Soft enamel pins have a slightly raised metal outline and recessed areas filled with enamel paint, creating a textured, dimensional look.
Hard enamel pins have a flat and smooth surface, with enamel that is polished flush with the metal outlines, resulting in a seamless, high-quality appearance.
Making hard enamel pins is like making soft enamel pins but with the added step of filling each recess with a colored resin. After the resin fill, each colour is individually baked at a high temperature to harden and cure the enamel, before applying a polish so the final product has a hard and glossy finish with a nearly flat surface. The final polish that gives hard enamel pins their distinctive smoothness also means the metal lines in a design can become slightly less detailed but the colours will look much sharper and more vibrant than soft enamel pins.
