What does a grown-up do with pins and posters?

November 5, 2019 10:50 AM

I've gotten into a number of podcasts. These podcasts put out merchandise, like pins and posters. I really like these pins and posters! I want them, and I want to support my favorite podcasts! But what does one do with pins and posters?

When I was younger, I'd put posters on my walls. But I'm now at an age where I don't want posters on my walls.

When I was younger, I'd put pins on my backpack, etc. But I'm now at an age where I carry a Professional Person's Bag, not a backpack, and pins don't really work with it.

I don't want to buy pins and posters just to have them stuffed into a drawer. So, what are some creative ways to appreciate pins and posters, rather than the most obvious "put them on your clothes and walls"?

posted by meese to Grab Bag (21 answers total)

I like displaying pins on an embroidery hoop like so.
posted by Duffington at 10:57 AM on November 5, 2019 [10 favorites]

Would framing the posters class it up enough for you to want them on your walls? Pins can be affixed to the frame/ glass/ whatever.
posted by porpoise at 10:58 AM on November 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

I stick pins on a corkboard at work, or use sticky tack to affix them to my monitor. I also wrapped a random piece of ribbon from a package around a pen holder (that I use at home) & fastened a lot of buttons to that. I have another random sort of ribbon-y thing hanging from a plastic box I use to organize toiletries that is also festooned with buttons.
posted by diffuse at 11:00 AM on November 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

Pins look great in a display case or pennant. (yes, on the wall, but classier than posters).

Posters you could decoupage onto worn wooden furniture. I also like to cut up old posters for collages, then frame them. You can also take one or several posters, cut them into a smaller photo-frame size (like 5" x 8") and hang them as a "photo wall" but it's not photos, it's the best bits of posters. The trick is that a frame makes everything look classier.
posted by muddgirl at 11:02 AM on November 5, 2019

Most of the time, if we buy podcast posters it's because they're really great. We put them in basic decent frames, no mat.

My husband carries a messenger bag and puts his pins on there (we bought aftermarket locking backs). I'm going to make a stretched fabric display to hang on the wall with mine.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:06 AM on November 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

How many is a lot? You can create feature walls using a bunch of posters in collage that end up moving past the fact that they are just posters.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:07 AM on November 5, 2019

My solutions are "Display them like a grownup" and "Display them like a teenager in a non-public space."

Grown-up display is space-limited (like one hallway or one area of a wall) and probably involves a bunch of identical frames to swap the posters out periodically. Make the pins into magnets. You could also display them on a piece of ribbon.

Teenager display is just choosing the back of a door or whatever and going wild. What's that on the back wall of your closet?? Why, one million podcast posters, of course.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 11:08 AM on November 5, 2019 [4 favorites]

I'm in the same boat, and have a sleeveless denim jacket that I put all my pins on. I don't wear it that often, but if I want to look a little punky it's fun to have a go-to outfit for that.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:16 AM on November 5, 2019

Denim jacket for pins!
posted by ancient star at 11:19 AM on November 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Yeah, nthing a nice frame. Podcasts posters usually have pretty nice art. It's not any less grownup than some Target print of the Eiffel tower.
posted by missrachael at 11:21 AM on November 5, 2019

I wear enamel pins on my work badge lanyard and people seem to get a kick out of them.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:23 AM on November 5, 2019 [5 favorites]

I once pinned all my pins to a curtain in a swooping shape - it wouldn't work everywhere, but it was decorative and appropriate there.
posted by Edna Million at 11:48 AM on November 5, 2019

I wear a (nice) denim jacket 95% of the time that I'm wearing something over my clothes. I wear (important) pins there.

If you'd like to display them in your house, perhaps a nice magnetic knife strip on the wall?

Perhaps frame the posters? Or pin them up as-is on your garage walls? (I think garages are highly uninspired-looking most of the time.) Display them in your laundry room, another often-gloomy area of the home.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:56 AM on November 5, 2019

Pins on your lanyard for Lanyard Occasions or one pin on your cardigan if you live a place with cardigan weather.
posted by slightlybewildered at 11:58 AM on November 5, 2019

Honestly, I wear one pin at a time on my coat or bag, change them out when I feel like it, and put the rest in a box that I run my fingers through like it's a dragon hoard.

You could get a framed corkboard and fill it in with pins-- that would look cool.

Posters: unless you desperately love the poster right now and have a plan for where it will go, my suggestion is to roll it up, stick it in a closet, and revisit in 5 years. Frame it if you still love it (rotate the frames on your walls seasonally so your framer can sell more frames you can enjoy your artwork more as you don't become inured to it. They also make find gifts for people who also like the show but only discovered it recently.
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:59 AM on November 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

I keep pins pinned up on a piece of cork trim in my office. Colorful and since they're mostly work-related (I get a lot of library fan-stuff) they help me focus. As far as posters, you might want to gift/give them to other fans (if that's not attacking the bottom line of the people you bought them from). I read another AskMe recently which talked about buying a concert ticket as basically being about supporting the band, with the show as just a sort of bonus gift. Think of the poster as sort of a "bonus gift" and feel okay passing them along.
posted by jessamyn at 12:13 PM on November 5, 2019

For pins, you could get this pin adaptor to turn your pin into a magnet or stick onto a hard surface.
posted by Rora at 1:01 PM on November 5, 2019 [5 favorites]

Display the pins in the fabric ceiling of your car!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 1:51 PM on November 5, 2019

Make a large corkboard wall, with stylish pushpins that you can use for an evolving art gallery of pins, posters, photos, cards, etc? See how interior designer Thomas O'Brien built one for his studio.
posted by amaire at 4:26 PM on November 5, 2019

If the posters are all similar sizes but you only intend to frame a few, my suggestion is to "store" the rest of the posters in the frames behind the chosen ones. That way they are always handy for switching out and not getting battered while they are rolled in storage.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:46 AM on November 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also For pins, get a stretched canvas at Michael's, they come painted white, and stab your pins into that. Square is a good shape.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:51 AM on November 6, 2019