I didn't share an update in December, because I was pretty sure I'd have the sample for the deck and its items sometime in January. Then I kept expecting it. And kept expecting it. I emailed to ask after it. I emailed again later to ask after it.
Then, end of January here, I heard back. I was asked why I wanted a sample of the deck. Now, this is the same manufacturer who got me samples of the Misery Tarot for reasons I already gave them. So I took that to mean that they simply never began working on it, though they told me in December that they were in-progress on the production of the sample. I then found out they thought they were missing a box art file for the Deluxe Box (they weren't), and that proved that they hadn't even begun to produce a sample, let alone look at the print files I gave to them in November.
I've been promised that it was a problem of who was running things at the time, but the main guy is recovered from an illness and back in charge now. So from here on it's supposed to be a return to normal response times. That said, I still haven't heard anything about a sample being made or a timeline being prepared.
The Chinese New Year
And as of now, we are hitting the Chinese New Year. This is part of why we can't just get a new manufacturer, they will all be closed. This means we simply won't begin manufacturing until, at the earliest, start of March. Chinese New Year shuts down everything business wise, every factory closes. This year it looks to be Feb 17-March 2nd or thereabouts (though I've heard from some places that workers are already on holiday), so they won't start and production on things that won't be totally finished before the New Year starts, and they always have a backlog leading into it because it's a busy time.
This puts us in a hard spot. As of now, it sounds like I'm not getting a sample at all. I told them I need clear eProofs to know that at least the foil will all be correct (right color, placed right, on the correct cards), and for clarity on the final pricing for a standard edition and a deluxe edition, now that they have all files in hand.
TIMELINE
Based on how slowly I'm getting information back, I need to be fair and likely very conservative with my estimates here. So here we go:
March | We finalize files and prices, I see eProofs, we okay, we pay for manufacturing to begin.
April | Manufacturing begins mid-April, after they get cardstock and things in for my order. I get shipping totals from the manufacturer, who is also handling fulfillment. I add shipping to your orders, we charge shipping.
May | Manufacturing completes, orders begin to be assembled. Some international packages get sent out.
June | US, Canada, and Mexico orders arrive state-side via boat, are put into USPS system. Rest of international orders ship out.
July | Late survey backers get orders sent out.
August | All orders should have been received. We close fulfillment.
September | I harass anyone who didn't get their surveys in or pay for shipping, giving them a few more last chances. Then, we close the project down. It's completed.
The good news is that The Hot Housewives Tarot, Oracle Dice, and Misery Tarot should all be on the same schedule here, getting packed and shipped out all at the same time, more or less. The good news continues in that they will be made and shipped in the next 4-5 months here. The bad news for us is that this means orders will not be in hand before May, and in fact for late survey fillers they may not even be in hand until late July or August. The bad news for me is that all these delays now mean that none of my three divination tools will be shipped before I wanted to launch the Goblin's Tarot in May. I had thought at least both Tarots would be. But that does not look possible anymore.
Financially, the business is just scraping by here. By now/March we were supposed to be heading into shipping. We have the funds to manufacture, and then we'll charge to ship, but until that's all over, I can't reasonably run yet another divination project to bring in more money. This means I can't pay myself any money until new money exists, which was supposed to be in May with the Goblin's Tarot. It seems like I'm going to need to pick up a part time job for a few months this year to afford rent and bills, until the manufacturers are caught up and I can lead into the next project. Needless to say, this is not an ideal situation for all of you who have been waiting for the items you pledged for, or me who had a tight timeline that I was making work out of necessity, only to get it fumbled by the manufacturer.
The TL;DR
All of which is to say, the timeline got fumbled by the manufacturer. We don't have a sample and may not ever, instead just me looking at eproofs and okaying manufacturing. Because of the Chinese New Year, we won't begin manufacturing until March at the earliest, and probably be shipped out to people by July/August. I apologize, but it was and is completely out of my hands right now, and has been since November.
The Goblin's Tarot, slated for May, will have to be moved back until the current divination tools are all shipped. Because of these delays, I'll need to get a part time job to afford my own bills, but we have the funds for the manufacturing for all three divination projects alright. You're all still getting your stuff, we're just facing a new delay. With any luck, things may get streamlined and fixed here with the manu, and I'll let you all know if things will get moved up, time-wise.
For now, we hurry up and wait.
7DA your pub gob
PS For people who like enamel pins, we do have a small campaign up for Pintopia right now on Backerkit for new stained-glass, tarot-style pins following up our 2024 tarot-style enamel pin campaign. This one has a quick and great manufacturer who has already gotten some of the stuff to me, and that I'm fulfilling myself, so it will have a very fast turnaround! : )
I have one more pass to do, re-reading things, just lookin'. And, you might notice in the first few pages, that I don't have the list of Star Supporters in yet. These were people who pledged extra on the original Kickstarter campaign for no extra items. I'm giving them one week to get their names in.
Amy has started to ready the final print files for the cards. I'm going to update my designs for the new booster pack for print and put together a simple foil wrapper design for it. From there, getting files to the manufacturer is just about all there is left to do!
So I'll noodle on that in the week ahead. But we're about to be ready to get our print sample and begin manufacturing thereafter.
As of now, the Smoke Test of surveys has gone out. That's 5% of people getting their surveys. Once it's clear that it covered all the proper questions and all that, you'll see the rest of the surveys go out later today or first thing tomorrow.
Your surveys ask some simple questions:
If you ordered a standard deck, you're asked if you want to upgrade to the Deluxe edition. People wanted that option on the other project, and so it's offered here as well.
You'll also be asked if you backed the Kickstarter project as well, and want your orders consolidated into one order for shipping.
I will be manually combining orders that choose to be merged in this way before we ship, so you'll only be charged for shipping once!
Otherwise this project is straight forward, there were only a few items on offer! But you can add extras to your order if you so desire, of course. So just get your addresses in and confirm your orders, y'all!
We are in the final moments, just about done and over. And we've done amazingly! I do not have my work computer back, so I opted for no end of project stream-- apologies! I know many people love them, but without my proper work setup it's really hard to make it happen.
However, I did take some thoughts from people's suggestions for a bonus two cards, and I'm putting them together! There were a lot of awesome ideas for what the two extra Major Arcana cards could be, but I've opted to go with an alternative Justice/Sheriff and Hierophant/Planner.
For the Justice card, I wanted to look at people who were being abused and left behind, or actively fighting to make things right for themselves. I think the Lavender Scare is often missed, but queer people were rooted out of the government (and elsewhere) during the 50s. Fear of the Russians blackmailing queer members of government and making them Red Puppets was the guise they used to oust as many as possible from positions in the state department and elsewhere. Of course, the 50s were a huge time with segregation coming to an end and a great deal of marching for equal rights for black Americans. For the foil, I did some obvious things with crossing out 'homosexual', and creating a sunrise behind the brave boy walking up the stairs among the white boys who were intimidating him on his way to school, but I also wanted to remind us of today's protests. The circles capturing faces that we can see is very much an homage to facial recognition technology that is being employed against us in exactly these kinds of scenarios today. I think it also helps people realize that many of these people in this image are still alive today. This is not the distant past. Justice is still far on the horizon, but we can make it real. For the Hierophant, I like to think about art as a connection from the mortal world to the great divine, and this was a way to pay homage to black music as it is and was without being appropriated and claimed out of their hands by white folks. The Planner card focused the man who planned the suburbs for white families as a connection to the divine in a sort of trite way, thinking of him as a great visionary-- but among the arts that didn't create safe and white places to live, we can find so much more power. It doesn't on its own speak to the way rock was taken and claimed by white folks, Elvis and the like, but it at least recognizes the beauty in the black music as it was, in the hands of those who created it.
What's Next?!
I'm finishing the guidebook, but think it can be done in a few weeks time. (So long as my work computer returns home quickly!) Then we'll move to pledge manager, where we'll work to combine orders for folks who backed the original campaign and just came here for the booster pack!
Can't wait to see where we end up! Right now with an hour and a half left, we're 430 backers with $16,300! Can we break even further?
