In search of the perfect pin necklace

Last year, on the "Collecting pins" post, I mentioned that I usually wear my pins on a beanie, but was still looking for a good alternative for the warmer months.

After thinking more about it, I realized a necklace would be the way to go. It doesn't depend on any specific piece of clothing and it's pretty visible, not only to others but also to myself.

I started researching for pin necklaces and found a few different solutions for the pin-to-necklace converter:

• DIY Guide: Rubber pin back converter
• Buy: Transparent plastic converter
• Buy: Leather patch converter
• Buy: Locking pin back converter

The guide is great, but I don't feel rubber pin backs are safe enough. And neither the plastic nor the leather converters looked good in my opinion. But the locking pin back one seemed perfect! So I ordered one right away.

Actually, I ordered two. The reason is that some pins have two posts, side-by-side, so two pin backs would be needed to keep those pins correctly oriented on the necklace (see pictures at the end). By buying two necklaces I could transfer the converter from one of them over and have a necklace with two converters, allowing me to wear any pin in my collection.

Once the necklace arrived and I started using it, I quickly realized there was a big problem with it though: the pin kept getting turned around! That totally beats the purpose of the necklace. I concluded the problem was the chain, which needed to be switched for something stiff, like a leather cord. I settled on this braided leather necklace (the 20inch in length and 3mm in diameter variant): https://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Braided-Leather-Necklace-Pendants/dp/B095W7J7D7

Once that arrived, I took two pliers, two jump rings (since the original ones wouldn't close around this broader necklace) and used them to put the two pin back converters on the new necklace. And it worked perfectly, no more pins getting turned around! I also liked the way it looked much better, the chain was too shiny and thin for my taste.

On top of that, since the jump rings I used are much broader than the necklace, it's super easy to get the pin back converters in and out of it. That way, when I'm wearing a pin that only uses one back, I take the other out so it's not dangling and making noise.

Finally, here are the pictures of the end result:

One-post pin:

Two-posts pin:

Pins being worn:

The only issue is that the one-post pins, like the Dwarf Fortress one above, always rest tilted to one side. I don't think there's a way to avoid that on a necklace though. In any case, that's a minor issue and I am incredibly happy with the result. I've been wearing pins everyday since!