November Projects

[ysabetwordsmith]

What are your crowdfunding projects for November?

The next Creative Jam will be November 16-17 with a theme of "seasonal changes."

Comments

[alexseanchai]

I'm giving thought to doing a Kickstarter to come up with the three hundred dollars I'd need to get a professional-quality button maker. I suspect I am not actually doing this, because my graphics skills are not great, but then I don't really need graphics skills, do I? Just a color printer--oops, better make that a four-hundred-dollar Kickstarter, plus however much it'll cost to ship all the buttons that'd be swag--and a pair of scissors and a program that'll print one-inch circles with text in.

Mind, I really don't know where I'd put a button maker. I just want one to make all the buttons with.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I'm giving thought to doing a Kickstarter to come up with the three hundred dollars I'd need to get a professional-quality button maker. <<

That would be awesome.

>> I suspect I am not actually doing this, because my graphics skills are not great, but then I don't really need graphics skills, do I? <<

I've been collecting buttons for years. There are picture buttons and text buttons. For text buttons, you need awesome quotes and just enough graphic skills to lay out words in legible yet interesting fonts. It's pretty easy. Just keep the background paper pale enough so black ink shows well.

>> Just a color printer--oops, better make that a four-hundred-dollar Kickstarter, <<

I only have a handful of full-color buttons, and most of those were B/W print with hand-colored accents. But if you want to do colored ones that's fine too.

>> plus however much it'll cost to ship all the buttons that'd be swag -- <<

Figure out that in advance, carefully. You might also consider making buttons for other folks with projects.

>> and a pair of scissors and a program that'll print one-inch circles with text in. <<

Ideally, you need a button-circle cutter. They're specially made for that purpose, faster and neater than other options. Scissors suck. I've helped friends make buttons, and if you nick the edge then sometimes they don't seal properly. Also the one-inch size is too tiny for most quotes, although it works well for icons. The 2.25" size is most popular for text buttons.

>> Mind, I really don't know where I'd put a button maker. I just want one to make all the buttons with. <<

I know the feeling. I have tons of quotes that I'd love to put on buttons.

Re: Thoughts

[alexseanchai]

Button-circle cutter, huh? *pokes Amazon* Looks like the 1" one comes with a hand punch and the 2.25" with a rotary cutter. I wouldn't want to get both to start, though.

Thanks for thoughts!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here are a couple of companies that offer serious button-making gear:

Button Biz has a lot of sizes.
http://buttonbiz.com/products/button-maker/

Badge-a-Minit is the brand I've seen most often.
http://www.badgeaminit.com/

Re: Thoughts

[alexseanchai]

Thank you!

Re: Thoughts

[alexseanchai]

I observe that Badge-a-Minit has a 2.25" starter kit available for $30. I can spare $30. I think I should also get the Cut-a-Circle gizmo, which is another $30 and I can't spare that so much, plus a cutting mat for $5, and if I want to do more than ten buttons we're looking at another $30 which puts us back into 'should maybe Kickstarter for this' territory even if I don't decide to get a color printer, but it's a lot less expensive overall than the stuff I was looking at on Amazon. Thank you!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Always comparison-shop for anything beyond impulse range, especially professional or serious hobby investments. You need to know what your options are in order to make good decisions.

Regarding amounts of buttons to be made, look closely at the costs. If the per-button price is not already listed, do the math and compare. There's usually a huge price break somewhere as you move into larger numbers.

Re: Thoughts

[alexseanchai]

Nodnod.

I DuckDuckGoed 'badge-a-minit reliable' and some people have had really horrid experiences with them, though...eh, I do not have to do all the research tonight.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Looking for detailed reviews of products is a good idea. If I remember right, Badge-a-Minit offers a variety of products at different levels of quality and expense. Some of those are really intended for small projects only and won't stand up to heavy use. The cheaper ones have shortcuts in them that do make them less easy to use. The more robust models cost more. You get what you pay for. See if you can figure out what features are most important to you and which products (from any supplier) have those.