Hi everyone!

Thank you to everyone who has followed this project so far! I had originally set this campaign to launch by the end of this year but decided that Pintopia might be a better time to launch and it’s around the same timeframe anyways, so I’ve decided to shoot for that. 

That being said, I’ve been doing a lot of pre-sampling work this year, which started back in January. I thought it would be fun to share where we are at currently!

The first sample I had made was for a 13 inch Quacken. I had wanted to attempt to stay as true to the original design as possible, with polka dots and gradients. Obviously, that didn’t quite work with this sample. The gradient was cut off at the seam, and it was more of a dark brown than a light orange/pink. We also realized that the polkadots on the tentacles wouldn’t be doable due to costs. I did love the overall design of him though if we disregarded the coloring issues. 

My second sample I had gone through a different manufacturer for to see if they could fix the issues with the gradient. This guy….he was something. Originally he wouldn’t sit up straight, mostly because the tentacles were sewn on at the sides rather than having a full tentacle rounding out the bottom, making it stand. The manu decided that instead of fixing the tentacles similar to the first sample, they would put a large piece of pvc on the bottom. 

This poor Quacken…is not able to be a snuggle buddy due to the hard plastic. 

While the color of the gradient was a lot closer to what I wanted, I still had the issue of it being cut off at the seams, and the heart/spots on the head were not embroidered. The fabric was also not near as soft as the first sample, which was kind of a turn off for me 😅
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With the issues with the first two samples, I decided to hold off a little bit to figure out what steps I should take going forwards. In the meantime, I had brought the samples with me to cons to get some passive feedback on what everyone was looking for in a plush. 

A couple months ago, I went back to the first manu with my changes. 

I’m happy to announce that I had a sample I am really happy with. I decreased the size down to 8 inches, which I think was a fantastic move. I did end up doing away with the gradient since I was don’t think I would have been able to achieve what I wanted. It does make me a little sad, but I think it’s for the best.

This sample does have a crooked eye. I spoke with my manufacturer about that, and they send me a new sample image with it fixed, so that has been addressed:

My next steps for this project involve getting visuals and whatnot ready for launch. I also plan on getting some pin samples made of some designs so I can know if the gradient on the pins are at least doable. 

I’m also working on some other items! I recently got a tote bag sample in that I have to tweak a little bit, but plan to possibly add into the campaign. 

I’m also hopefully planning on a new stickerbook and maybe a lanyard?

Regardless, I’m open to ideas! If there’s a specific Quacken themed item you would like, or even a different color scheme, let me know! This will probably be one of my only updates until about Nov. or so, but I do check comments on Backerkit fairly regularly.

Thank you all again for the support so far, and hope you all have a great rest of your week!

-Kassie