Evolution of a pin design

First I wanted it to be 1.25″ tall, and a cut-out shape:

Goddess_pin3 - wht BG

But this would snag on clothes, and bend. So I came up with this:

Goddess_pin4_whiteBG

But it looks like a bottle opener. Plus the Chinese pin-making company emailed me back that a cut-out like this would have to be at least 2″ long. So instead of cut-out details I designed for 1.5″ hard enamel:

Goddess_pin5 goldblack

Goddess_pin5 goldbrown

But then I thought to make the details shiny metal, and the main area color, with a thicker outline that would make the pin more stable:

Goddess_pin5 blackgoldGoddess_pin5 browngoldGoddess_pin5 redgold

But then I thought, why not make the details another color, with gold outlines:

Goddess_pin5 blackbrownGoddess_pin5 brownblack

But then I thought, hey why not put a sun in there, since the Great Mother gives birth to the Sun:

MotherSun2

Then I made a bunch of different Sun designs, finally settling on this one:

Sun symmetric

Et voila:

MotherSun_Pin

Except the sun shape needed just a little bit of softening, so I exported it as a PNG, re-imported it to Moho (where I’ve been doing all this designing), and auto-traced it. Et voila:

MotherSun_Pin3 - Frame 0

And that’s what I hope to have made in China, until I change my mind again.

ONE DAY LATER: I changed my mind again. Now She’s a little stouter and has crescent instead of full moons. I made so many slight modifications to the shape I started to go crazy trying to decide, because each had its strengths and weaknesses. Eventually I had to just commit to one, so here’s what I just ordered 200 pins of:

MotherSun_Pin5_1

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Author: Nina Paley

Animator. Director. Artist. Scapegoat.

3 thoughts on “Evolution of a pin design”

  1. Ever since you posted this design I’m taken back to this extraordinary place I visited in India many years ago: Nrityagram, a school of classical dance in the middle of nowhere about 45 minutes from Bangalore. At the entrance there’s an sculpture of 3 women, at their feet it says “Women Hold Up Hlaf the Skies”
    It looks like this:
    https://twitter.com/miracalix/status/979020758507708417

    If you ever go back to India, you should go there. Contrary to most dance academies in India, the place is run by women. Their founder was this remarkable actress-socialite who became the best, most respected Odissi dancer ever.
    She would have loved Sita.

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