A Day in the Spotlight
Often times, our blogs feature a single design element that multiple pins share or they’re about a customer who has a unique and interesting story that we want to tell. But every so often, we get an order in that’s so impressive we think it would be a mistake not to share it with you.
Maybe they aren’t pushing the boundaries of what’s typical in the world of custom pin design, but they do showcase what’s possible when the different options we offer are utilized to their greatest effect. These pins are our Signature Spotlights.
The Portrait of the Bride Not to Be
With Halloween right around the corner, we decided to keep an eye out for the best Halloween pin to feature in our first ever Signature Spotlight. It didn’t take long before we found the perfect candidate.
This design has a mysterious quality like many of the best Halloween pins we’ve helped create over the years. There is no text in the artwork to tell us where it’s from or who it’s for, and there are no identifying marks that tell us who this bride could be. However, the absence of text adds to the mystique of the design. Even without text, the artwork manages to tell a story all on its own with the incredibly detailed skeleton bride, rose petal wreath and veil.
The wreath of flowers atop the bride’s head or the cascading veil might be the first thing you notice, however, one of the most important aspects of this design is the custom shape. When you design your own pins, shape is a powerful tool that can help tell any kind of story. In this case, the long, oval shape combined with the profile view of the bride is reminiscent of a cameo.
A cameo is an oval-shaped piece of jewelry with a carved portrait at the center. They’re often made from glass, pearl or a colorful stone like agate. This pin isn’t hand-carved, but the cloisonne design is remarkable. Vibrant powdered glass enamel is used to add color to the artwork, giving the cameo inspired design an unmistakable jewelry-quality finish.
The bride in this design may have died long ago, but the artwork is anything but lifeless. The somber black backdrop allows her ivory face, golden veil and rose petal wreath to stand out in vivid detail. Using contrasting colors this way makes it easy to appreciate even the smallest details in a design.
The rose petals, for example, show just how small our production team can go when adding color to a hard enamel design. The surrounding darkness makes each individual flower easy to appreciate.
One of our favorite aspects of the entire design is the wispy veil. It looks tangled and decayed, while also being the brightest part of the artwork. It’s presented in exposed gold metal instead of hard enamel colorfill. The golden veil blends seamlessly into the artwork, and the light bouncing off the gold metal gives the bride a ghostly appearance, as though she were an apparition and light is passing right through.
Put Your Custom Lapel Pin in the Spotlight
This skeleton bride Halloween pin was an easy choice for our first spotlight. Everything from the skull’s black eyes to the colorful headdress is presented in haunting detail. And even though the artwork has a lot of intricate lines and small colorfill areas, the contrasting colors ensure that you don’t miss a single detail. Instead of including text in the design, the cameo shape and portrait design manage to tell a story all on their own and make this a truly special pin to behold.
If you think your custom pin design is deserving of a spot in the Signature Spotlights (Pins Edition) series, let us know in the comments, or shoot us an email. And be sure to continue creating interesting and unique designs that catch our eye.
