Woof, it's been a while - good afternoon, criminals!
I'm not going to beat around the bush here. A member of my family has been declining, and we ultimately made the choice to let her go. It's been a very hard few months, where most of my "free" time - not free, but, freelance HUSTLE time - went to managing her end of life care and medical appointments.
Spending my Mondays driving out for lab tests and cleaning up accidents was briefly a time for me to re-establish a routine and start seeing a therapist. I want to thank my wholesale customers, and my charity partners I've met through this process, for keeping me afloat both emotionally and financially.
But, all things considered, things went as well as they could have, and it's time to get back to work.
Let's catch up a little.
All domestic CRITTER CRIMES orders, without CUSTOM CRIMES or CREATE A CRIMINAL tiers, are shipped. If you didn't get your pins yet, please contact me - we have about half a dozen labels printed that had some address or order issues. I'll be going back over them this week to see if it's an issue I can remedy myself.
As of now, if surveys aren't done or payment hasn't been covered, I am cancelling ditched pledges.
International shipping should start in the next week. I bunched these guys up with orders withheld for CUSTOM CRIMES hoping international shipping conditions would get better. Anyways, they didn't, so, we're doing it now before "my president is having a tantrum" fees go even higher. Make sure to double check what mess my country has set up for you in terms of tariffs and duties, and know what to expect on delivery.
We're waiting on CUSTOM CRIMES to be completed for a few orders - then, those will ship too. I'll start printing completed badges soon, and custom backers will start seeing packages. I have 12 CUSTOM CRIMES left to do. I'm, as always, chipping away at those, with a couple of 'em a week between my work shifts.
A bunch of CUSTOM CRIMES sketches are out, but I haven't heard back from their buyers. I know it's been a while, so emails might have gotten lost. If you backed for a CUSTOM CRIME badge, double check your email! Let's get your criminal cleaned up.
I don't have an exact timeline for CRITTER CRIMES finishing all shipping, but, I'd like to have everything stocked by mid November. At this point, all A-grades for pledges are set aside. If you'd like to snag a few CC or PRIDE PARROT pins for the holidays, and I haven't got off my ass and put them on the shop yet, drop me an email!
Speaking of: remaining PRIDE PARROTS will be going up for holiday sales, so we can make our final GMCH donation. We're still in the $450 ballpark after Anthrocon... can we get $500?
After CRITTER CRIMES wraps, I'm taking a brief hiatus until January. I have a CVS receipt of a waitlist for custom work, and, after the past few months, I'd like to tackle it and start paying down some medical debt.
For January, though.... unfortunately for everyone else, I am participating in Pintopia 2025 with...
I'm offering small, antiqued gold 1.5" challenge coin pins of some of HUSTLE customers' favorite parrots and wildlife.
Here's a few of the usual suspects... plus, a production sample to see exactly how these guys will look in-hand. CHALLENGE COIN CRITTERS' pins are a 1:1 color match to GOLDEN AGE PARROTS.
It had to happen eventually: the golden age animation style is back at KEN'S PIN HUSTLE. And, this time, I'm honored to announce I'll be collaborating with Henrieke Goorhuis. Henrieke is an OG of vintage animation in the furry sphere, and an artist I can't believe would even speak to me after the things I've said on the internet.
Henrieke is running THE HYENA FAMILY, a pin set honoring some of the world's most misunderstood, charismatic carnivores. Plan to buy pins from us both: if you do, you can have this hyena mega pin, plus this girthy fat cockatiel.
If you're early to the show, or you're a repeat backer, there are extra freebies to claim. Click the banners above to join the notification list for both projects now!
That's all for now. If you're not American, or you've got a criminal being convinced, watch for notifications in the next week or two.
