Another little update on the frustratingly long road to fulfillment today! First up, here are some photos from my manufacturer of the finished Lobster pins:
I'm really happy with how the details have turned out on this one and I'm looking forward to taking better photos to share when they arrive!
Now the frustrating bit: after waiting 3 weeks I finally got a second set of sample photos for the screenprinting on the Mandarinfish and the Oarfish and they're pretty dissappointing; the print is still misaligned. They also did some uv print samples (which I didn't as for) but although the alignment is somewhat better I really don't like the raised look and texture of the ink.
I've spoken with my rep again who has finally told me that since they're company has gotten bigger they now use several different factories to produce their pins and that the production team assigned my order to a factory that is not very experienced with screenprint.
This is obviously extremely frustrating but I have received assurances that production of these two pins will now be moved to a factory with more screenprinting expertise and that I will have more sample photos in 1 week. I'm hoping third time is the charm! 🤞😬
I'll update you on progress again once I have the third set of sample photos next week.
In the meantime all the other pins have been finished so I've asked my manufacturer to ship those to me now, with the aim to start fulfilling the orders without those two pins as soon as possible. I'm waiting on a shipping estimate for those but I'm hoping to have them within a couple of weeks. 🤞
I want to apologise again for the delay in fulfillment for these pins.
I have been very frustrated that my first manufacturer took 6 weeks to tell me they couldn't make the pins, and the slow progress with the screenprinting has been extending the timeline far more than I expected.
This is my first time working with screenprint and I was unaware that manufacturers could take weeks for each sample round. In future I will know to factor in much more time for sampling when including screenprint in my designs.
Thank you all for your patience in this!
I'll be throwing random free stickers into everyone's orders once I can start shipping.
Today I have a little preview of the Octopus pins for you from my manufacturer:
I'm excited to see how these look in person! I should get new sample photos for the Oarfish and Mandarinfish soon too.
I've also made an embroidered patch version of the Octopus design for my Warped Ocean 1.2 campaign and thought you might like to see the sample photo for that too! Here it is:
(If any of you would like to add one of these to your order, drop me a message.)
I've had some in-progress and finished pin photos from my manufacturer! XD
Here are the finished tiny Eye filler pins:
...and the finished Starfish and Brain Coral pins: I think the increase to 1.5" for these was the right decision as the details have come out really nice and crisp! :D
Here are some finished Nudibranch pins too:
The three pins with screenprint details (Mandarinfish, Oarfish and Crab) are currently in proofing stage. The first set of proofs for the Mandarinfish and Oarfish had some issues with detail bleeding due to them not using a fine enough mesh screen for the level of details so they're currently making new samples with an improved screenprint for those and I won't share the first attempts (lol they are a little sloppy but I know my manu can do better. I'll share progress pics once they get it right!)
The Crab screenprint is looking good, but I think I'm going to re-sample the red one with a darker screenprint colour as the contrast is a little low on the darker red enamel:
The Blue/Green rainbow-plated Crab is looking good though! Check out the happy-accident green tone on the rainbow-plating for the claws on the sample:
The other large pins are all in various stages of production so I'll share a couple of the other progress pics my manu sent me. Here are some almost-finished rainbow-plated Octopuses:
And some partially-filled Lobster pins:
I'm excited to see how the rest of these turn out and I hope you are too! :D
I'll update again when I have a better idea of when I'll be receiving the pins!
The poll for adding/not adding epoxy to the rainbow-plated pins has ended at 66% in favour of epoxy so I'll be adding that effect for a consistent look across the collection!
In case you didn't see those updates, here's a bit of info on what adding epoxy means:
Rainbow-plated pins have to be soft-enamel (enamel colours dip below the level of the metal lines) because of the plating process.
I have adjusted the Oarfish, Mandarinfish and Crab so the finer details are screenprinted, to make sure to keep the essence of the original designs.
In order to use screenprint on soft-enamel pins, they first need to have clear epoxy added to them to create a level surface to screenprint onto.
Some people prefer this effect on soft-enamel pins anyway, and since I have to use it on those three pins, we'll now be adding it to all the rainbow-plated pins so that the collection will have a cohesive appearence.
EDIT: NOTE: OK, so I thought I'd unlocked surveys but it didn't work and after talking to Backerkit Support it seems I can't actually reopen surveys after I've charged Add-Ons and Shipping. So, if you would like to adjust your pin choices or add more to your order in light of the epoxy changes; please message me via Backerkit or directly at [email protected] and I will make alterations on a case-by-case basis for you.
Sorry for the faff everyone!
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I estimate I will be able to start shipping in mid-to-late-June, depending on how long it takes the pins to arrive and for me to quality-check and back the pins to fill orders.
I couldn't resist the chance to add designs for Manta Ray, Sun Fish, and Turtle to the collection (they lost the vote to Nudibranch during the Pintopia campaign): I hope you like them! :D
Yesterday all the lanyards arrived, as well as the Creepy Creations and Earlybird freebie Mandarinfish stickers!
Here are the full-length lanyards:
These are the wrist lanyards:
And here are the lil 2.5" stickers:
I'm really happy with how these have all turned out! The colours are all nice and vibrant. :D
Re the pins: I'm currently going through the proofing process with the second manufacturer and almost ready to give the go ahead on production.
Before I finalise everything I need to make a final decision on if the rainbow-plated pins will have clear epoxy added to all the designs to make them cohesive (the designs with screenprint - crab, oarfish and mandarinfish - will have to have epoxy).
If you haven't already please vote in the poll below to help me make the decision the most people will be happy with! (See previous update if you're not sure what I'm referring to!)
I will check the final results on Tuesday and - if epoxy is still the most popular response - I'll unlock surveys for a few days for those folks who would like to adjust their pin selections to make changes.
