Hey all - I'd mentioned in stories/social updates that I'd get this out before AX, but I got a little eaten alive by the event and only managed the update for Purrtagonists, since that was also on the docket. I greatly apologize that I'm just posting this - I was delaying on my end because it always felt like a firm update that I'd wanted (the silver design) was just about to arrive which is what I'd promised, so I kept waiting for it... and here we are, far later than intended. 

There is firm progress and we're into screenprinting, but it's nowhere near where I wanted to be (which was months ago, with completed samples).

(Click for more! Thanks!)

Hey friends! Thanks for hanging in there with me on this project! I have some Chinese New Year updates to bring to everyone. This, finally, is a mostly positive update on how things are progressing. Phew.

As outlined in the last updates, there was issues with the first manufacturer and the pin had to be moved between manufacturers (but was delayed since we were having severe issues with fund holds due to the issues with Purrtagonists, which caused for an almost $20,000 hold between the two projects), so I had to wait until the first manufacturer refunded me (minus the first sample set) to restart with the second. I do, again, apologize for that and for my silence as we figured it out - we’ve had some individual problems occur with single pins before, but not entire sections fail that badly (or as dramatically) as with the Purrtagonists campaign. It was very poor timing to have two projects concurrently with large issues, and we were strung along for long periods to hopefully get an answer “soon” and funds being effectively hold hostage.

Of course, in the last update for this campaign, things were already moved over and started again from the point of art. The big issues I was concerned about from the initial manufacturer as noted in the last updates were as follows: 

Moving with the new (one of my other main) manufacturer, we’ve already worked to complete the mold… but as you notice below, there’s a second mold now present! I did actually have to adjust one of the molds purely, this time, because I was an idiot (entirely me, I forgot one of the triangles in the edits somehow and it got translated into the art):

Why two molds? The second mold will have a silver sandblasted background (which resembles a more glittery background) versus the stained glass gold-plated pin. I know that this is something that sometimes feels different once you see it in sample form, especially with a non-white metal plate, so the silver will offer an alternative option for those that find that they prefer sandblasting more. The last manufacturer was also struggling with the stained glass color theory, so I wanted to potentially get ahead of the issue for those people who many not like the final look and offer something tried and true. (I don't believe it'll be an issue with the new manufacturer, but I'm choosing to be wary.)

I will be working to send the surveys in the coming week now that I have the photos above to show you for the initials, but I will allow for you to swap between the gold plated stained and the silver plated sandblasting in the survey. I won’t have a fixed deadline for this yet to get those surveys in, so if you want to wait for the samples themselves to decide which you'd like, that’s no issue. I know I said last month for the survey, but I was waiting to see the revised adjustments so you guys would have an informed update. I figured it would be easier if you all saw both options being worked on, over wanting changes later.

We have begun the back and forth for the color samples! There are obviously some errors below in the colors below since they aren't matching the art, but that’s why we sample things and adjust. The manufacturer is on break for CNY, but has noted all my edits/requests for checks for when they return in a week or so. They just didn't have enough time to adjust before they went on holiday.

Obviously, after the pantone edits to the base enamels, we'll have adjustments to the transparent enamels, then we'll have the screenprints. I know it's a bit like saying "trust the process," but this manufacturer has done some complex screens for us in the past - of which the biggest point for a pin like this is a very smooth non-bulky screen. A good example is the one we've been working on alongside this one, just so you can see how the screens lay in a different pin:

That all said, I've been happy with how their screenprints look in the past, so I'm fairly confident that it shouldn't be an issue here.

The minute I've approved the final sample for production on either variant, I will let everyone know and show those off! I appreciate you trusting the process for now, since highly complex pins are a bit bonkers without their screenprints. And thank you again for your patience.

M.

Hey friends! I really apologize that this update has taken so long - things have been messy (but cleaner now) in the last few months, both personally and professionally, and I’ll admit that I’ve been a bit underwater trying to get things sorted as it was a lot of things all at once, and I’m a single human that’s been trying to dig myself out of it.

If you’ve been following along with our other campaign Purrtagonists, it was just an unfortunate mess with one of the major manufacturers of Venetia’s pins where some of the pins they returned had a 90%+ error rate. It created a lot of initial hangups with its multitude of designs; it has been effectively locked for months getting back funds and struggling to make headway, and we were set back a substantial amount (about $14,000 plus the remake costs). Normally this wouldn’t impact anything but itself, but it was far past the normal line and impacted a large amount of things since I was covering the costs of remakes (and the overage that the campaign incurred). We’ve started to see small resolutions there (plus having an end of year sale where some of those costs were recouped) so things are looking better.

Initially the other campaign wasn’t an issue that impacted this one, but the manufacturer I’d originally chosen for this campaign was having issues with the cutouts with the Venti pins. Normally we could work around this, but in a pin where it’s relatively prevalent, it was an issue we had to work on and try to fix. After a long back and forth, it was clear it wasn’t happening and the altered art that kept happening wasn’t going to cut it. As such, I ended up needing to cut my losses on the sample, refund the remaining costs, and go to one of my other manufacturers that has been more reliable in the last year (one that has actively shown good and normal progress in the past half year) - normally I’d start on this process while asking for a refund, but due to the issue with Purrtagonists and how far into the red that had dragged me during that time period, I had to wait until some of the funds were returned. This part of the migration is already done, and I’m hoping to have a new sample to show very soon. I’m sorry for not touching base sooner, but there were weeks I thought it might work, then others I was fighting to get funds back, and going around in circles about it. I’ll update here the same day I have the new sample. The art hasn’t changed!

My goal is to have the surveys for addresses out in the beginning of the coming month; I’ll honor initial requests for add-ons (to complete the set or get additional sets), but anything through the separated preorder store will be adjusted for the additional sampling costs that were lost. (TL;DR - That won’t impact you, but people outside of the campaign.)

Hey friends! I apologize for taking so long to catch up with you. Things are underway in production here, but also have been incredibly insane the last few months. I've posted a long number of updates to socials, but I was waiting to get a firm update for you guys here before posting... then got caught up waiting for the "right" update. This was supposed to go up last night, but we got hit by hail that took out some power, so apologies for the Sunday-to-Monday delay which I'd communicated to those who asked.

SURVEY & EXTRAS ADDITIONS:
I'll be updating surveys (as they mainly take shipping funds) once the samples have been fleshed out. I found out in April (so shortly after the last update) that there were some serious changes happening to how first class mail (going to Ground Advantage), as well as priority changes to rates. Our UPS contracts have also updated, so largely their rates actually are better than Priority rates going forward.

Because of this, I've opted to pause collecting those funds until we have a better gauge on when we'll have these in hand (probably know in 2ish months depending on how samples go and how quickly they're completed). The fear right now is that I'll either overcharge massively, undercharge massively, or the service will change significantly by the time we roll around to it. Billing closer to will allow this to be more accurate, as if UPS is actually cheaper, insurance is included and so on (while USPS isn't inherently).

All said, the wait on surveys was intentional on my part with watching the situation, but I do apologize that I wasn't clearer while running around that I'd planned on delaying them for this reason. It also gives me time to work on the (addition!) display box that I'd been looking into and seeing if we had enough residual funds to offer that to the full set backers, and offer it as an option to anyone else. Thankfully box turnarounds are far shorter than pin turnarounds, but it will impact shipping.

NEXT UPDATE TIMELINES:
I'll try to tune in again in the coming month (at latest in early Sept) with further progress!

-Mel