Woof, shit fucking sucks, and shit just stopped sucking enough that I can get some thoughts typed out beyond "things are still happening" and "I'm so sorry."
Work chaos, personal chaos, and customs issues have been devouring every spare second I have for the past few weeks. Cherry on top, my ever-reliable work Honda decided that this is the first time, in almost 30 thousand miles with me, that a stock part was going to break and nearly total itself.
Thankfully, that didn't happen, and we caught the timing belt tension just in time. Lesson learned, $3,000 spent, when your Boxer the Horse-esque Japanese workhorse vehicle starts complaining, listen to it earlier.
Now that things have calmed down a little, I have a couple updates on C3.
Locking pin backs have been ordered, and are looking to get here the middle of April. They'll be tallied out, bagged into packs, and ready to be tossed into orders. Why are they not here yet? Thank UPS.
Stickers have been formatted, and ordered! We don't have an ETA on them yet, but, mercifully, most designs use the same outside cut path. Same plan, once these arrive, they will be assigned to packing slips before pins arrive.
All (non custom) pin artworks are done, sent to my manufacturer, and the first deposit for machining has been paid. We're officially starting production on C3's main event.
Custom pins are still, unfortunately, not done. I am running on fumes and I owe custom artwork backers the energy and focus to give them the best possible artwork.
I've been lagging behind on getting everything done, so it's only fair: I'm extending surveys and preorders until next Friday, April 3rd.
You will be able to add new pins, change your picks, and place new preorders until then. We will be locking orders that night.
This is also the new deadline to fix failed card charges. If your credit card on file with BackerKit is NOT up to date, make sure it's corrected by April 3rd. I will be cancelling all orders that are unpaid by the middle of April. You will not have a chance to pay for your pledge or get campaign rates after this.
KEN'S PIN HUSTLE SPRING CLEANING
To lessen the load of some of the time-wasting bullshit happening in the background, I've got a sale up on the KPH store. Most of my prior projects are up at a considerable discount.
BIRD CRIMES and CRITTER CRIMES enamel pins are 30% off. GOLDEN AGE PARROTS pins are 35% off. Both projects also have B-grade 5 packs for $25 and $30 each. Get some rejects for dirt cheap wholesale prices!
LITTLE SHITS, my ever-popular 1" stickers, are finally back up in the store for a bit. I'll be taking them down at the end of this sale to re-inventory them. If you want some of these cuties, snag 'em now - there's birds, dogs, zoo animals, and some pride-themed little guys.
I've also listed my COOP CO-OP chicken pins, finally. There's some wonderful cartoon chooks now available, for my lawn raptor enjoyers. This is the first time I've ever had these pins for sale outside of a convention, so check them out!
These'd be a nice Easter egg prize for an adult who's outgrown the hunts, or a secular spring piece.
If you're interested in anything from my shop, and rightfully want to save money on shipping, leave me a note to hold on to your stuff 'till we ship C3 out this summer.
Ok, Ken, what was that fucking, broken link, or whatever, last time?
So, last update, I posted a banner for something fun and unique and totally real I promise. Unfortunately, BackerKit's technical back end disagreed. Immediately, I got DM's from like a dozen of you asking what the hell the 404 was.
Silver lining here. There's more to talk about, more to show off, and I got some of my crunch rage out in the emails getting the miscommunications sorted out. Awesome.
It's no secret I've been slogging a lot more on stuff since GOLDEN AGE. I've been cooking ways to deal with it. It's a game of balancing unfucking my personal life, managing increasingly large-scope projects, and making sure my rent still gets paid.
The solution to dodging burnout is a passion project.
This is, also, the solution to increasing creator concerns about BackerKit's official group projects.
TRIBUTES is a collection of fan-made video game pins by experienced enamel pin artists.
HUSTLE regulars will probably smirk at some names in here: we have bird queen Corviforms, "what the fuck why did nobody make circuit board pins before this"artist CZGold, among others who aren't quite ready to show their hands yet.
Here's a few deliberately crunchy previews from the group:
A suspiciously PS1 JRPG-esque concept by @itsyaboijordaan
A dog that missed its Frontline dose from @AlstroArts
If you're a video game or visual novel fan, give this project a look. Craving some obscure cult JRPG pins? Miss your favorite childhood PC edutainment game? Salty that all your favorite characters ever get is a funko pop? We got you.
We are still in the VERY early stages of stuff on our end. Our final creator lineup will be revealed in May. There's some incredible artists from the cartoon and furry side of things, who I'm proud to have on board.
I will be making Metaphor: ReFantazio fan pins - both 2.5" Tarot style display pieces, and 1.5" cameo portraits.
TRIBUTES is launching in November, and this is meant to be a sneak peek to ready your wallet.
Quick check-in - stuff is still very messy behind the scenes, but we're in a spot we have the numbers we need to get orders started.
We'll be locking orders and closing the preorder store on March 30th. You have one more week to finish your survey, add pins, or preorder C3 pins/stickers.
As long as I get custom pins set, we should still be on schedule for summer 2026 fulfillment. We're sitting at 93% surveys, but, I'd like to give our stragglers a little bit longer to get stuff in. It's only fair - I'm lagging behind a little, too.
I'm sorry things are still behind over here. Thank you for bearing with me.
It's a bit of a ways out, but, if you want to get ahead of the curve, I do have a November project cooking. Saying it's just pins is... a little bit of a lie. Just a little.
We have a big collaborative event happening in early November. "We," being, a bunch of freelance artists who wanted to make some fun self-indulgent stuff for once. Some of them are customers I'm flattered to have the chance to work with.
Check out teasers that are up so far here - and check back later for more.
Not too much to report. I'm handling a little chaos at the day job, thanks for bearing with it.
40 of you guys are still missing surveys. That's a good 10% of you - more, actually. Go check on that!
I know we have a good chunk of first-timers here because of Pintopia, so if you're having trouble navigating to your survey, listen up!
You can check all your pledges and surveys through your BackerKit profile here. This is the easiest way to complete, check, or change surveys for any project.
If you're reading this in your inbox, and you really don't want to go digging on BackerKit, you can grab it thru email too. Search CHALLENGE COIN CRITTERS. You should have something that says "Response Needed" - I'm using another project as an example here.
The more surveys I have in, the more accurate my order will be.
Surveys officially close March 30th. We'll be considering pledges with unfinished surveys forfeitted on May 12th. Your pledge will be considered a donation to help make stuff for backers who paid and filled stuff out. I can't refund things after this date, and I won't be honoring campaign prices.
You already paid for your pins... tell me which ones you want!
I'm behind on custom work due to the black mold renovations, and cascading staffing issues at the day job. The rest of this week is busy, but I hope to finally get a damn minute to sit down and finish thumbnails for our customs this Friday.
Last thing of note: I will be at Anthrocon this year. I won't be selling my own stock, but I'll be handling things for another artist. Barring any complications, we should be on-track for Anthrocon pickup as promised. Table number TBD.
If you are interested in AC pickup in Pittsburgh, PA, set your shipping to LOCAL PICKUP and email me at [email protected].
Let's check in once more surveys are answered. Locking backs have been ordered, but I need more numbers to get stickers. I hope to have those in by the next time you hear from me.
Work has been on halt for the past week, while I get my floor ripped up and replaced. The good news, is, things should be finishing up and going back to normal tomorrow.
No more getting up and spraying the subfloor with bleach like I'm watering the plants 3 times a day. No more birds in my living room and office. Imagine.
Art for custom pins should be starting back up next week, and so should everything else HUSTLE related. I just need to poke you guys about surveys real fast.
We're sitting at about 84% survey completion. 85% is my absolute minimum for placing a pin order. I need 90-95% for stickers.
There's 55 of you guys who need to go pick your pins. 13 still have failed cards on file, so, in case that's you, go make sure what you've got on your account is up to date!
Having most of the surveys in means I have a good idea of which pins are the most popular, and how many to order for retail. While pins have a MOQ, and I can ballpark the rest, stickers are made to-order. If you don't fill your survey out, I may not order a less popular design you wanted. Go check your survey!
Our surveys officially close on March 30th, so you have time. But, we're definitely lower than we should be right now. If you're new to BackerKit (I know a lot of people are, after every Pintopia), and you need help with surveys, feel free to ask questions under the update and I can walk you through. You can check if yours is filled, and finalized, here:
If we hit 90% survey completion by this Monday, I'll toss a 30% sale on the retail HUSTLE site. Little treat for everyone hanging on for dear life thru the black mold adventure with me.
Other than that, my order for locking pinbacks is in, and those'll probably hit the states the middle of this month. I have a few back burner art things, and custom badges, I can't pick up till the birds are out of my office.
At a backer's request, I went ahead and got some stickers made of the Early Bird and Night Owl designs.
They're considered a separate addon, but if you want 'em, they're there! They're 2" vinyls just like all the others. You can add them to any pledge thru your survey.
We're sitting at about 70% survey completion right now, which is pretty good. Generally, I want 85% done before I make the call and start getting final numbers in. If you've been waiting till the technical difficulties blow over to do yours, we should be in the clear now.
Make sure you get your surveys in ASAP - remember, an unfinish survey is a forfeit. This means losing freebies, campaign-exclusive rates, and your chance to get pins before they hit retail. I'd like to order stickers soon, so the more information I have, the better.
About half of pins have pantones, and are ready for production. From African Wild Dog, to Green Cheek Conure, our 1.5" pins are getting sent to the factory so they have a head start. I'm expecting to finish the rest tomorrow.
Customs are still waiting on thumbnails - thanks for bearing with me! I have most of tomorrow to sit down and crank stuff out, and you will be taking priority before the remaining vectors. There's no good sending the factory another 40 artworks when they're already busy with the first 35.
I need to make final accommodations for maintenance on Monday, so the great progress slump will probably start then. The more gets done before then, the better.
Finally, last annoying thing: the preorder store is open, and if you missed the campaign, this is your chance to get some goods!
I'm off to get a few more pantones assigned before bed. Take it easy tonight!
