A Perfectly Ambiguous Protest Pin

 

Recently my friend Chris, with whom I eat sushi every Tuesday, announced that he had come up with the perfect protest pin: a simple message that questions, "Had enough?" I was thrilled when he gave me permission to use the idea, and settled on the two most readable color schemes for signage — red and black for one, blue and yellow for the other.

To craft the pins I used my standby tin-can-lid method (full instructions for do-it-yourself tin-can pins can be found in my Tin Can Frames Tutorial).

However, in the process of wielding my needle nose pliers to craft a few prototypes, while my fingers were occupied my mind had time to wander far and wide. I realized that, while my intent in making these was firmly anti-Trump and anti-fascist, the exact same pin might perfectly express the sentiments of those convinced they need to make America great again. For that matter, the pin could also work for members of all 12-step groups, for abused wives, for those fed up with crime in our cities, and for those trying to curb climate change by reducing consumption. 

I had unwittingly created the perfectly ambiguous protest pin, suitable for expressing the utter dissatisfaction of most every American about something or other. What does it say about a nation when all of its citizens are completely fed up — but disparate groups are sick unto death of entirely different things? Who knows? Certainly not me; I'm just cranking out art.

Suitable for most any dissatisfaction.

If you would like to join the confused masses and let the world know that you, too, have totally had it, make a batch of perfectly ambiguous protest pins and pass them around. If nothing else they may spark conversation across our different world views, which would be an accomplishment in itself.

The How-To

Use the link for the Tin Can Frames Tutorial to learn how to make a pin from a tin can lid, and use the following link for a free downloadable pdf of the Had Enough Pin Template, which offers a template for making six pins.

Had Enough Pin Template