Wondering where your pledges are? Look no further!
Χβ°ββ€ I recieved the Rainbowtail remakes a couple days ago and have shipped out 80% of packages! Χβ°ββ€ The other 20% are in progress and will be fully sent out by next Friday (the 15th)!
Here's some photos of the chaos that was the order packing process lmao.
With that said- some of you are already recieving your pledges and I'm happy to hear it! For anyone who wants to share photos, I recently revamped my discord to have a channel for reviews!!
Inside my discord is not only a reviews channel BUT there are:
Χβ°ββ€ Free monthly 10% off Etsy coupons Χβ°ββ€ Sneak peeks into upcoming merch Χβ°ββ€First look into my next crowdfunding campaigns Χβ°ββ€Early dibs on new merch going up on Etsy!
and much more! I look forward to seeing you there!!
If you haven't checked it out yet, now's your chance! Returning backers receive a free exclusive sticker, we're EXTREMELY close to the free enamel pins that unlock at $5,000 pledged, and we're close to unlocking some other freebies!
Some designs are still currently in the process of being finalized- but the general gist of how they're going to look are currently available! I just posted the final designs for Moonpaw, Tawnypelt, and Leafstar a little bit ago, so here's a sneak peek!
I am still going super strong for this campaign- yes we've dropped some backers but I KNOW we will unlock those locked stretch goals again and push to get EVERYTHING unlocked!
Also- here's a sneak peek of Scourge's design :>
Thank you guys so much in advance! Please reach out to me with any questions, comments or concerns here or in my discord!
We're excited to announce that all of the Phoenix pins have arrived! We will be beginning fulfillment over the next week or so as we'll be going through the batch of pins and making sure we only send out the very best.
All the Phoenixes hanging out in the library before heading to you!
Overall, we're happy with the production of the pins, but our manufacturer did have some trouble getting the blue glass ring around the miniature pin due to the sizing. It still came out super cute though!
We're waiting on one more piece before we start shipping, but that should arrive in the next day or two. We found some pretty fun colored bubble mailers, so expect your Phoenix to arrive in style.
Also, if you haven't had the chance to check it out, we'll be running another campaign during Pintopia 2025. We have a few fun cross-collabs during Pintopia, so if you'd like to get even more Phoenixes (and Cecil!) check it out!
First of all, holy smokes! You guys blew this out of the water. Iβve already gotten sappy enough in past updates but thank you all so much! You have no idea how much I appreciate the support.
So now what? You have 2 weeks to fix any failed payment methods or issues! After that the surveys will go out! Surveys will close on December 1st. The survey will give you the option to let me know if you want to be charged immediately or when the survey closes. As I know a few people on my last survey wanted to be charged immediately for budget reasons and others wanted to wait until the survey closed to get paid!
After that the pins will go into production! I will be out of town for most of the survey. But Iβll still do my best to respond to emails ([email protected])! Please note, I donβt always see/get notifications for comments left on the page. The fastest way to reach me is on discord. https://discord.gg/rPPf4NUejw
As for where Iβll be? Twin cities con, Anime Dallas, Anime Frontier, and Anime Weekend Atlanta! If you end up at one of those cons come say hi to me! And preemptive apologies if I look tired or out of it. My autoimmune makes conventions a little exhausting but I love to meet yall and itβs always so exciting when someone tells me they follow me on socials/kickstarter. Gives me a bit of imposter syndrome too lol.
Itβs hard to predict when the pins will be done as thereβs several holidays between now and next year, however I tried to plan accordingly in the original timeline. So keep an eye out for that!
Hello to the 98/148 of you who fulfilled your surveys but have not yet received your packages (and the 50 of you who have received them):
I saw some confusion under my last update. As indicated in the first paragraph ("because of the chrome plating for some of the moth designs those are still not done and pretty much guaranteed to be charged tariffs upon landing stateside"), it was indeed about the moths and about the trade war affecting that shipment and future shipments. It was not posted here accidentally or irrelevant to this campaign. Pintopia's campaign was briefly mentioned as an aside because many people backed both (thank you!).
I want to say here at the top, too, again: please email me directly instead of contacting BK on your survey or through your pledge if you want to speak to me. Otherwise you will just get a staff member who may or may not fwd me your message. The site's notification system is also incredibly broken and creators almost never are notified of comments on their campaigns or updates. My email has been in other updates: [email protected]
Here are some bulleted progress notes separated by relevant section, if I were to type all this info in paragraph format I think I would drone on and this is already a lot. Most of this has already been said in previous updates.
Remakes:
I have been bugging my rep about updates about the moths pretty relentlessly. I really didn't expect the fish to be received sooner than them, but because they were done faster I paid for them to ship separately so I wouldn't be charged tariffs on the fish.
As a reminder, I'm not even selling those fish yet, I'm not making money off of them from anyone and I self-funded their production and shipment.
As another reminder, the orders that haven't gone out yet either contain wood or contain the chance of receiving wood (the gacha pool it is in) and it would be very unfair/misleading of me to entirely exclude it from the pool while remakes are happening. That's why those haven't gone out, not just the ones that explicitly claimed it, because not one of those reached out to tell me they'd be fine just receiving the misprint. If they had, and weren't pending anything else, they'd have their order. I took that as permission to hold off and just pursue the remakes.
I WILL be charged tariffs on the moth remakes because they didn't finish them last month. While they're technically "free" because they're replacing a small volume of the number I received that have severe defects, they still have an assigned value and I also have to pay shipping for them. As noted in the most recent cat paws campaign update, that shipping cost will be around $50-$70 based on past shipments of similar size (I'm giving a range here because this company agreed to remake fewer moths than the other one did for paws, so it will be lighter). Then there will be ~145% tariffs billed to me on the item value, and also import fees that didn't exist before.
Fulfillment:
7 shipping labels have been printed for catmoth orders I mentioned as being able to fulfill. They are going out this week.
The other catmoth-containing orders possible to fulfill are going out next week.
Because of the tariffs, I have mentioned in several updates that I have to have moth gacha pins at my convention coming up, as a heads up, even if I can't get everything sent out first before it. Everyone's pins are reserved!!! That is possible to guarantee even considering gacha chances, and as for Machine 1 pulls I've already done those and set them aside. There will not be stock taken to the con that has already been sold to backers!! Let me make that clear, again! I truly cannot afford to wind up in the red in any capacity over either of these pin campaigns, so taking them to the con is necessary for me - and for the paws, I am only taking seconds pins in grab bags, not even a machine.
Obviously...this campaign is overdue. The vast majority of the delay is because of the manufacturer. As I mentioned before and apologized for as well...I'm not working with them anymore. That's all I can really say, because I'm doing my best to rectify the issues they caused, and that I caused by putting my trust in them one last time.
Despite being overdue, it's "only" (not trying to minimize it) been a little less than 6 months since I received payment and was able to send it to the manu to get the ball rolling. CNY also happened in that timeframe, halting all manufacturing for weeks as workers across the country took their much-deserved largest vacation time of the year.
For those who also pledged for paws and are still waiting, it's possible for me to bundle shipments once remakes are in and refund 1 of the shipping charges.
I wish I was faster at physically packing things up when I actually have rewards right in front of me, and I did already for orders that could go out (pending the upcoming batch), but I am very severely chronically ill. I have to psych myself up for days to weeks to get 1 day in which I am able to do more than just life-sustaining chores and taking care of our pets. That's just how it is - but I also can't afford to not work. Because I'm American. Unfortunately many of you probably relate to that sentiment. So instead I spend most days practically a zombie.
I had my online shop closed for about 2 months just to try to recover a bit, and art is my only job. Crowdfunding is not for profit, it's to fund the rewards and then hopefully profit off of the leftover items later. So in those several months where I was closed and trying to fulfill what I could of the disaster handed to me by my manu(s), I was not secretly making money off of you or any other customers.
To reiterate as well, as mentioned in an earlier update and at the top of this update, I do also have 1/3 of rewards already fully sent out and taken care of. More are being added to that count this/next week. Not everyone is pending. If you are one of the backers who received them already, I hope you like them!
I just have to go at my own pace once things are in-hand... I apologize that it's slow. Everyone that filled out their surveys WILL receive what they reserved/paid for.
As always...please reach out where I will see it if you have any questions!
I learn something almost every day. Did you know the USPS has a minimum box size? I did not and purchased the cutest little boxes for orders too big for bubble mailers. I got them ready to go and now I have to repackage them. I will be shipping them inside a bubble mailer from Amazon. Yay repurpose and recycle! Boo extra work. Oh well. I found one shipper that said they would be very unlikely to be rejected, but I don't want to take that chance on so many shipments.
Big Boy
The Big Boy pins will ship tomorrow from China via FedEx. I am almost finished making special orders too, so the rest of the orders will ship soon. Have a great day!
All of the domestic orders should currently be on their way as we speak! You should have received an email with your tracking info and will hopefully get your pins soon!
If you receive your package and there are any issues, like missing an item or getting an incorrect design, please reach out and email me: [email protected]. I will send the replacements ASAP.
I will be packaging international orders this weekend and will keep you all up to date on the progress!
As we have finished the Mythology pin series, and are creeping closer towards the final finish line for Dark Fantasy Enamel Pins, we have launched my Draco Nouveau Tarot deck via Tarotopia.
We are over 700% funded and reached our goal within the first half hour of the campaign being live.
The original stretch goals were unlocked, and I had to add two new ones, the last of which we have almost hit.
Please check out the campaign here. I have also updated the project to accept Pay over Time for pledge levels $150 and above.
I've have started making labels and packing orders for those who have addresses are locked in!
There are still some orders with declined cards for shipping charges. Be sure to update your payment info if needed so I can send you your order!
Tracking numbers will be updated and emailed to you as soon as orders are sent out! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected]
I live in a state where shipping is not taxed. I'm not sure how to get this fixed so I can complete my survey. Here's a link to a list of which states do and don't tax shipping (I know it's super weird and extra hassle dealing with variations between states):
https://www.taxjar.com/sales-tax/sales-tax-and-shipping
I thought I had sent out an update when the first batch of shipping went out but it turns out I never published that update. Apologies for that! At this point, many of you have received your orders so the shipping itself isn't news, but there are a couple of other updates I want to share with you all as well, especially about any issues with your rewards.
First of all, main fulfillment is now complete! 200+ pins in 100+ packages have gone out. Since I pack and ship every order myself, it can be quite time consuming, so I appreciate everyone's patience on the process.
Some mistakes inevitably happen as I the shuffle so many pins, stickers, charms, and orders in general. If you are missing items or received mistaken or damaged items in your order, please contact me either via instagram (@lorebirdart) or via email ([email protected]) to let me know. I'm collecting a batch of make-up shipping to send out on May 2nd, so please let me know as soon as you can. I've already heard back from a few backers and I think I've replied to everyone, so if you haven't heard back from me yet please let me know.
If you have not received your order, please check your Backerkit order before contacting me. There are still a handful of orders that cannot be shipped because either the survey or the payment are incomplete. If you have encountered any issues completing either of these, you may have to contact Backerkit for assistance on any issues -- if it's something I can fix on my end, they'll forward your issue to me. If everything looks right on Backerkit and you still haven't received your order, contact me (@lorebirdart on Instagram or [email protected]) and I'll see if I can find out what's going on.
If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to let me know at any time. You are also more than welcome to tag me on any posts about the pins on Instagram or Bluesky.
Once again, I want to thank you immensely for your support and your patience. This has been a lovely project to run, and I hope you enjoy the pins as much as I enjoyed designing them and sending them out to their new homes!
