Use your Button Badge Maker to increase your order value!

Button Badge Makers! They come in all different sizes, styles, manufacturers and prices.
Some simply make badges, some also make magnets, bottle openers, pocket mirrors and keyrings.  

Popular badge sizes available are 25mm, 38mm, 45mm, 58mm, and 77mm. 

Badges can be sold to all different recipients and for many occasions...
Add a photo and text for birthdays, vigils, engagements, weddings and even funerals.
Save the date - a badge or fridge magnet is a simple (and low cost) way for 'brides to be' to let people know they are planning their wedding.
Humorous badges are a good seller, sarcasm always sells well!
Charity - this is a fab way to raise awareness and funds.
Political, music, schools, parties, sports, clubs, events, hen and stag parties, baby showers and birthdays are just a few of the occasions that spring to mind.

Our badge maker is a Buttonfab G Series 59mm which we picked up on FB marketplace for £40. This retails at over £200, but a popular and cost effective machine is the eBadges machine which is available in a variety of options and badge sizes on their website. 

Depending on what you are making, you will have a set of components with each product. The four main parts when constructing your badge or magnet are the badge front, your paper design, a mylar protective cover and the back (badge pin, magnet, mirror, bottle opener or keyring)
You can also buy different backs for children - plastic safety clips with no metal pins, although we wouldn't advise making designs for children under 3 years old.

The machine you buy will depend on the size of badge you wish to make. Smaller badges are considered more fashionable to wear, however, larger badges look great on cards, are fab for children - showing your design at a better size visually.
For some machines you can purchase additional dies and cutters rather than having to buy a completely new machine for each size badge.

We are newbie badge makers and have learned a lot since we started...much of this thanks to Nana Napper and the team at the FB group Badge Bonkers.

So, how can you increase your order value with your badge maker?
We spoke in a previous blog about the value of complementary products such as cards, gift wrap etc. Badges are yet another positive way of up-selling to your customer.

Let's say your customer buys a 60th birthday mug from you, you could also offer them a matching card and gift wrap and a badge or fridge magnet. Your customer now has a complete gift bought from one shop and the badge or magnet adds a little extra to their gift - for only a small additional cost and no additional postage cost!

Alternatively you could add the badge, magnet, mirror, bottle opener or keyring to the greetings card, for something a little different and then increase your price accordingly!

Are they easy to use? 
Yes they are and there are a few ways to make your work look above average!

Let's start with the template. You can download one from most badge maker sites or easily make your own in Affinity or Photoshop. You will have a circle showing the boundary of the actual badge front design and another circle showing where to cut the correct size to fit in the badge maker.
We prefer to use our custom template, add the design and/or text, then either export the design, or copy and paste the finished design to an A4 sheet ready to print.

Make sure any text is a few mm in from the badge boundary line to ensure it's easy to read.

Now comes the fun part!
There are two ways of adding sparkle to your product that we have tried and found successful...

The first involves the use of a foiling machine or laminator and transparent stamping foil. Cut a piece of the foil to cover your badge front, run them through your foiler or laminator and peel off the film - this leaves a beautiful sparkly holographic surface on your badge design. 
Tip: gently brush off any dust from the front of your paper and the reverse of the foil with a soft brush first.

There are quite a few designs to choose from in the stamping foil but we've found some work better than others. Also, keep the temperature on your foiling machine low to medium for better results. We buy our foils from Patsy May
N.B. we believe the paper needs to be a glossy or photo paper, but we haven't tested on any other kind of paper yet.

The next step is to place the badge front in the first machine cup, your design goes on top (face up), then a mylar sheet (if using one). Clamp down, swivel the base and place your backing pin or magnet, mirror or bottle opener in the second cup and clamp again. 
That's all there is to it - your product is now complete!