Fantasy Pin Creation (Img Heavy)

[PersinettePins]

Hi guys! I'd really like to create a fantasy pin, hopefully multiple if the first works out. I'd like to make Melody from TLM 2 pins and Kovu from TLK 2 as they're such underrepresented characters.


I want these to be Disney quality, so nice full color smooth pins. I of course won't pass these off as authentic Disney and will do an appropriate 'Fantasty' back stamp or no back stamp. They will probably be around LE 100. It depends on the cost/sizes of orders available. I would like to eventually do a pre-sale if that's possible to gage interest and generate some funds for the initial order. I would only pre-sale once I found a manufacturer and approved the pins so I could offer a realistic idea of what the pin will be and quality. I wouldn't do pre-sales if I didn't have a prototype to show.


I found several designs I like and would love to get community feedback on which design others like since this will be a Fantasy pin I'd like others to enjoy, not just me. I'm not selling these to make money, just to cover the cost of production and shipping and I don't need 100 of them in my pin book haha. I believe 100 is around the minimum order.


My questions:

• Any suggestions where I could order them? Should I try and contact a China company directly or go through a U.S. Company that orders the pins from China? More expensive but an easier go-between? Has anyone done Fantasy pins or know people who have that could suggest a company?
• Are there copyright issues the company may have? It's Disney property to be sure, but I know there are FanArt laws that allow the creation and sale of small scale FanArt productions. My concern is a company saying no since it's Disney art.
• What type of pin am I getting made? I believe it is the hard enamel / cloisonné type? I believe that's what modern Disney pins are?
• Would anyone even be interested?

Thanks for all the input and advice!

Here are some ideas I had for the designs:

(with artist permission for the fan art pieces)

(with artist permission for the fan art pieces)

Bonus Pic!

 

[PersinettePins]

Any interest or info on fantasy pins?

 

[LuvSimba]

QUOTE "•Any suggestions where I could order them? Should I try and contact a China company directly or go through a U.S. Company that orders the pins from China? More expensive but an easier go-between? Has anyone done Fantasy pins or know people who have that could suggest a company?
•Are there copyright issues the company may have? It's Disney property to be sure, but I know there are FanArt laws that allow the creation and sale of small scale FanArt productions. My concern is a company saying no since it's Disney art.
•What type of pin am I getting made? I believe it is the hard enamel / cloisonné type? I believe that's what modern Disney pins are?
•Would anyone even be interested?"

Several of us made 'fantasy' pins (here is one I created back in 2002 -- PinPic # 15569: Fantasy Pin - HAPPY Pin Trader). There were strict guidelines we had to follow. You could not make any full bodied characters that even closely resembled any Disney character. Fan art or not, at least back then.

I would highly suggest you check out any copyright laws, as I have a feeling that if Disney catches you selling pins that resemble their characters, you might receive a cease and desist letter. Of course there were people who broke the law back then and just made whatever Disney character they liked, which was mainly Stitch at the time. I believe some of them did get in trouble.

BUT, this is just my opinion and what we went thru to create a pin, with 'suggested' Disney characters on them, back in 2002.

PS...my pin was acceptable and we broke no laws. It was clearly marked as a fantasy pin and we traded for other fantasy pins or if people wanted, we traded for real Disney pins as well. But, everyone knew our pins were NOT Disney in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Romancing_Train]

You can do it now but you have to change the design a bit to be protected. The change ratio is 50/50.

I am currently prototyping pins for my company and you can Google any pin company to have them made.

Small orders are relatively more expensive. About 200 - 300$ for 100 pins I believe. But it can be as low as 60 depending on the company and quality.

Most places will allow you 4 colors of enamel so be aware of that as well be cause it'll cost 20- 30 cents more for more colors.

Most places also do dangles and pin on pin for 60c more per pin also. Jumbo pins ate about 2- 3 dollars per pin.

 

[vampire_conche]

where do you find the companies that you can order the pins from?

 

[starry_solo]

where do you find the companies that you can order the pins from?

Google. No one is going to identify their manufacturers for fear that they will be overrun with orders from other people. At least, that's what I can tell from FB posts.

 

[shooting4ownhand]

Google. No one is going to identify their manufacturers for fear that they will be overrun with orders from other people. At least, that's what I can tell from FB posts.

Also, if Disney discovered who the manufactures were, they would sue them. Disney sued Fedex (might have still been Kinkos at the time) for violating their copyright. Disney will go after the manufactures of the fantasy pins before they go after the designers, there is more money in suing the manufactures. Also, it would stop production of future pins.

 

[erikr]

You understand that just because you have the artists permission does not mean it's a "free pass". You are selling Disneys Intelectual Property. Also, some of the scenes you have selected are straight from the actual movie/tv show and I'd bet you will not be able to get any Disney animators approval