Pinback Button

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When you first hear the term "button making" you may not immediately think of the word "fun." But guess what...you should! Making buttons is an engaging and entertaining experience, made all the more enjoyable by the fact that you end up with useful products once you are done. Whether you are looking to fundraise for a cause you believe in, promote a campaign, or show support for a person, band, or team, buttons are a terrific solution.

In this article, we are going to highlight three fun and useful types of buttons, each of which make button making a truly joyful and productive pastime.

Fabric Buttons

A number of different attachments, such as a keychain, zipper pull, or cell phone charm can turn any button into a personalized novelty item. This is especially useful for embroidery shops, which can make a personalized fabric button to accessorize any item. There are a number of backs that can be used with a fabric button. While some prefer a pinback to decorate a purse or to wear on clothing, a jacket, or a hat, others might want a more versatile back.

Snap-Inz shoe charms are used to turn a fabric button into a shoe charm to decorate Croc shoes. These charms can be glued to the back of a button and simply snapped into place through the holes on the Croc shoes. Another use for fabric buttons is as a ponytail holder. This can be accomplished with a special button back that has an eyelet to run a ponytail elastic through. Other specialty kits can include button bracelets and necklaces, as well as pacifier clips (paci-clip) and keychains.

Pinback Buttons

Pinback buttons have a variety of uses, and both fabric buttons and photo buttons overlap into this category. But one specific use for pinback buttons is promoting bands.

Pinback buttons have been in use for a number of years and some are quite popular as collector's items, especially for independent bands. A number of rock bands in the 70's sold 1-inch pinback buttons with the band's logo or name. The tradition of buttons for bands has increased as more and more bands search for cheap ways to promote and advertise themselves, an album, a show, or even a particular song. Additionally, many bands have evolved to use more than just 1-inch buttons for promotional purposes. Refrigerator magnets, medallions, and earrings have also become popular because of how easy they are to produce.

The most cost-effective method for how to promote your band through promotional buttons will depend on how many buttons are desired. If you only want a very small amount for a one-time promotion, ordering the buttons for bands from a custom button making retailer can be a decent option. However, what the vast majority of bands are finding out is that a small portion of gate receipts from one show can allow them to invest in a 1-inch button maker and a circle cutter, and this offers bands the ability to create and customize their own pinback buttons for different shows and albums.

Photo Buttons

Photo buttons have a wide variety of uses, and most of them seem to revolve around parents making photo buttons with pictures of their kids. In fact, if you've been to one high school sporting event in your life, there is no doubt you have seen exuberant parents proudly displaying their sons and daughters with a photo button.

In fact, any high school athletic department would be wise to look into photo buttons as a way to help raise funds.

Photo buttons are typically made with 2-1/4 inch, 3 inch, and 3-1/2 inch buttons. The two larger sizes are widely used because you have a much larger canvas to work with. This allows you to put the student-athlete's picture on the photo button and then customize the text. A 2-1/4? button gets a little a crowded with a much smaller picture. For circular photo buttons, circle cutters are a great way to get the picture sized perfectly.

The typical sports photo button costs about a nickel to make and most athletic departments of photo vendors who produce the buttons for the schools can charge anywhere from $5-$8. This is a pretty significant profit margin. And the more you make and sell, the cheaper the overall cost becomes.

So, as you can see, the possibilities with buttons are endless. We've only scratched the surface of the many uses for fabric buttons, pinback buttons, and photo buttons. The moral of the story is simple though: with your own button machine and supplies, the whole wide wonderful world buttons is open to you; and you limited only by your own creativity.

The author is a button making enthusiast and expert with experience making fabric buttons, photo buttons, and other specialized types of pinback buttons for sale and just for fun.

Checklist of Considerations for People Buying Button Machines

First off, let me just say that this article is not meant to be an exhaustive list of things that you should think about when buying a button machine.  If you want in-depth detail about everything regarding button machines, I refer you to The Button Blog sponsored by American Button Machines.

However, through my work with American Button Machines, I have acquired a pretty good base of knowledge regarding what is good and what is not good about the various types of button machines.  My purpose in writing this article is simply to list a few of those things and help in making your button maker purchase a successful one.

So here we go, a checklist of considerations when you purchasing a button machine:

1. Manufacturing quality - make sure the button machine is actually made out of a high-quality metal and not some kind of painted or coated plastic.  You are investing good money in this product and you want it to last, don't you?
2. Usability and design - If you are making 250 buttons for a fundraising project, that is 250 times that you will be performing the same repetitive arm motion.  If you purchase a button machine with a high handle that is top heavy, it could make those repetitive motions cumbersome if you plan on sitting down during the button making experience.  Find a machine with an evenly distributed center of gravity and that you can easily use from a seated position.
3. How much do supplies cost? - This is a very important consideration, especially if you plan on keeping costs down.  For instance, button makers made in China often require that you purchase supplies made in China, but these supplies are often more expensive than those you would purchase for American-made machines.  Make sure you know the cost of supplies when doing price comparisons.
4. How much does shipping cost? Many button machine sellers, like American Button Machines, offer free shipping on their button making kits.  When you're doing a price comparison, shipping can often tip the cost between which machine or system is more expensive.  Save money and go with a supplier that takes care of shipping for you.
5. Who are you buying from?  Especially if you are buying online, make sure that you are purchasing from a reputable company that provides support.  For example, American Button Machines and Button Biz both have blogs online where they offer helpful hints about button making.  They also respond quickly to questions and inquiries.  This is important, because chances are that you won't be a button making expert right away.  Make sure you look into who you are buying from and that they give you reasons to trust them and go above and beyond to help you.

While there are certainly many other things that you will want to think about when purchasing a button machine, the above five items should all be prerequisites before making a purchase.  Make sure that you are purchasing the best product at the best price with the best support -- then go have your fun making buttons!

About the Author

Jerod Morris is the Director of Social Media Strategy for Orangecast, a social media marketing firm based in Dallas, Texas.

Anyone else Like pinback Buttons?

Hello all.

A long time ago, like back in the early 1980's, I had a huge collection of pinbacks! Oh, how I loved them. They were mostly music/punk themed. I had one that was a miniature replica of a record album titled "True Colors" (yes, vinyl) by a New Zealand group called Split Enz. I had buttons that were in black and white with Ska images, pink and black with "Punk", and "Poser" written on them, lots of new wave bands, I had a "Blondie" button or two. Wow, I haven't thought about those for years.

Then I grew older, my tastes changed, started living in the adult workaday world, and sold them all at a garage sale (BIG mistake--they're probably gonna be worth a lot some day). I miss those buttons, now.

The very WORST pinback button I ever had was one that I had to wear for a job that I had working as a clerk in a gas station mini-store. Our boss thought up this stupid-azs slogan and decided to put it on a humongous, 5-inch button we had to wear on our smocks. It said, "I'm a People Pleaser!!" I was 16 at the time, quite young and pretty, and you can just imagine all the comments guys and older men said to me when they saw that button! It made me so embarassed!

Who's got the button? The Busy Beaver owner
Long before tweets, the best way to deliver a pithy punch line was to say it with a button.

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