A Friendly Obsession
Pins are a hot collectible that offer an added advantage
over other collections - they are small and do not take up
much room. Pins are available in many motifs and themes.
Some of the most collectible themes are Disney characters,
sports teams, and Hard Rock Cafe. The first rule of pin
collecting is to specialize. If you like the San Diego
Padres baseball team, for instance, you can start pin
collecting with souvenir pins that celebrate this team. And
just because these themes are popular doesn't mean you have
to collect them. Be original and collect what you like.
Many pins are centered around modern entertainments, but
many pin collecting enthusiasts collect campaign pins from
election campaigns. Buttons are a similar item and are
collected by many of the same people who do pin collecting.
Pins created to advertise businesses and services are also
very collectible.
To display pins you have several options. When you wear a
jacket with lapels, you can wear a few of your favorite
small pins. The same goes for wearing a cowboy hat or a
vest. Many pin collectors wear a few on the front of a
cowboy hat. Tote bags, purses, and fanny packs are another
place where some pins can be displayed.
Of course, as you get into pin collecting, you will soon
find that you have too many to wear the entire collection at
one time. A bulletin board, perhaps covered with a plain
piece of fabric, like dark blue velvet, makes a nice
backdrop for a pin collection. The pins can either be pinned
into the cork of the bulletin board through the velvet or
attached to the velvet first.
Another way to display and store pins is in a notebook. This
method works well if you wish to take some of your pins to
an event where you can do some trading with other pin
collectors. To make the notebook, purchase sheets of hard
felt or craft foam. Either punch holes in the side so they
fit into a loose-leaf binder, or slip the pages into page
protectors after attaching the pins to the pages. The type
of loose-leaf binder that zips closed is the best to use for
pin collecting.
Sometimes pins get scratched, especially if they are stored
in a notebook arrangement such that they hit each other. The
scratches can be smoothed over with a tiny bit of liquid car
wax. Future scratching can be avoided by using page
protectors in notebook collections.
Pin collecting is a very popular hobby. You can find groups
of likeminded people with which to trade pins, making pin
collecting a hobby that helps people make friends.
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