Upgrade Options for a Plain Pin?
 

My college pin was plain (completely plain, no rope border/4 pearl points as is the basic version today), and I may be able to get another similar plain badge on the cheap. I know there are badge ring and badge pendant options, but they seem to look better for badges that are already jewelled in some way. Does anyone know of any options (maybe beyond Herff Jones) that can convert a plain badge to ring or pendant, but also bling it up a bit?

I think the problem with blinging out a plain pin would be that there's nowhere to set the stones, so the metal around the plain pin would need to be added. I don't know if that's possible or if it would destroy the integrity of the badge, but it certainly wouldn't be cheap as you would be paying for the stones as well as casting more gold and welding it together. Maybe there's a way to get the bling put on a diamond-shaped pendant frame that surrounds the badge?

I guess I wish that the pin on pendant type options had options that had stones or something on the base of those. I ran across something like that for DG, and wondered if there was something somewhere similar for us! Or even if I could send a plain badge to HJ and have them permanently add it to the middle of one of those jewelled diamond pendants.

*lane swerve*

I sent a KD pin to HJ Greek to get it set in a plain gold pendant and I asked them to solder it to the pendant. It was no big deal and there was no extra charge. They were really easy to work with.

I'd call them and ask them if there is a way that they can do that for you.

Yeah, I know they'll mount it on a plain pendant (actually, they have a rope bordered one for us that looks pretty). I just didn't know if there were options for a pendant that was jewelled or if HJ might consider mounting it within a jewelled pendant (or if it would even be the right size). It sounds like they're open to custom work, though, so that's hopeful!

As an aside, since we're supposed to wear appropriate pin attire when wearing our badges as pins, does that officially hold true when wearing them as pendants or rings? In my mind it should (at least as a necklace, which is closer to being worn like our badges), but is there an official rule for us on that one?

All I could find on our website was this:
-Badge Etiquette-
Since your badge is the outward, visible symbol of your lifetime loyalty to Alpha Delta Pi, it is of utmost importance that you wear it correctly. Your badge should be worn with respect for the high ideals and standards of Alpha Delta Pi.
When the Alpha Delta Pi badge is worn, no other badge including the guard shall be worn above it. Your badge should always be worn with appropriate "pin attire": Nice dresses, skirts, and slacks; never wear your badge with jeans or other casual attire.
The Alpha Delta Pi badge is never worn with formal attire, except at an exclusive sorority event such as Grand Convention or an Installation Banquet.

I'm assuming that if you're wearing a badge, no matter how you're wearing it, you're supposed to be in pin attire. I also don't know why we're not allowed to wear it with formal attire-does anyone on here know, if they can share it publicly?

If you talk to them about a custom order, I bet they'd be happy to turn one of those diamond shape jeweled pendants into a badge pendant.

That was pretty much my thought.

If there's an esoteric reason (do they even still use that term these days?) for not wearing the badge with formal attire, I don't remember ever being told what it is. In college, I honestly never even questioned that distinction of pin attire not including formal attire, which is kind of funny, because I tended to voraciously gobble up any little bits of our history and unique distinctions between ADPi and other NPC groups, and that kind of little difference is something that would otherwise interest me. A hundred years ago, women didn't even wear pants (typically), so it seems like quite a lot more of their wardrobe would qualify as pin attire, even day-to-day dresses that weren't necessarily Sunday best but also weren't for mucking out the chicken coop either :D. I kind of wonder when the distinction was codified.

Thank you, KDCat, I'll have to look into it for sure!

I'm not an ADPi, but maybe you can find a blinged out badge to rescue and attach that to a pendant? That sounds like a more cost efficient option than altering so severely your initiation badge. You might want to see the engraving on the back again someday which wouldn't happen if you permanently attached it to something

That's a fair point, too.

This always seemed strange to me, too. DAR pins are not worn at similar situations, too.

I am completely wrong about this, but I would rather see an ADPi pin worn with respect, while wearing clean jeans or such, than sitting in a jewelry box. I've seen a ChiO wearing her pin while in jeans that is simply precious, and I'd have a hard time calling her out on it.