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I received a photo of the new deer pin sample. I love the shimmery pearl effect—it's much better than glitter, and much closer to the effect I envisioned! However the color of the bones still isn't quite right. I will be choosing a new Pantone that is more subtle, desaturated, and probably a little brighter too (less pink for sure!). I'll keep working on this behind the scenes and keep you updated.

I added some new photos of add ons in the survey and preorder store for reference. The patches, stickers, plain prints, and washi tape have some new photos.  The sticker reprints are also looking a lot better, and I love how bold the colors turned out on the patches and washi! Bold and brash, if I do say so.

Hello Backers 👁️ Welcome to another photo-heavy, lengthy update 👁️ 

I have the pin samples!

Color Changes

Deer: Right away, you'll notice something a little off about the deer... For whatever reason, the glitter is bubblegum pink! I've already let my manufacturer know I'll be changing this—my rep actually said "to be honest, the glitter is not as good as my expectation."😆😅
 
Edit: I got a suggestion to look into pearlescent enamel instead of glitter, which sounds very cool and more in line with the effect I was hoping for. I asked my manufacturer and we're giving pearl bones a try! I ordered a new sample, and hopefully I'll have a photo from my manufacturer soon.

I think as-is, even if the glitter were the right color, it's too busy with the details of the bones, plus the little screen printed stars are hard to see.

Tome/Statue/Flower: I will also be lightening the darkest grey on the Statue and the Tome. The grey does not seem to be correctly matched to the Pantone. The outer petals on the Flower are also a bit too dark for my liking. Though the Pantone is close, I'm hoping we can get it a bit closer by lightening the color a bit.

Ichor Eye: The color shifts in this one are too subtle I think. The Pantones seem properly matched, but I chose ones that are too dark! I'll be brightening the red goo for little more contrast and color variation.

I think that's it for changes! I think these will be simple fixes. I'd also like to have a new sample of the Deer and the Statue at the very least, but I think a photo from the manufacturer will suffice. 

Stickers

I did receive sticker samples weeks ago and I've been working to get them reprinted. For one—they're too dark, an easy fix—but I also found them to be too transparent. After testing them on a few different surfaces like a notebook and water bottle, they just didn't look all that great, especially in comparison to other stickers I've received from other artists...

Anyway, the kind folks who made my stickers are reprinting them with 20% more white ink, to see if the opacity is  better. I am also getting samples from another company as a back up. Apologies for the delay on proper photos! Getting these reprinted has been a very slow back and forth with customer service, due to the time zone difference. But I'm confident I'll get good clear stickers made, even if I need to use a different company. :)

Charms

Patch

Look at that spooky guy! This is a pre-production sample photo from my manufacturer and I love it.

Surveys Next!!

👁️ Pre-Order Store

Charm Artwork Finalized!

The artwork for the large, double-sided acrylic charms are now done. Some of this artwork will also appear on 5x7 inch soft touch prints.

Vectors and Sample Progress

After some back and forth, I've approved all proofs and I am waiting for pin samples to be produced, while sticker samples are already on their way to me!

There are some differences between the original raster mockups used in the campaign and the vector artwork. Most changes are extremely minor, but I want to outline them here for full transparency and also for those of you that find that sort of thing interesting.

On the left, the original mockups, on the right, vector files. Keep in mind that colors in person will differ from the colors on screen.

Most importantly, the moth design (Entry No. 256) had some small cut outs around the antennae closed at the recommendation of my manufacturer. I'm not too surprised, these cut outs were pretty optimistic. I still love the moth overall!

The following are exactly the same, just with wiggly bits cleaned up, especially stars/sparkles/diamonds.

All framed pieces have a few extra details in their frames. Each framed piece now has a crescent moon element.

A few bits of clothing also break the frame of "Family Portrait." I'm not sure if this will even be noticeable at 2 inches, but I still think it's cool!

As outlined previously, the "Portrait of a Curator" design was updated.

A very minor color adjustment in the center of the teapot. Now all of the submerged tentacles are the same color.

The Flower has been pushed more toward pink instead of gray, and I love it. The Pantones I chose are still very desaturated and dusty—the on-screen pink color is a lot brighter than the Pantone chip.

My manufacturer didn't have a problem with the cut outs on the 3" deer pin! So as far as I know, the deer design is good to go as-is.

What Next?

• Waiting to receive samples! If things look good with the pin and sticker samples (especially the pins), I'll get the survey ready to go. I've already set up most of the survey and have begun building shipping tables, so surveys shouldn't take long to get sent out when the time comes. Aside from pins and stickers, I've also confirmed that I can get a pre-production photo of an iron-on patch sample. 

• More details about the large, double-sided charms (which effects will they have?). I'd like to dive into this in the next update in a few days, as this update is already so image-heavy I'd rather not clutter things up further.

🌕 Pin & Sticker Samples

🦌 3-inch "Six-Legged Stag" Pin Add-on

✅ The design of the stag pin is done! The vector is also complete, but I might make some tweaks after sleeping on it.

This pin will be roughly 3 x 3 inches, feature glitter bones, and have screen-printed stars/dots on top! My manufacturer rep didn't note any issues with the design, but also said they would know for sure if any of the cut outs need to be changed once they take a closer look at the vector file. So there is a possibility some cut outs may change shape or get moved around. Please also note that the final color will differ, and will very likely be darker once printed.

It's pretty close to the charm design, and I'm quite happy with it! The vector file will go out to my manufacturer tomorrow.

I've already received some digital proofs from my pin manufacturer, and things look good so far! Fingers crossed the samples turn out well.

🌙 What's next?

• The Acrylic charms are close to finished, but the artwork needs that final bit of polish and detail, along with some boosted contrast. I hope to share those within the next week, along with mockups of possible effects (glitter, holographic, or colored acrylic).

• The iron-on patch artwork needs cleanup.

• The pre-order store is still underway! 

• Then, I plan to get some photos of the sticker and pin samples, so you can see how the mockups translate to the real thing! I'd like to get samples/photos of other add-ons as well, but please know that I may not be able to get samples of everything. I'll keep you updated on that front.

Hello backers,

A quick update today: I've received photos of the 3" Deluxe Stag pin with the new enamel color! The new color is great, I'm so happy! It's a more desaturated purplish color. Please keep in mind that the lighting at the factory isn't great, but the color is more harmonious and much closer to the original concept in the mockup.

I've added a new photo of the deer to the survey for clarity and tweaked the mockup slightly to more accurately reflect the desaturated bone color.

Other Color Tweaks

The Flower pin has also had the dark pink around the outside lighted. Also, a mistake I hadn't noticed until much later has been corrected. Some of the petals were the incorrect color on my last batch of samples and I didn't notice it then. The sample now matches the original mockup and proof!

Now that the 3" Stag has a new color and all samples have been approved, production of the pins should be underway in earnest. As a reminder, I've received an estimate of 18-22 days production time.

It looks like 36 people still haven't filled out surveys. Please fill out your survey if you haven't already. I'll be looking to lock surveys In a few weeks' time, but I'll be sure to post an update before I do!

I can't wait to get these pins to you!