Parts of this update are copy/pasted across different campaigns.
The overview currently looks like this; Midnight Ocean ~ In production/shipping phase one Mythical Garden ~ Shipping (temporarily on pause) Curiosity Shop ~ In production Pods and Pots ~ In production Literary Critters ~ Survey coming soon
This is going to be a rough one folks, I'm sorry. If you're backing from the US or Europe please make sure you read it all over. This kind of hit us out of nowhere. And there's some production stuff too, so keep scrolling. Its a lot and I'm sorry.
US Backers
There are new paperwork requirements going into place for items moving into the US. The wording is... Extremely unclear, and we're pausing shipping while we figure this out. If you haven't had a shipping notification, it hasn't gone out yet. All the orders that don't include tarot decks are packed and ready to go here, we're just confirming our obligations in case we get into trouble. There are no extra fees associated, just a shipping delay. We're intending to send the remaining orders out at the same time as the summer sale orders, but because they're packed already and because of tariff charges, we cannot combine shipping.
EU Backers
This one's the kicker, and there's just nothing I can do about it.
As of July 1st, a new rule went into a place that introduced a flat handling fee of £3 per item type included in any package heading into the EU. This is standard across all the EU countries as far as we can tell. We are not sure if that includes free items at the moment, we're still trying to figure out the details. So every EU package that hasn't already been shipped now owes an extra £3 postage per item type.
On top of that, some EU countries are now requiring us to pay customs/import fees up front (so at point of sale). We no longer have the option of shipping 'recipient pays fees'. We aren't entirely sure which countries yet; we're still investigating. So from now on, and including all packages that haven't yet been sent from this campaign, shipping is going to have to include the appropriate customs fees for EU countries upfront.
Until these extra fees are paid, we can't send out your EU orders. We're working with Backerkit at the moment to see if there's an easy way to do this, or if we need to contact everyone individually and request payment that way. Unfortunately, customs fees have always been the responsibility of the customers; but we've always been able to mark that it'll be paid on receipt of the package rather than up front on our end. I know in the UK we aren't always charged when a package arrives. I'm sorry if that was the case but from now on, we just can't do that any more.
For non US and EU backers, packages are still going out. If they haven't gone before then, we intend to get them out in a big shipment with the summer sale orders.
Production Update
This is also extremely unfortunate and we're still trying to figure out how to resolve it.
A while ago we had to change our chosen production manufacturer for the cards themselves for a number of reasons. We switched to someone we'd already gotten samples from and started work towards getting the major arcana printed for phase two of shipping. Their default sizes did not include the size we'd opted to go for, so first we got a whole test print done with one of their default sizes to make sure it met our quality control standards. Since those looked good, we went ahead and paid for the custom die cut mould to get the size we wanted, and paid for a whole test run of the major deck in the size we wanted. They came back a few weeks ago, and unfortunately they look like this;
Its hard to see, but the print is blurry. Its not the same standard as the smaller, default size test prints. We sent these pictures back to the manufacturer to ask what could cause this and it took a very long time for them to get back to us. Their best guess is its either the paper surface, or the matte finish; but both are the same options we chose at the smaller size too. Also I tested the file sizes, these are the same files I used to make the a6 notebook covers, they are definitely large enough and high resolution enough to suit this size. The manufacturer has agreed to send us more samples, the same designs printed on various paper and finish options to see if it helps. And also to retry the matte test print, because honestly I don't want to switch to any satin or gloss finish. I suspect, perhaps they used to proof files from the smaller sized card print and just sized them up; that would cause this blurry finish. I asked them to make sure they were working with the correct size files. But now we are waiting again, and this process takes weeks each time.
I'm just sorry its taking so long. We had samples made before we even ran the project, I had no idea it would go on for such a long time. All I can do is promise I'm working on it in the background. We will get there... Eventually.
That's it for now. We'll work on resolving the EU charges as soon as possible and I hope we will have the rest of the prepared packages out asap, its just... Very unfortunate its worked out this way. I'm sorry for the delays, as always.
Test cards did come back but they're still not 100%. We're still having trouble with variation in shades of green on the back of the cards and the language barrier is making it very hard to explain the problem - its not super visible unless you hold the cards in your hand and turn them in natural light. We'll be ordering another set of samples asap, though. We might need to change the colours on the backs of the cards to something more stable but still complimentary.
We have charged cards and started shipping orders that do not contain any tarot decks. The first of those should start to go out this week.
This month's artwork is... more crabs!
The queen cards for each suit will be the ones that get the pins, the bloodmoon colouration, and the notebook covers etc. Hoff crabs don't come in red unfortunately so we used a similar colourscheme to the spidercrabs.
Alright we're back with some previews. Check the end of the update for some important shipping news!
Hoff Crab, King of we're thinking pentacles. I'm going to make a tiny suit symbol to add to the top of the card so its easy to see which suit it is. I'm not entirely sure how to show which court card it is though, unless I just add the text at the bottom. Which I might.
Underway is the Queen, who's getting the blood moon variant and probably will be the pin design too, although I could choose any of the court cards. I decided to finish up the court cards first since the practice should make the more detailed piece for the numbers easier. I tend to switch back and forth because its a bit of a beast.
New backing cards for both the large and mini critter pin designs. The large card design is pretty simple because the pin itself is so complicated. The mini ones have more of the decorative border since the mini pins are just the plain critters. These are much better than the cards I was planning to use so I'm glad I never showed you those!
The replacement spider crab pins, and card samples from the new manufacturer are both in production. We also have the limited edition holo major arcana decks back now, from the same manufacturer, but its nearly impossible to photograph them due to the holo effect. They're veeeeery shiny.
Shipping Update
With all of that said, we now have nearly everything apart from the tarot decks themselves. So next month, we're going to start locking orders that don't contain tarot decks so we can prepare to start shipping those out.
That's so we can start the mammoth task of sorting, backing and shifting some of these masses and masses of pins. Anyone who backed BnB knows that shipping takes us a very long time, so starting to get those orders moving out now will mean we can do the ones that do have tarot decks faster later down the line.
That won't be before May, though. There will be an announcement (probably in the May update), and then an email that lays out when cards will be charged etc.
Alright everything is settling down again so I'm zeroing in on this project. Its been unacceptably long but we're still having major production troubles.
So where are we?
Next couple of months, we're focussing in on getting the minor arcana done. Work is already underway.
I have a couple of very rough sketches to illustrate the concept;
I know these don't look like much but bear with me. For the numbered cards, we're going to have one image with ten individual creatures. For each number the right amount of creatures will be coloured/detailed, the rest up to 10 will be silhouettes. Then the four court cards will have one more detailed individual, similar to the major arcana. The Queen card will have a blood moon alternative colour (I can't remember if I promised more than one court card per suit would have an alt, but I will check).
(More work is done but its not really something I can show until its ready to come together.)
First up we're doing the Hoff crab, so named because they have a hairy chest. Amazing. They live on deep heat vents in colonies so large you can't see the rock beneath them. They will get much more detailed art than this paltry sketch, I promise!
We also have the pearl octopus, which live in huge octopus gardens. And lantern fish, which are among the most abundant vertebrates on Earth, although they are much more common in the twilight zone they have been recorded in the midnight zone. Our fourth is undecided, and we're taking suggestions. We do have crow pins for this campaign, so if you make a suggestion and we use it I'll send you a feather.
Orders for the new crab tarot pins will go in soon, we were waiting to add them to the PnP pin order. The bulk of the notebooks and sticker books and stationery is due to arrive this month.
Overall I want to say we'll be getting to fulfillment by Q4 2026 but a lot could go wrong before then. Or right! But I am wary of making promises at this point. Just know I'm working on it as hard as I can.
We've had another pin set back, sorry guys. I missed a massive mistake.
They missed this part of the design on my order sheet. Unfortunately, I didn't notice it on the proofs. So all the rest have it coloured in, as far as I can see; but none of the spider crabs do. Including the BM and glow versions T_T. So they all have to be re ordered. I only just noticed it. Fortunately the molds don't need to be remade so the cost is less, but even so.
So that's underway right now. Work is continuing in the background. We are currently moving house, we'll be moved end of Feb and after that updates should increase.
