Do you get some of these badges like I do from expos or exhibition?
Some of them too cute to throw them away yet you find no place to pin them?

Well, for an OL (office lady) like me, I tend to prefer freebies that are magnets.
Partially I can use them in the office to hold my notices and documents on the board so they are more useful to me than badges.

However, there are times when you like the badge very much and kept them for a long time yet not knowing what can you do with it other than to throw them away.

Here’s something you can do to make them useful again.

I love badges, I really do. But there are limited space you can pin them on, and usually are on my bagpacks, but too many of them made the backpack look like I’m a high school student.
So instead of throwing them away, I made them useful again.

The above badges were scheduled to be discarded by an online friend who happens to be a school mates and these were given out during our alma mater’s open house.
Finding them really cute, I got her to send them to me via postal mail and I also promised her that I’ll let her know what happen to these babies.

So here’s the tutorial on how I transform these badges to something I’ll use everyday.

I’m going to transform the badge with the pin (on the right) to one with a magnet (on the left).

The method taught in this tutorial works only on pin badges where their pin is not permanently attached to the badge. These badges have their pins sandwiched between the 2 material plates of the pins.
I’ll try to find other badges with different backing to try next time.

As for now, here’s what you need:
a) the badge pins
b) Pliers and cutters 
c) Magnets
d) A gun glue
e) A small piece of magnet to hold your metal pin heads

A little information about the magnets:
I got these magnets from Daiso, so they are technically SGD$2.00 a card.
The blue packaging one is the most ideal as it has a sticker backing that saves a lot of trouble in this DIY.
The other orange cards comes with super strong magnets, which are great if you wish to transform some other objects to a magnet. (I’ll cover this in another tutorial, another time.)

The magnets tend to be sold out very fast so you need to drop by the store occasionally to check on stocks. (I’m not exactly sure if you can call them and ask, but if you happen to call and they did check for you, drop me a comment and let me know!)

Step 1: Remove the sharp pin head

Step 2: IMPORTANT! Place all your metal bits onto a magnet for safety!

The extra magnet I have added in the material list is for you to place all the pins there were cut.
As the pin heads are pretty sharp, it is for safety measure to have this magnet as it will securely hold all the sharp metal bits.

Step 3: Uncurl the curl bit of the pin

Using a nose-head plier, un-curl the swirly bit of the pin straight so you can cut it down further.

Step 4: Cut the pin (the un-curl portion) down further

Cut the pin down further.

Step 5: Pull out the rest of the pin from the other end

Using the nose -head pliers again, wiggle the pin then pull the pin out. You may need to use a little brute force. If you are unable to do this task, please ask an adult for help.

Step 6: Apply the magnet

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP!! 

When disposing sharp objects, especially pins, I usually will take a piece of paper and poke the pins through to secure them. In this case I used the backing paper of the sticky magnet.

After securing them, I use clear scotch tape to go one round to make sure all metal bits are held tightly in place before throwing it into the dustbin.

This is to prevent accidents happening when you empty your dustbins. Pins that are small and not noticeable to the eyes are still sharp and has the power to penetrate the plastic bags in the bins. It is best practice that all metal and sharp bits are securely fastened and sealed before tossing them away.

And you are all done!
Now you can use the magnets on your fridge or on notice boards and giving these badges a new life to begin with.

Till the next time,