Dizpins Pin Tips

The gang, and some of their friends, have put together some
Pin Tips to help you with your Pin Collecting.

So that our son could enjoy his pins, we made him a Disney bulletin board for the playroom. We hang his lanyard, our annual
passes and pictures on it as well.Home Depot carries the Disney paint line and thecolor samples are Mickey Icons. These icons come in every color imaginable and peel easily from their backing. They made it very easy for us to make our custom bulletin board.


Thanks Tammie!!


I learned this at a pin event. If you have lots of pins to show off set one or two pages off to the side. Then take some pins that you want to trade and put them on the pages you left blank. When you go out to trade that those are the pages you want to trade.

Thanks Lauren!!

For a great way to carry your tradable collection safely, purchase a standard sized notebook with an all around zipper closure they come in 5 x 7 and 8 1/2 x 11 sizes. I found mine in my local Pic & Save discount store for $3, but grocery stores and Staples or Office Depot carry them as well. And be sure to check the "clearance" sections of your stores for an even better bargain.

Go to your local arts and crafts store (like Michael's or Mosketels) and purchase hard felt sheets (you can also use foam sheets but I think the felt makes a better presentation and the pin pricks "heal" better on felt). They usually come in 20" x 12" pieces which, when cut will yield either 2 pages (8 1/2 x 10) or four pages (for 5 x 7).

Three hole punch the felt and separate each page with a standard clear sheet protector to keep the pins from rubbing together.

Most notebook binders also have inside pockets which come in really handy to hold pin cards or whatever else you may need to carry.

All together the total cost should be around $10 and holds anywhere from 45 - 60 pins per page. This binder (since it just looks like a kids notebook) has the added bonus of not looking like it houses your valuable collection so it makes it less attractive to a potential thief.

As for the glue, I have found that the brand called Household Goop works wonderfully well. It bonds quickly (1 - 3 hours) dries clear and any excess can easily be removed with a toothpick (when wet) or CAREFULLY with an exacto knife when dry.

Thanks Tisza Major AKA widdletink on Pin Pics!!

Tony found some foam rubber at his local hardware store (Home Depot) in the carpet section. He believes that it is used for carpet runner and it is about one-half inch thick. He cut it so it fits inside the zippered pockets of his pin bag. This makes the pockets stiff and he can push his pins right into the foam rubber. Tony has never had any problems with his pins falling out or coming loose and this makes for a nice presentation of his pins and his pins lay flat (no bulkiness from pin backs).

Thanks Tony!!

Displaying Your Pins!!

Take three embroidery hoops (two med sized and one large one), some black felt (or another fabric you like), and some hot glue, and black spray paint. The first step is to remove the inner rings from the hoops then use the hot glue to glue the 3 rings together in the shape of Mickey ears. Now, using your spray paint, spray the tops and fronts of all the hoops (the back will be against the wall). When the paint is dry, put the black felt or other fabric into the rings so that it is tight. Trim off any excess material-and you can now put the pins into the fabric as you choose. The easiest way to hang the Mickey ears, is just to use a simple push pin and hang the ears on wall for all to see!!

Thanks Mike!!


If you find your pin has a scratch, you can use a car polish for clear coat 
paint. Put a drop of liquid car wax on a terry cloth wash cloth. Rub in a 
circular motion and let it dry.  Then wipe off with dry part of wash cloth.  If the polish get in cracks of pin, use a tooth brush to clean it out.
Your pin will be bright and shinny again!!
 
 If your pin back breaks off dont throw it away.
Go to a craft store buy a product called E-6000.Clean both back of pin and pin stud that broke off. Apply just a VERY small amount of E-6000 to both pin and stud.  Place stud on pin and let sit for 48 hours. 
DO NOT TOUCH.
Pin will be good as new.
 
Many of you have asked about displaying your pins. Don't leave them in the drawer or in the Disney pin bag!!! Nat, a very good friend of ours, uses his imagination and talent to display them on his walls and so can you. 
Click Here
to see step by step on how YOU can frame a pin set.
Thanks Nat!!
 
If you are tired of loosing your pins from your lanyard or are tired of them turning around in your pin bag, use rubber pin backs.  The rubber pin backs will hold them tighter and you will loose less of those precious pins!!
 
Framing the WDW 12 Days of Christmas Pin Set

Jan send us a setp-by-step guide on framing the WDW 12 Days of Christmas Pin Set.  Jan took pictures of the entire process, made templates so that the process could be duplicated, and determined what materials were needed. 
The result is the following web page.

Click Here

Thanks Jan and your framed set is gorgeous!! 

Another tip for broken pin backs comes from Lee, who tell us he has had 100% success using Loctite brand two part Weld epoxy to re-secure detached pin nails, and turn around time is typically only a couple hours versus 48 with the E-6000. You can find it at auto parts stores, hardware stores and super stores like Wal-Mart, K-Mart etc. It's intended as an alternative to welding metal parts together, but still provides similar holding strength to a weld. Because of this it provides tons more strength then any pin application would ever need, but it's nice to have.

The next set of tips are in regards to improving the hold with the metal butterfly backs and with rubber backs. For the metal backs you can improve the hold dramatically just by improving the grip surface on the pin stem. Check the pin stem on the back by feeling around the tip. You should see or feel a small ridge or ridges or a rough surface by the tip. If you look/feel the stems of pins that seem looser then others you'll probably find that they are completely smooth, and thus don't grip the butterfly backs. The easy solution for this is to roughen up the tip area of the stem to improve the grip. You can use high grit sandpaper, a sharp knife, scissors, wire strippers or wire cutters to make this groove or roughen up the nail surface. Be vary careful with wire cutters or scissors not to cut off the tip because then you'll really have a problem. After doing this the butterfly back should have much better hold.

For people who plan to wear their collection pins around on a vest or hat, and not move them too often, this method works great with just the standard rubber backs. This method uses a very small amount of super glue on the pin stem before putting the rubber back on. If you don't plan on moving your pins around on your hat or vest that often, then put a small amount of super glue on the stem, after you've put it though the fabric, then put the rubber back on. This method holds the pin on super secure, but still allows you to remove them with a firm twist to the rubber back. Make sure not to put too much glue on the stem, just a tiny drop. If you do it's still ok. If you can't get the back off with a firm twist, you can just cut off the rubber back with a knife when you need to remove the pin. This obviously would work for trading pins as well, however since you'll be taking them on and off more often you'd probably be just fine with the rubber back all by itself. Really this is a method best reserved for use when you want to wear your collection pins around the park to display them were you probably won't need to move them that often or at all.

For those really rare pins you want to wear there is also a product called "Pin-Lok" or "Pinsavers" which is basically a small aluminum collar that secures to the pin stem via a allen screw. With these the only way you'll loose a pin is if it wasn't tightened enough or the nail separates from the back. The one downside to these backs is that they run about 60 cents each, but for those really rare pins it might be worth it.

 

If you have any Pin Tips you
want to share, e-mail Dizpins


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