Happy New Year, everyone!
As we have entered the production period, there are less updates to share overall, but I wanted to share where we are with everything. While some t...
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Munespice
about 2 months ago
Update #13: Locking Completed Surveys & Other Important Updates!
Hello, everyone!
If you have any questions, please contact me at help(@)munespice(.)com (without the parentheses, preferably with your Backerkit confirmation # f...
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Munespice
2 months ago
Update #12: All Surveys Have Been Sent - Please Complete by December 1!
Hello, everyone!
All surveys have been sent to Backer emails! Please complete the survey by December 1st. If you did not receive the ...
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Munespice
2 months ago
Update #11: Preorder Store Is Now Open (Until November 25th!)
Hello, everyone!!
For folks who didn't get a chance to back the campaign: I got the preorder store up and running over here! The preorder sto...
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Munespice
2 months ago
Update #10: Surveys & Preorder Store Coming This Week!
Hello, everyone!!
After a very busy past few weeks for me, I am back!! By end of day Saturday, I plan for the preorder store (for folks who didn't back the...
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Munespice
3 months ago
Update #9: Reminder to Resolve Payment Issues!
Hi, everyone!!
Happy Halloween/Samhain/Diwali! Since the end of the campaign, things have been a bit busy - I got married! - so I apologize for the delay in updates. I've...
As we have entered the production period, there are less updates to share overall, but I wanted to share where we are with everything. While some things are made here in the US, some items must be sourced overseas and thus have longer production/arrival times. Their Lunar New Years holidays are also coming up, and my production partners take 2-4 weeks off at that time. Here are the current production updates and time estimates as of now (they may change in the future).
Latt-ray plush sample. I am so sorry for the disappointing news once again that the sample is not completed. I have been routinely asking my contact for more info, and as of a few days ago, her exact words were: "Sorry for waiting, everything goes slower than before because of the holidays" and also I believe their company was especially busy toward the end of 2024. Since they only have one designer, I am pretty they prioritized 100% confirming my other plush bags (more on that below) before they went into full production for the nearly 1000 plush overall. I really appreciate your patience and understanding on this as this will be my 4th year working with them, and they've always come through with quality. But to be completely honest, I'm bummed, too!! I want to see the creature, haha. Because of this delay, I believe the earlier the bulk order could get to me is May.
The 4 other plush bags. Initially, we had hoped they'd be completed before the Lunar New Year, but they will continue production once they return from their holiday. My current estimate is that they'll arrive to me by April as planned.
Lanyards and (collab-exclusive) pouches. I estimate these arriving to me in March.
Enamel pins. I estimate these to arrive March-April.
Sticker sheets and magnets. These will arrive to me this month. I'll show pictures then!
Now for some photos! First, I wanted to share the final pattern for the inside lining of the Latt-ray bag as well as the pattern for the collab-exclusive pouches. I had never showed the final pattern so here it is (with some watermarks on it ^^"). And as mentioned above, I wanted to share what my production partner and I solidified from the 4 original plush bags. While all the samples were done before the campaign, I had to go through the process of verifying each, one last time, especially for Matcha and Rye-sopod. There's no change to any of the overall design, but before a manufacturer produces 100s of an item, it's important to go through and make sure you're on the same page. For Rye-sopod, I had to verify that the card slot held cards securely since my sample was loose. And it's probably hard to tell from the photo, but they resolved this! And same for the Matcha sample - they ended up adding a reinforced edge (that nearly matches the color of matcha's cheek on the other side) to the card holder on the back side so ensure cards were a little more secure, while still being loose enough to fit a couple in there. This was actually a feature of my first Matcha sample, so I had them add it back to the final one. Thank you all so much for your support, and I'll be back soon with pics of the magnets and sticker sheets (and fingers crossed for the latt-ray <3).
Hope you're staying safe and doing okay at the start of this year!! Nicole
If you have any questions, please contact me at help(@)munespice(.)com (without the parentheses, preferably with your Backerkit confirmation # found within your Backerkit order history so I can help you more easily). I will try to get back to you within 3-5 days. Thanks!!
Some updates for backers & preorder store customers:
For folks who backed the campaign and completed the survey: Surveys will be locked in about 48 hours from now. While you can't change your pledge from the campaign, you can still add or remove add-ons added from the survey period or change designs for pins/lanyards. Important: Cards for funds added within the survey will be charged this Friday, December 6th while the surveys are still fresh on everyone's minds. You will still be able to change your shipping addresses in the months to come. Thanks!!
For folks who backed the campaign and did not complete the survey: Reminder to please complete the survey! If you backed my campaign, you can find your survey here: https://creature-cafe.backerkit.com/
For preorder store customers: The preorder store was closed and all funds were processed! There were a couple failed payments - I will be manually retrying to charge them this Friday (December 6th), not sure if Backerkit has tried automatically.
News regarding manufacturing/sample:
Regarding the Latt-Ray sample: I do not have an update - my manufacturer is still working on it TT-TT I have been working with this company for..about 3 years and I trust them to take the time they need to make it to my vision. They often take more time and care during the first prototype and get back to me with V2.0 or V3.0 quicker. I will update you all as soon as I have a photo to post. I know folks were waiting before completing the survey - I may open preorders at later date where you can add the Latt-Ray to your Backerkit order for the campaign price/combined shipping (may still be an increase in shipping cost depending on the order). Thank you for your patience!
Regarding manufacturing process: Because y'all did great completing the surveys, I went ahead and placed the bulk order for Breb, Matcha, Pancake, and Rye-sopod bags a few days ago. Woo! These are the items that will take the most time, so I'm happy it's started. I will place the bulk orders for pins, lanyard, etc over the next couple weeks since those items will take much less time. And I will place the order for Latt-Ray when the sample is complete.
During this manufacturing stage, updates will come a little slower since I will have less to share overall. But I promise I am around ready to share any news for ya. Thanks so much for your patience and for your support during it all!!
Nicole/Munespice
P.S. If you are receiving this notification and you did not pledge to the campaign/order in the preorder store, it is because at some point you opted to follow my project. Thanks for that! No need to worry about surveys/etc if you didn't back the campaign <3
All surveys have been sent to Backer emails! Please complete the survey by December 1st. If you did not receive the survey and you backed the campaign, you can request to send another survey to yourself here: https://creature-cafe.backerkit.com/
Preorder store is open for folks who did not back the campaign - it is available until November 25th. Please note this is like buying from an online store and funds are charged within 1-2 days, though your address can be changed before the order ships sometime (currently expected) in the spring. :)
Thank you again!! Nicole/munespice
PS - There was an issue where UK folks could not select their country. This should be resolved now. Reminder that UK folks will pay shipping/VAT closer to when items are shipped through my website: munespice.com.
For folks who didn't get a chance to back the campaign: I got the preorder store up and running over here! The preorder store is for folks who did not back the campaign and would still like to preorder the items. The freebie postcard is not included in preorders, but the prices are still the campaign prices. The estimated shipping for preorders is April 2025. Preorder store will close Monday, November 25th @ 9PM PT.
For folks who did back the campaign: Surveys are coming soon! I have the surveys all created, but Backerkit is currently reviewing my work to double check everything is all good. Once they are approved, I will send a smoke test of the surveys, meaning to just a small, random group of backers. After that, all the surveys can go out! I still estimate the surveys to go out by the end of this weekend, but will once again update y'all when they're out.
Woohoo! Thank you so much!! Have a great rest of your week. Nicole/Munespice
This will be final update during the campaign since it ends tonight!! It will end at 9pm Pacific Time - about 11 hours from now.
What's next? In the 24 hours after the campaign ends, Backerkit will charge payment methods for pledge totals. If payment does not go through for whatever reason, Backerkit will automatically retry over the next couple weeks. It takes about 2 weeks for everything to go through on my end - and all this needs to happen before surveys can be sent - so I estimate surveys (to select pin/lanyards designs, add things, pay for shipping) will go out the week of November 11th. I also hope I will have the Latt-ray sample before then!
Thank you all so so much!! I'm beyond happy about how this campaign turned out! Nicole
