Hello adventurers!

I just want to give you a quick update on what is going on. First of all, the calico kitty remake has completed, and they look good (see below image)! For all backers who pledge for a calico cat, I just charged your credit card, and addresses will be locked in two days. Please update your address if needed~ There are a few charge card error. If you got one of those errors, please update your credit card information with backerkit as soon as possible. 
 
Once again, thank you so much for your patience while I work through all the pledges. The calico cat issue has caused some delay, but overall speaking, this campaign is taking longer than usual to fulfill, as there are indeed a lot of rewards to pack (not complaining 😂). However, please rest assure that I am working through them as quickly as possible!  

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a good day!

Catherine @WalnutAndClam
 

Hello Adventurer!

Happy Friday! Sorry for the wait. It took longer than I thought to grade all the pins, but it's finally done. Here are the pictures for the rest of the pins as promised!

CALICO CAT REMAKE

Everything looks good quality-wise but we do have a bit of a problem with the calico cat. I didn't even spot it at first, but the light brown color is indeed missing from the kitty's right ear (it's appear as white now). I was debating if I should have it remade because it was not very obvious, and I also didn't want to waste these kitties I already got, as they are perfectly fine other than that. Having said that, while I am contemplating, I also reached out to my manufacturer and see what they will say about the issue, and right the way, they told me this is their mistake and a remake will be started right the way. It will take approximately 2-3 weeks for the remake. So I will send out another update when that is done.

A NOTE ON THE MAGNETIC ATTIRE

Grading the magnetic attire was really fun! I tested out all the magnets just to make sure they are good, and I did find a few defective one 🤣. Well, it's better to be safe than sorry, as I don't want to send out any defects.

After playing with the magnetic attire for a bit, I do notice that the surface of the kitties may get scratched if I am rough with it, most noticeably with the black kitty. By this, I mean if I slide the magnetic attire with force or drag the magnet on the kitty's body, mostly when I need to remove the attires, and I was just trying to do it quickly. However, if I am careful with the attire, meaning no dragging or sliding it on the kitties with force, the kitties are fine. I just want to point this out, as I damaged my kitty, and I don't want you to experience the same thing with your kitties. But this finding gives me an idea to put our wrong color calico cat to good use! For all of you who backed an attire, I will be sending you an extra wrong color calico kitty, and you can use it to get use to the attires! However, like I mentioned, as long as we are not rough with the attire, it should not scratch the kitty, or the scratch should be minimal.

LAMBENT DAGGER - Why so many pin post??

I always try to have two pin posts on my pins if possible, as I know that the extra pin post can make a difference when it comes to wearing it. The Lambent dagger is indeed a small pin, but I still decided that is what I want. What I didn't realize is that there are not a lot of room in the back for the rubber clutches, as the two pin posts are very close to each other. If you like to display your pin in a pin board, this will not be a problem at all. However, if you like to wear your pins, than you will have to position the clutches in a specific way to make it work (see Back View C). Back View A and B still works if the fabric you are attaching it to is thin, but if the fabric you are attaching it to is thick, the overlapping clutch tends to fall off after a while, and that's not what we want. I apologize for missing this detail, as I didn't account for the size of the clutches, making it inconvenient for those of you who wish to wear them. Having said that, please pay special attention if you want to wear this pin, and as long as you position the clutches as seen in Back View-C, there won't be any issues. 

SHIPPING UPDATE

Regarding shipping.....

Canadian Backers

For Canadian backers who chose standard shipping, and did not back a calico kitty, I will be packing your rewards and ship them out via Canada Post, as there is no strike as of now. Since there are a lot of packages that I need to get through, I may not be able to send your package out right the way. If a strike do happen before I send out your package, rest assure I will put your rewards on hold until the situation resolves.

For Canadian backers who purchased upgraded shipping, and did not back a calico kitty, your package has been sent, and tracking information have sent to your email.

If you backed a calico kitty, I will ship out your rewards once the remake it done.

US Backers

After some long thoughts, we have decided that we are going to go ahead and start shipping the rewards to my US backers, starting with backers who did not pledge for the calico kitty.

It was a tough decision, as we cannot predict the tariff situation, which can go up or down with short notice. Right now it is at 30% for products (ex. pins, acrylic charms, keychains) made in China , which is a lot better than 145% as it was a few weeks ago, and we want to take advantage of the lower tariff rate and have your rewards send out to you now. If there are any changes to the tariff rate (i.e. getting higher), we will definitely re-evaluate the situation and keep you post. We are going to be shipping out your rewards using Canada Post as they are not on strike as of now, but this is also unpredictable. If they are going on strike, I will send out an update and talk about what we will do next.

Secondly, you will notice that everything I ship out will now have a country of origin sticker on them, as it is a new requirement for shipping all products to the US. Also, all my US bound packages are subject to checks from both my shipper and US custom, which means that the package you receive might look like it's been open, or the content might look a bit disorganize. I apologize if the package you receive looks a bit messy. Finally, because of all the extra checks, it will take longer than usual for my packages to reach the destination. Thank you so much for your patience, understanding, and support for this project. I know this is a lot of information to take in. Thank you so much for being here with me while we figure this out, as a lot of this is new to me too. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

International Backers

If you did not back a calico kitty, I will be packing your rewards and have them shipped as planned. I did manage to ship some international rewards out this week, and for those that were sent, a tracking number is sent to your email already. If you back a calico kitty, hopefully I will get the remake kitty soon. I will keep you post!



Thanks again for your support! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. The best way to contact me is via email: [email protected]. Have a good weekend!

-Catherine @WalnutAndClam


 

Dear adventurers!

Thanks so much for all your patience! Our pins have taken longer than expected to completed, but they have finally arrived! For the next few days, I will be grading them to make sure they are all good. I took out a few pins from all the designs for a quick look, and so far there hasn't been any problems. That is usually a good sign that the pins are good. For the magnetic pins, they work exactly how I want them to, and trust me, they look really cute in person! Here are some pictures of the pins. After I finished grading all the pins, I will post more pictures for everyone! Stickers and packaging materials are also done~ Now let's talk about shipping...

Canadian Backers
As you are probably aware, Canada Post has sent a strike notice, stating that a strike may begin as early as May 23 (this coming Friday) if a resolution is not reached before the date. If you have upgraded your shipping method, then this will not affect you, as the upgraded shipping method does not use Canada Post. Your rewards will be sent as soon as I have the pins graded, and I will be charging cards soon for the shipping/ add-on. For backers who chose the standard shipping method, most likely I will not be able to ship out your rewards until we understand fully what is going on. I did read about potentially a rotating strike? I am not 100% sure what it entails, but as soon as we have more information, we will let you know. Thank you so much for your understanding.

US Backers
Since, the $800 De Minimis exemption for goods made in China and Hong Kong was cancelled in early May, our pins that are made in China, is subject to tariff (30%, but this rate may change anytime) for our dear US backers when you receive your packages. The other issue we are also facing is that Canada Post will be going on strike as early as May 23rd. Since I will be using Canada Post to ship your rewards, therefore I will not be able to ship out your rewards until that get resolved as well. I will keep you updated if there are any changes or if I figured out other methods of shipping them. Thanks again for all your patience. 

International Backers
As soon as I finished grading the pins, I will be shipping out your rewards! Credit cards will be charged soon.

Hello Adventurers!

I am really excited to let you know that mass production for the pin has finally started! I did place an order with my manufacturer at the middle of March as planned, but since these pins are a bit more complicated than any other pins I have designed, I wanted to see a sample for some of the pins before starting mass production. Here are some images I received from my manufacturer. What I am looking for is to make sure the attires fit the kitty like how I envisioned, and then of course to make sure the magnet works on the kitty pin (definitely don't want to make hundreds of kitty pins and then find out we use the wrong metal for the kitty). These are looking good. So we have started mass production. According to schedule, hopefully production will be done by early/ middle of May as planned.

I always aim to include two backing pin posts for all my pins, but unfortunately, my manufacturer had informed me that for three of the pins, due to limited space on the back of the pin, we can only have one pin post. These three pins are the Meowgic Staff, Catcifer Lantern and the Potion. 

 

Lastly, most of the backer's surveys have been completed and locked already. However, there are still a few surveys that hasn't been completed yet. If you haven't filled out your survey, please kindly have it done as soon as you can. 

If you think you lost your survey, you can find it in the below link:

https://build-a-rpg-kitty.backerkit.com/


That's it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend~

Catherine @WalnutAndClam

Hello adventurers!

Thank you so much for everyone who have completed their backer's survey! It's been one week since surveys were sent, and 80% of all the backers have already completed their surveys! This is a really good number! I am very positive that we can reach our goal of 90% by next week! If you haven't filled out your survey yet, please take the time to have it completed as soon as you can! Your participating is crucial for us to determine how many items we need to order from the manufacturers.  Thank you so much!

When I was checking the pledge manger/ pre-order store, I realized that some of my previous RPG related products such as the gelatinous cube enamel pin and some of the RPG scenery wooden pin are out of stock! I have just replenished the store with everything I have (I took all the stock from my Etsy store). If you are interested in those products, this is your chance to grab them! 

Finally, just a reminder that orders will be locked on March 6th (one week from now), and credit card will be charged sometime in March/April when most of the products are ready. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! Have a good day!

-Catherine @WalnutAndClam