What Custom Medals Are Made Of: Metal, Enamel and How Each Process Works
Custom medals are struck or cast from metal, then plated and — depending on the process — filled with enamel colour. There is no printing involved at any stage, which is the single fact that explains most of what your artwork can and cannot do. This guide covers how each of the three processes actually forms the metal, what that means for your design, and why a photograph never survives the journey onto a medal face.
Quick Answer
- Processes offered
- Soft Enamel, Die Struck, 3D Die Cast
- How the shape forms
- Struck from a steel die, or cast from a mould
- Where colour lives
- Enamel filled into recessed areas, never printed
- Base cost order
- Soft Enamel lowest, then Die Struck, then 3D Die Cast
- Best for flat logos
- Soft Enamel
- Best for crests and seals
- Die Struck
- Best for figures and mascots
- 3D Die Cast
- Not available for medals
- Acrylic, wood and 3D-printed — see below
Struck or cast — how the metal takes shape
Both routes start with your artwork being cut into steel tooling. What differs is how the metal meets that tooling.
- Your artwork becomes tooling. The design is cut into a steel die, which is why line weight matters so much — a line that is too fine cannot be cut cleanly into steel, let alone transferred to metal.
- The metal is formed. Struck medals are pressed under high force so the metal flows into the die. Cast medals are made by pouring molten metal into a mould, which allows deeper and more sculptural relief.
- Edges and surface are finished. The blank is trimmed and the surface prepared for plating.
- Plating goes on. Gold, silver, copper or their antique versions. This is a surface layer, not the underlying metal.
- Enamel is filled, if the design uses it. Colour goes into the recessed areas between raised metal lines, then cures.
Why this matters to you: every step above works with height differences in metal. A gradient has no height. A photograph has no height. That is why they cannot be reproduced, and why the fix comes down to converting them into shapes with real edges.
The three processes compared
| Soft Enamel | Die Struck | 3D Die Cast | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it is formed | Struck, then colour filled | Struck, no colour | Cast from a mould |
| Surface | Textured — recessed colour, raised metal lines | Smooth metal with relief | Sculpted contours and varied depth |
| Colour | Yes, in separated areas | None | Optional, and usually restrained |
| Detail limit | Set by how thin the dividing metal lines can be | Fine relief holds well in a single tone | Deepest relief of the three |
| Suits | Logos with defined colour blocks | Crests, seals, monograms, text-led designs | Figures, mascots, animals, landscapes |
| Relative cost | Base | Small step up | Highest of the three |
If you are choosing between them as part of configuring an order rather than understanding how they work, the medal design guide walks through style, size, ribbon, finish and packaging in the order you meet them on the page.
Plating is a surface, not the metal underneath
A "gold medal" is plated gold, not solid gold, and the same is true across the industry. What changes between a gold, silver and copper version of your design is the plating layer, which is why a placement set counts as one design rather than three.
Because plating is a surface treatment, it behaves the same way on other struck products. If you are producing coins or pins alongside medals for the same programme, the finishes will match. The medal finish guide covers what each plating does to your artwork, and the challenge coin finish and plating guide goes deeper on coin-specific options.
What enamel actually is
Enamel is a coloured material filled into the recessed areas of a struck medal and then cured. Two consequences follow, and they explain most artwork adjustments:
- Every colour area needs a metal wall around it. Colours that touch without a dividing line will run together. This is why artwork sometimes comes back with thin metal separators added between shapes.
- Colour is flat within each area. One area, one colour. A shape that fades from light to dark has to become two or three separate areas, or a single solid colour.
This is the same enamel process used on pins and coins. If you want it explained through pins, how enamel pins are made covers the manufacturing sequence in detail, and soft enamel versus hard enamel explains the difference in surface finish.
Materials not used for medals here
Some materials come up in searches for custom medals but are not part of the medal range:
| Material | Available for medals? | Where it is available |
|---|---|---|
| Acrylic | No | Custom acrylic pins and as a keychain material |
| Wood | No | Not offered |
| 3D printing | No — medals are struck or cast | Not offered |
| Hard enamel | No for medals | Available on hard enamel pins and challenge coins |
If acrylic is what you actually want, it is worth checking whether a pin or a keychain suits the occasion better than a medal. Acrylic works well for lightweight, full-colour printed pieces — see acrylic pins or custom keychains. For anything that needs to hang on a neck ribbon and feel substantial, struck metal is the material that delivers it.
Frequently asked questions
What are custom medals made of?
Struck or cast metal, plated in gold, silver or copper and optionally filled with enamel colour. The plating is a surface layer, so a gold medal is plated rather than solid gold — standard across the industry.
What is the difference between die struck and die cast?
Die struck presses metal into a steel die under high force, which suits flat-to-medium relief. Die cast pours molten metal into a mould, which allows the deeper sculptural shapes used for figures and mascots.
Can I get acrylic or 3D-printed medals?
Not here — medals are struck or cast metal. Acrylic is available as a pin and keychain material, so if a lightweight full-colour piece suits your event, those are worth looking at instead.
Why can't a photograph go on a medal?
Because nothing is printed. Every element on a medal is a height difference in metal, so a photograph has to be simplified into shapes with real edges before it can be reproduced.
Is soft enamel less durable than plain metal?
The enamel sits below the raised metal lines, which take the wear first. For a medal that spends most of its life on a hook or in a drawer, the practical difference is small.
Which process costs the least?
Soft enamel is the base option, die struck a small step up, and 3D die cast the highest of the three. The product page shows the difference as you switch between them, so you can compare before deciding.
Ready to work through the rest of the choices? The medal design guide covers size, ribbon and packaging, and putting your logo on a medal covers what your artwork needs to survive being cut into steel. You can also browse the medal range.
Compare the three processes on your own design
Switch between soft enamel, die struck and 3D die cast on the product page and watch the price change as you go. Upload your artwork, order from 25 pieces per design, and approve a free digital proof before anything is produced.
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