A specific Kind of question

June 17, 2021 11:13 PM

I have been looking without success for an enamel pin of beloved character actor Richard Kind. Can you find one, or recommend a source for custom pins to capture his likeness?
posted by doift to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (3 answers total)

You can have a custom pin made, I just googled “custom enamel pins” and found a few sites but obv they are geared towards larger qualities. This one has no minimum but you have to request a quote and it’s probably more than you want to pay, guessing maybe $50. They will do the artwork but there might be copyright issues with using his likeness. If you or somebody you know has Photoshop, there are tutorials describing how to adapt a photograph to a cartoon-type illustration. Marty of Blue Lightning TV on YouTube has excellent, clear, precise videos (omg, so many bad PS tutorials on YouTube) on how to achieve different effects. He has a ton of them so I couldn’t find the one I used a couple years ago to get that flat high contrast effect (you don’t want a Benday screen effect).
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:53 AM on June 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I would contact My Aunt Debbie (Etsy; her shop) and ask. (Not my actual aunt. Seems pretty cool, though.)
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:04 PM on June 18, 2021

Of course with Photoshop (or a free almost-equivalent) you can create artwork that greatly resembles an enamel pin (complete with 3D effect) , print it out on a color printer, glue it to a circle of cardboard, glue a brooch pinback from Michaels on the back and seal the whole thing with ModPodge. A fun project.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:08 AM on June 19, 2021