphic punch
• Button-making press
• Metal button dome
• Button Mylar sheet
• Button pin-back

Instructions

1. Download a button layout file that is the size of the button you want from the button maker manufacturer's website. Open the file. Follow any onscreen commands that pop up. Design the button, choosing the colors and shapes for the button. Add images that you want to put on your button. Add perimeter text, which are the words that go around the outer edge of the circle of the button. Save the file. Print the buttons on crisp white printer paper with a brightness level of 100 and a thickness of 24-pound bond for the best results.

2. Cut the paper into strips around the button prints. Insert the strips into the back slot of the button graphic punch. When you see the button image in the hole or window located on the top of the punch, press down the lever. The button picture will be punched out. Cut out all of your button graphics with the button graphic punch.

3. Lift up the button-maker handle as far as it will go. Rotate the die table, which is the lower bar or platform of the button maker with two metal circles on it. One has a shallow depression and is called the pickup die. The other has a deep depression and is called the crimp die. Move the die table so that the pickup die is facing you. Place the metal button shell into the depression on the pickup die with the dome side facing up. The metal shell will fit snugly into the pickup die.

4. Place the punched-out graphic with the print side facing up. Move the graphic so that the picture is centered on the button, and the top and bottom are even. The way it looks when you set it down is the position it will be in once the button is finished, so adjust as necessary. The graphic will sit snugly on the die as well. Place the thin plastic or Mylar circle over the graphic.

5. Rotate the die table and move the crimp die to face you so that the pickup die is directly under the lever of the button-making press. Push the handle down as far as it will go to make the metal shell with graphic and Mylar sheet move up into the upper die on the handle. Lift up the handle.

6. Insert the pin-back of the button into the empty crimp die with the pin clasp facing down so that it rests against the bottom of the die. Position it in the die so that the wire of the pin is going right to left in the die, with the valley shape of the bent wire on the left and the mountain shape of the bent wire on the right. Rotate the die table to move the crimp die under the upper die so that the empty pickup die is facing you. Push the handle all the way down to crimp the button together. Lift up the handle. Rotate the die table to retrieve the finished button.

References

• Buttonmakers.net: Button Design and Page Layout Tutorial For Adobe Photoshop CS.
• Buttonmakers.net: Step by Step Guide to Making Your Own Pin-Back Buttons
• American Button Machines: What Type of Paper do You Use to Make Buttons?

Resources

• Buttonmakers.net: Custom Button Templates