Hey bot believers,
As of this past Wednesday, all orders currently able to be fulfilled are officially out of my house and heading your way - or in the case of the backers w...
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CZGoldEdition
10 days ago
Shipping Update!
Hey robot comrades,
We are ALMOST THERE!
274 orders are completely ready to head out the door: they have been packed, double checked, weighed, and registered with my courie...
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CZGoldEdition
24 days ago
All pins graded, address lock imminent; LAST CHANCE for declined cards and unfinished surveys!
Hey robot enthusiasts,
Whew, we've reached the beginning of fulfillment proper!! After many long nights of work, all 3050 pins have been graded and more than enough of them ...
Hey robot enjoyers,
Sizeable update for you all today!
The stickers have arrived, as have the remainder of the packaging materials I ordered, and a thermal printer for p...
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CZGoldEdition
about 1 month ago
Pins Are Here!
Howdy bot believers,
I'm excited to share with you all that I received the bulk shipment of Short Circuit pins this week and began the process of grading and carding them!! ...
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CZGoldEdition
2 months ago
Project updates, plus a poll regarding the next iteration of Short Circuit!
Hey robot enjoyers,
I arrive bearing a fresh project update and seeking opinions regarding the next iteration of Short Circuit!
Let's start with some previews from my stick...
As of this past Wednesday, all orders currently able to be fulfilled are officially out of my house and heading your way - or in the case of the backers who live in the Netherlands and some of those in Germany, you may even already have them in hand! (Dang that was fast!!)
Tetris theme song echoing ominously in the distance.
For anyone curious about the final steps of the process, after I got details sorted with my courier and printed and adhered the labels, all the packages being shipped by a carrier other than PostNL (so all but five of them) had to be bundled into larger "drop off" packages, which in turn received their own shipping labels.
That bottom box contained 90 of the now 274 shipped orders.
These boxes were then handed over to a DPD package point and shipped to the InTime sorting center, where they are currently being processed and sent along to their final destinations (you!) via Deutsche Post. From the tracking, it looks like a number of them have already been checked in and put on planes, while others are still awaiting scanning.
My DPD package point was in a nearby mall so please enjoy the inherent comedy of this experience with me.
Speaking of track and trace, I spent the bulk of today copying over tracking numbers and links into a CSV to feed Backerkit, so 274 of you should now have your tracking! I've heard tale that integration with shipping carriers over on my side of the pond can be touch and go with the system they have in place for it, so if your link isn't playing nice then I recommend plugging your track and trace code in on the Deutsche Post website directly.
A couple folks who already received their goodies tagged me in photos of them and I was absolutely delighted, thank you! Definitely feel free to ping me on any Mastodon, Bluesky, or Pillowfort posts about opening your bot boards or putting them on fun things - I'd love to see!! (I'm a very consistent CZGoldEdition on all of the above.)
The remaining 41 of you who have your surveys complete and balances paid are pending either a decision or a gold ear nibble. I finished negotiating remakes with my manufacturer, so the new little guys are in motion and I will update you when I receive word that they are headed my way.
Finally, now that the bulk of Short Circuit is in the mail, some of the extras will start to appear at events in the meat space.
Convention table feat. my metamour, who was assisting!
This past Saturday marked my first ever Dealer's Den appearance both outside of the US and with these robot friends in tow, at the small but wonderful Dutch Fur Con. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to chat with me there! You can also catch me at Eurofurence this upcoming September.
If anyone has any questions or needs any help regarding their shipment, feel free to reach out at any time. Thank you all as ever for being amazing and helping me make these lil buddies a reality!
274 orders are completely ready to head out the door: they have been packed, double checked, weighed, and registered with my courier (InTime Delivery).
The remaining orders fit into four categories: 13 of you have elected to wait for gold ear Nibble remakes, 28 folks haven't sent me their decision regarding Nibble yet (if this is you and you missed the email, the form is here), 7 never answered the campaign survey, and 5 still have declined/errored cards. Everyone else is on the eve of shipment!
Meet BOX MOUNTAIN. Box mountain is extremely cool but we would very much like for it to disperse to its intended destinations.
One small delay came up: when I tried to print labels via my courier's website, I received an error. I've called them a few times, left a message, and sent along an email.
This says that momentarily I can't print shipping labels, and to contact their support department. So that's where we're at!
I wanted this first wave of packages to be in their hands already but alas, it's likely we will get this sorted out on Monday. After that, I'll give it a few days for the packages to be processed by InTime, and then I'll send out tracking numbers!
My little thermal printer is hungrily awaiting all your shipping labels. Earlier in the week I did test it out with a small Byte design, for reasons. 👀
Testing out my thermal label printer a few days ago.
Finally, if you'd like more Short Circuit - I will be participating in Pintober 2025 this upcoming October and have a placeholder teaser page up here. If you'd like to follow along when more is ready for that, poke the button to count yourself in!
Thanks all, I'm so excited for you all to get your goodies!!
Whew, we've reached the beginning of fulfillment proper!! After many long nights of work, all 3050 pins have been graded and more than enough of them have been carded to send out to y'allemaal.
Two fan favorites that thankfully had more average flaw rates (20-25%)!
An email with a form link was sent out to Nibble and Branch adopters yesterday and a ton of you have already gotten on top of responding, thank you! The deadline to do so is August 1st, at which point you will be assumed to prefer the original defaults (gold ear Nibble and A Grade Branch). Folks who have responded already and did not select to wait for remakes will have their orders ship out in the coming weeks with everyone else.
We've already gotten enough Branch volunteers to straight up fulfill that regardless of choice, so Branch in particular will not cause any order delays. I'll send out a separate email to Branch receivers only soon and close that portion of the form. If you still want to accept a B Grade to grab an extra freebie you can sneak in under the wire if you fill out your form soon, otherwise we're all set there and only Nibble ear selection warrants further response.
The Glamour of Carding Operations
The next order of business is imminent address lockdown! You should have received an email warning you of this yesterday as well.
If you need to make any last minute updates to your shipping address, please do so by Saturday night CET (around 5 PM EST). Sunday morning I will print pack lists and begin getting things sorted to mail out to you! If you need me to hold your order for any reason, reach out to me at [email protected] with your Backerkit username and email.
Arrays of Array (and Torrent)
Relatedly, this same time frame is also your LAST CHANCE to complete unfinished surveys and sort out declined cards. 8 of you did not answer the survey and 7 folks still have declined or errored cards, with some overlap in these two categories. I've just sent out a remind/retry wave on the back end for both groups. If you do not fix these issues by Saturday night CET (around 5 PM EST) I cannot guarantee you will receive your rewards. A Grades of your first choice of items may no longer be available if at all, and any orders left unresponsive or all/partially unpaid by the time fulfillment wraps up will have their orders cancelled and any partially paid balance will be considered a donation.
The shape of these friends resulted in such a satisfying pattern when unbacked and laid out for carding.
I think that's all for now. Other than the folks who have selected to wait for a gold ear Nibble, everything should go out in the next two weeks. If anything comes up that extends that timeline, you will of course hear it from me here. Thanks again everyone!!
🌿🌿🌿
Ending this update with the joy of tiny geometric toad butt, since everyone really ought to witness it.
The stickers have arrived, as have the remainder of the packaging materials I ordered, and a thermal printer for printing all the package labels. Everything* we need for fulfillment is now in hand, whoo! I will be locking addresses soon, so double check that what you've entered is correct.
A small break from grading and carding pins to organize the stickems 🗃️
I've been chugging away at getting all your bot buddies checked over and organized to ensure a smooth packing process. 10 out of 19 designs are now graded and carded, so we're finally over halfway there. Doing so for thousands of pins is quite the undertaking!
🦊🦊🦊
Carding Firewall
Carding Nibble! Shout out to Grumpy Gryphon for recommending I card on cork instead of foam, much nicer.
🌊🔥
*As I mentioned in the last update, some of the designs have had a high flaw rate, so I want to alert you folks as soon as I discover anything that might impact fulfillment. I have unfortunately encountered two such instances —
About NIBBLE (our sweet rodent friend) and BRANCH (the cross collab freebie):
First off, Nibble. These pins actually have a very low flaw rate overall and turned out beautifully!
Just a little lad. A perfect baby.
Except for one mistake that occurred on literally every single pin from the bulk order.
My pin board sneaking in here. That berner is by DutchDog Studio, and the greyhounds are by Fursona Pins!
I double checked my Illustrator files, the proof my rep sent, and the samples I originally received (seen above on my personal pin board). The back ear is correct in all three places, so this was just straight up a mistake in manufacturing the bulk order.
Nibble Army
It honestly looks great! So much so that I didn't even notice in my initial inspection when I received the pins, and it only dawned on me when I sat down to grade this bot. The green reads as "back of ear" and I'm perfectly fine having this be the pin standard instead.
HOWEVER - as this was not the initially advertised design intention, if anyone who purchased Nibble prefers the gold ear, I will add getting corrected Nibbles into my remake negotiations with my manufacturer. Everyone impacted will be emailed and given a choice to take the green ear Nibble or wait for a gold ear Nibble.
Second, Branch, the collaboration freebie that's going out to everyone who backed both my campaign and Bunnies & Branchs. This pin did have a high flaw rate - only 72 out of 150 pins can be considered standard grade, so they have a flaw rate of 52%.
Other designs were similarly hit but, because I ordered a ton of extras for later sale, we still have enough for fulfillment. This is not the case with Branch, as this pin was intended to be fairly exclusive to backing both campaigns. I only ordered 20% extra, as other artists who have worked with this manufacturer told me they had a very low seconds rate. On some designs this has been the case for me (golden child RAID only had a seconds rate of 10%, for example) but on others we got mega unlucky.
The difference between a standard "A Grade" and seconds "B Grade" can be fairly minor in a lot of cases. Enamel pins are handmade items and A Grades still may have small scratches or dings only visible from a certain angle, some little dinks in their metal lines, small bubbles and dust in the enamel, and so forth. B Grades have more visible or multiple of these deviations from the standard, and may also include things such as small areas of missing enamel or enamel overfill/underfill that change the overall aesthetic of the pin.
The difference may be hard to see embedded here, I'll email high res examples to everyone impacted also.
Above is a comparison picture of a B Branch verses an A Branch. It's subtle! The B Grade above has more dings in its linework than the A does, is missing a tiny piece of its clear enamel on the face, has more dust in the green enamel, and some scuffing. B Grades make wonderful choices for putting on vests and bags, as the wear and tear of use will ultimately do the same and worse to them anyway.
Everyone impacted will be emailed and given a choice between receiving a B Grade Branch AND an additional freebie of their choice (either a B Grade of another pin design or one of any sticker) or potentially waiting for an A Grade Branch. If I get enough volunteers to fulfill right away, amazing! If not, I will negotiate remakes with my manufacturer. Since I can fulfill 72 Branches right away, the largest orders also containing Branch will go out first, and the rest will have to wait until I receive replacements. This is the best way I could think to do it, since my work space is currently itty bitty and moving product out helps keep things running smoothly.
Thank you for your understanding! These unexpected flaws are frustrating to me as well, and my manufacturing rep has asked that I pass along an apology to you folks too. If anyone who elects to wait for either a gold ear Nibble or A Grade Branch needs to update their address sometime between locking them down and the later fulfillment caused by those items, don't panic! I can do so manually when the time comes.
I'll get those emails out within the next couple days!
Onward to more fun stuff: I took the stickems outside yesterday for a little photoshoot.
The Earth Unit Line in their natural habitat.
Whenever the sun came out they said 🌈🌈🌈
These buddies are SO gorgeous and when the light catches them just so, the holographic portions are aggressively rainbow. As you can see, they're also quite large! The more square aspect ratio designs especially so, as they're all 4" on the longest side.
Firey Friends
The Water Units are especially ambiently rainbow!
Tall boi Malware and wide boi Jump.
Sticker Sheets!! My inner child is delighted ngl.
All the Byte goodies together! This is what our initial funding goal covered.
I've also been simultaneously preparing myself for events in August and September (if you're at Dutch Fur Con or Eurofurence, come say hi!) so here's a view of all the campaign stickers together in a recently acquired wall display.
This is a teacher wall calendar pocket thing. Shout out to Abi Stevens Art for the great display suggestion on that!
That's all for now! Thanks for all the hype and support, I'm very excited to get these friends into your hands soon. <3
I'm excited to share with you all that I received the bulk shipment of Short Circuit pins this week and began the process of grading and carding them!!
Behold, here's what 3050 enamel pins looks like:
Our living room belongs to the pins now.
And here's a short video clip showcasing one of each bot board design on their backing cards:
Springing for the laminated foil overprint on the cards was absolutely the right decision, they look absolutely gorgeous with the pins. There was a bit of a hiccup in file formatting which meant I initially received all the Earth cards without foil, so I reordered them - an extra cost, but absolutely worth it for how the whole aesthetic comes together! The new backing cards arrived within just a couple days of the pins themselves, so it all worked out.
The stickers are also on their way! Bird Bot Print Shop sent me lovely photos of the fat stacks of shiny to share with you all, and I received shipment notice yesterday.
The whole crew in large sticky form!
I'm unreasonably excited for these sticker sheets y'allemaal 👀
I've also received a huge bundle of shipping boxes, and after that we're just waiting on the shiny baggies I ordered to protect the pins in style when I pack 'em up.
In the meantime, the intensive process of pin grading is underway. For those less familiar with enamel pins, grading involves checking each pin for deviations from the expected quality, also called Standard or A-grade.
Gotta check 'em all!
Enamel pins are ultimately a handmade item, as many parts of the process such as polishing and filling in the enamel paint are not handled by machines. Thus, some small level of variation is expected and rarely are pins "perfect", but flaws such as underfills, bigger scuffs, excessive bubbling in the metal plating, incorrect color fills, or missing enamel all classify pins as Seconds, B-grade or lower.
Carded Standard A-Grade Byte
I've finished my first pass examination of Byte (wolf) and Hex (goat) and am bummed to say the B-grade rate is much higher than expected for both. HOWEVER fear not: fortunately, I still have enough standard grade to fulfill Backerkit orders! Peep the beautiful pins above and below. <3
Carded Standard A-Grade Hex
I've documented the issues and sent them to my manufacturer to try and arrange replacements, as I planned to have more standard grade pins for conventions and such. If for some reason I come across a design where there are not enough standard grade to fulfill orders, I will let you all know right away and contact those impacted, but I'm hopeful that our luck will hold out! I'm now about halfway through grading RAID (tiger) and so far those buddies are almost all looking amazing, which is the quality I expected.
The grading, carding, and packing for the 335 of you will be quite an undertaking, but so far we're on track to have everything sent out by the end of July as planned. I'll push more updates your way as the process progresses. Have a fantastic weekend all!
