I wanted to catch up with you guys about how the manufacturing delays have been progressing. I'm happy to say, I actually have some good news and forward momentum again!

This post may be a little long, as I want to get into the details of it, so you guys have the whole picture of what has been going on behind the scenes. So I guess let's just dive in to the whole messy story 😅

As I mentioned in an earlier update, the pin manufacturer ghosted me for weeks in December. Then when I finally got them to reply to me, informed me the rep I was working with had left the company, weeks ago. But the new rep I was talking with was far less able to communicate with me and stopped answering me with anything more than three-word sentences and ignoring 99% of my questions or statements. To the point that when I informed her that this had gone so badly I wanted a refund on the molds or to transfer them to a new company, she completely ignored what I wrote and responded by sending me random photos of some of my pins and text that read "scanning images". When I responded that these weren't even the pins we were working on and that she had completely ignored what I wrote, and that I was serious about wanting to end the order, she would just repeat that step with new random images and "scanning images". After several tries, though, she finally acknowledged what I was saying and said they could not refund the molds, but would transfer them to a new company if I wanted.

So, I went ahead and found another company that was recommended to me by other artists for having high-quality pins but also great customer service - and after some back and forth they said that they could indeed take the molds and finish the project from there. So I replied to the original pin manufacturer with the information on where to ship the molds. They agreed, but said that they wouldn't do it until after the Chinese New Year. So I waited to hear back from them once they returned from their holiday.

When they did get back in touch with me, they were much more communicative and said that they knew this other company and recommended that I only ship one or two molds first to 'try them out' before shipping all 50 molds. They also stressed that they had almost 20 years of experience making pins and that they had, in the end, after several 'scanning images' emails sent the right images of the right sample they were supposed to be working on.

I responded to them that I didn't know how to respond to their email - that they seemed to want to continue working on this project but that it had deteriorated so far I didn't know how that would even be possible. I said that the only way I would even consider it, was if there was a complete 150% improvement in communication as there was no way to troubleshoot 25 designs with bad UV printing if I couldn't communicate with them. I also told them I would not continue the order if I was expected to pay them for the cords and tassels since I had to spend several thousand dollars to source them from another manufacturer since they couldn't provide what they had agreed to provide in their quote. I got a reply that I would have a new rep contact me on Monday and that she spoke much better English and would be able to work much more patiently and effectively with me to finish this order.

So I don't know if I am being gullible or naive to give them one more chance, but I agreed to speak to the new rep and try out troubleshooting one more set of UV layers to see how it goes. The new rep emailed me last week, and we have exchanged a few emails that are much more helpful and clear. They are in the process now of readjusting my quote to reflect the changes in what they are providing, and they are working on reprinting the new UV layers I had adjusted for them of the Barn Owl trio. So I am waiting to hear back with the new Owl samples and quote... fingers crossed, hoping against hope that things are back on track and going smoothly from here on out. But I do have another company ready and able to take over the molds and finish the project if this last effort ends up going as bad as the last few months of work have gone. So one way or another, there is a way forward.

Whew - ok - that was a lot more written out than I meant for it to be, but I really wanted to be transparent and share exactly what is going on and why it is taking so long. But also, to show that I am actively working on pushing things forward in every way I can.

TLDR: I found a new pin manufacturer willing to take the molds and finish the project, and then my old pin manufacturer became much more helpful and able to communicate asking for one last try before taking the molds and project elsewhere. So I am giving it one last try to finish the project with them, rather than starting over elsewhere, as long as I can actually communicate with them and make progress. But now I also have a backup in case things degrade with them again.

Onwards to some pictures though! :) I thought I would share the type of problems I was having with the UV printing and how I am trying to fix them:

So this was the trio we were working on when the ghosted me... as you can see. the dark areas of the design were just turning into black blobs, rather than the expected colors and gradients I had painted. Even some of the dark areas in the leaves were turning into dark blobs instead of smooth gradients as well.

So I spent several days carefully adjusting the UV print layers to try to get them to print way less dark and blown out for the 2nd attempt at printing these. I sent the files over and ... that's when they stopped responding. Over a month later, when they started sending me random photos of pins, these 2nd samples were what I was waiting for. The very last message before they agreed to transfer the files over included these samples of the 2nd reprint. By that point, I was done though, and set up the mold transfer as it had taken months and many emails of wrong samples and dozens of ignored questions to get to this point.

But now that I am giving them one last chance, this is where we picked up where we left off. They sent me these photos again. And thankfully they are much improved from the first attempt! Though the photos are a little less clear and bright (and dingy yellow), I can see that they no longer have big blobs of dark spots everywhere. But they still need a little work - esp the dragon. The dark spots on the dragon are still way too dark and not blending in, though at least they look like gradients now and not blobs lol. So I spent about a day completely reworking the UV layers for him that I think, having seen now how my changes affected the last reprinting, will yield much softer prettier results :) The next two days, I also tweaked the UV layers for the pear blossom to punch up a little of the color inside the blossoms, and on the owl to soften the dark shadow a little more and add a little more color and evenness to the shadow under its chin. (Do owls have chins? lol) I am very hopeful that the 3rd reprint will be much nicer and we can move on to another trio!

I figure, I will just take it in pieces - one trio at a time - that way it feels less overwhelming since there are only 8 trios rather than 25 designs.

So yeah, that is where we are at! We are making progress again. Communication seems improved. UV layers are getting better. And I have a backup waiting in the wings if things go south. 

I sent them the reworked UV layers on Monday, and am waiting to hear back from them with photos of the new samples. Fingers crossed they are lovely! 

Thank you again for all the patience you guys have shown me as I work on these <3 and I hope this update was helpful, even if a bit long-winded lol 😅