HELLOOOOO everyone!!

The time is nigh, it has finally come time to ship out everyone's rewards.

Here's all the things that have happened since the last update!

All pins have been graded! We have a pretty good ratio going. All pins are pre-backed except the minis. I'll be backing them myself depending on how many each person got.

B-grades classify as:
- Overfilled/underfilled epoxy
- Small missed enamel spots
- Small spots in the enamel
- Visible scratches or blemishes

The biggest rule I follow is if you can't see the problem from an arms length away, it is not a flaw worthy of being a B-grade.

Of course every backer will be getting A-grades.

SOME THINGS CONSISTENT ON THE PINS

The Notocupes pin has it's UV printing done on the top of the epoxy dome. This is a slight difference to what I originally wanted, as I didn't know the details of the process. I'm considering this a learning opportunity for future pins as it doesn't really get in the way of enjoying the pin.

The freebie Animal Akademia pin has a lot of flaws in it. There was a mistake in the order process and while it was meant to be 1.5in, it instead accidentally got swapped with the mini Thylacocephala. So the freebie pin is 1in, while Thyla is 1.5in. This has caused an issue where there are small blemishes on the metal. Since this is a freebie bonus pin, it will not be remade as I don't want excess stock of it since it was meant to be a bonus for you guys only. This is something I have noted in my notes so it doesn't repeat in the future.

I sacrificed myself to the heat of the attic to get all of these sticker sheets cut out. I'm glad I chose to do this in the morning of the ONE day that had slightly lower temperatures, because I think I would have actually died up there on hotter days. It was easily 40+C. A funny video spawned out of this.

The postcards look great, the stickers have special effects, and all the wooden cicadas are varnished and keyringed (is that a word?)

Yes the socks! I got the socks. The socks are here!!!!

Here's the video about the socks!!! -> Instagram | Tiktok

I coerced my brother to put together some of the shipping boxes for it.

You know... you don't realise how much almost 200 backers is until you have to store 200 boxes somewhere. I fear the requirement of a studio space may be needed soon.

I also got a label printer. So that's pretty cool. Gonna be testing it out with this campaign and hopefully it speeds up the label process a lot!

The rollout of shipping will be slow. On my last campaign I was able to pack maybe 20 packages a day- when working fully freelance. Now I only have about 2-3h in the evenings after clocking out so I expect this to take the rest of the month.

I'm going to ship in order of difficulty. Domestic order to Ireland will be first, followed by Europe, UK and then the rest of international orders afterwards.

This is a formal invitation for you to join me on my next project, BUGGED OUT!!

This is going to be a mini pin project in collaboration with the Super League of Science! There will be freebies involved ;D

The pins are going to be in a different style, but full of cuteness, chibiness, and bugs :]
I will also be entertaining more socks as a stretch goal!

So join early! Every button click counts :]

I will be sharing details about it during the launch party and on my socials too!

As members of my Discord heard yesterday, the Spooky Circuit leftovers have at last been inventoried, photographed, and made available for purchase!

If you wanted to add some of the pins/stickers/patches therein to your Soft Circuit orders, the leftovers have now been appended to the add-ons and pre-order store.

Pardon the slight delay on getting these live - my grandfather passed unexpectedly last month, which prompted me to make a surprise trip back across the ocean to attend his funeral and spend some much needed time with family. I'm finally back home and getting back up to speed on everything. <3

How to add the Spooky Goods to your order varies based on the form it initially took, and whether or not you wish to combine it or expedite it:

🐺 If you backed the campaign proper, you can edit your survey to add them to your order.

🐉 If you did not back the campaign and previously made a pre-order, I can manually add the desired item(s) to help you avoid paying shipping twice. Email [email protected] with the email you used in your order, along with what item(s) you'd like to add, and I will help you out! 

🐈 If you backed for a plush or plush bandana and want to place a Spooky order that ships sooner than the estimated plush fulfillment timeline (January-February), placing a separate pre-order that does not include a plush or plush bandana is a way to accomplish this on purpose. 

All other Soft Circuit orders are set to fulfill in September, which brings me to my next update.

I checked in with my pin factory representative to ascertain the status of our order:

Everything except the Northern Lights variants are done, as rainbow plating takes longer to complete; it's absolutely worth the wait though, because as we saw with the Spooky Void Line, this manufacturer absolutely knocks the anodized treatment out of the park with lots of beautiful variation. All the other designs are finished and packed!

My rep estimates the pins will be ready to ship to me in about two weeks time. From there, they take at least a week to reach me, and then I must once again undertake the long process of grading them - examining each of the thousands of pins one by one for quality control - followed by fixing them to their backing cards. This generally takes me another month to complete, so we can now expect all non-plush orders to fulfill in late September.

As plush sampling seems set to indeed wrap up by August, orders with plush and plush bandanas are currently still estimated for January-February fulfillment. Add-ons and shipping will also be charged in September rather than August! 

I cannot accurately calculate the final plush shipping until I have the prototypes in hand to weigh and box-fit test. If they haven't reached me by then, I will segment out shipping charges for the plush orders to happen at a later date. I'll keep all of you in the loop about when charges will occur, and you will also receive an email alert 48 hours prior. :)

Speaking of which - our final fiddly little details on Byte have been squared away!! My rep from that supplier sent me a video as final confirmation, so here are a couple stills from that:

She looks absolutely spot-on and is giving 90s robot dog in the very best way, I cannot wait to meet her in person. You can see this friend in motion over on my BlueSky or Mastodon!

I'm also excited to declare that we're down to last granular adjustments on Python!

Happily, the square sockets were able to be moved directly under the wings after all with the current materials, just by shifting the seam placement! And the nose pit arrangement looks correct in this pass as well.

The top vs bottom wing embroidery now includes the desired subtle variation in line placement, so that the panels overlap more like feathers.

I sent along my final adjustment notes as well —

The designer I'm working with has since clarified that due to how thin the horns are, applique + embroidery would make the corners too stiff, so they were made with splicing instead. So contrary to my change requests, those will remain fabric only/as they are, which looks great and is fine by me.

We've now hit an incredible 67 pre-orders for Python, so thank you again for loving this playful noodlefriend! I'm hoping it will only take one or two more revisions tops to land on their final, and then all the prototypes can make their way to me.

I've also received photos of the other colorways of the plush-sized bandana, and even in the factory lighting they're looking crisp and vibrant! I look forward to being able to photograph Byte and Python wearing each of these myself once the samples arrive. 😊

The final Soft Circuit goodie update is that I now have the character magnets in hand, which calls for celebratory photos.

I'm pleased with how they turned out, and the magnetic backing on them is nice and strong too.

I ordered plenty of extras, so if you missed out on adding these guys to your order before, you can still do so up until things lock down in September!

The gears keep turning, so to wrap up I'd like to offer two more pin-in-progress sneak peeks~

You can hop over to the GEARS OF GAIA and SPECTRAL CIRCUIT teaser pages to follow either or both campaigns. :3

That brings us up to date on the current status of everything for now! If you have any questions at all or need help with your orders, feel free to reach out to me at any time. Thank you as ever for being here. <3

Hello,
I had intended for an update to be posted last month, but unfortunately I had to fly out to Washington for a few weeks to assist with a friend's funeral. It took a lot out of me and honestly the time melted away while I was there. Last week my mom had heart surgery, so I've been assisting her too. Of course, now I'm back and I'm in the middle of moving both my household and my mom in to one house! Off-kilter is how I would describe the last couple of months. This summer really hit me in a series of strange, unprecedented ways.

Nonetheless, (wow that's actually how you spell that, I never realized) I have some unfortunate news about the sticker sheets, as they are delayed in their production due to the foil effect bleeding the words and details together. I'm not sure why the cheetahs are especially washed out in their print as the tigers are fully saturated, but they have offered to make corrections so the sticker sheets will be improved in the final run.

So currently I am waiting for my stickers manufacturer to get back to me with new sheet proofs. The rest of the stickers and the shakers are finished, but they did not send photos before they shipped them, so I hope they are correctly saturated upon arrival. 

Speaking of shipping~: Due to the timing of my move and my August convention schedule, it is likely the pins will be sent to my previous address sometime next month. I won't be returning until September 5th, at which point I'll just have to coordinate pickup from my sister. All the rewards will likely be arriving around this time to my previous address, so I will have to grade them in early September, which pushes my fulfillment into late September/early October. 

August is going to be chaotic for me, but I can promise to have updated photos as I get them from manufacturers. Anything that gets shipped to me of course I won't have quality confirmation on until they are in hand, but I will certainly have one giant update to fill in the visual gaps once I do. Originally I had wanted to run two Backerkit projects this year, but sometimes life has other plans. 

Thank you all for your patience as all this is happening, it's been a time. 
Starr Vipi

Hey guys! I hope you all are enjoying your new dino pins! I already received some wonderful and kind feedback from a few of you, and I'm personally very happy with how everything turned out as well! Thank you all so much for helping this project come (back?) to life!

Today I've listed my leftover pins on my shop if there are any you missed or want to pick up some more! I also have a small sale going on that combines with anything in my shop, as well as some mystery bags for items with minor flaws (I call them 'OOPS! Bags!'), so please check that out too!

>>> https://versiris.com/ <<<

Please note again that if you still have not filled out your survey, not completed paying for your rewards and have in general not responded to communications you will not be able to receive your pins. So please this is your last chance to get in touch!

Thank you all again for the amazing campaign, and my first Pintopia was a blast. You all made it great! If you'd like to stay in touch please follow my shop newsletter. I only send updates when something is actually new or on sale, there's no spam.

But most importantly: Enjoy the pins! 🦖

Until next time
▼ Versy

Hello gentle robot enthusiasts!

As always, tossing in a reminder that if you want news about developments on any Short Circuit goodies or my art in general fastest, be sure to join my Discord and peek at the development channels.

That being said, it's formal update time to let y'allemaal know that --

 

Economic circumstances are tricky for many at the moment and we kept wavering from within 1-3 orders of meeting our previous goal, so I investigated procuring a smaller quantity of Pythons if necessary when it comes to bulk order time. Though the margin per plush will definitely give me much less wiggle room, it's doable and I really want them to exist! At the time of writing we're sitting at 62 orders and that's plenty for this revised outlook, so everyone who orders a Python plush will receive one!!

The retail price for any leftover Pythons post-Soft Circuit fulfillment will definitely have to be higher, so grab one now if you know you'd enjoy the companionship of this silly noodle. You can add a Python to your pledge via the add-on section of your survey. If you didn't back the campaign, they can also be purchased via the Soft Circuit Pre-Order Store. Post-campaign add-ons, pre-orders, and shipping will not be charged until August. If you need any help adjusting your order, don't hesitate to reach out. :]

In related news, I'm still going back and forth with our supplier to iron out the last particulars on these two friends, but we are so close now.

Byte is genuinely ALMOST there, it's now just down to two picky spacing details on the face: the width of the strips in her ears, and the spacing of the eyes. All the other lingering change requests have now been addressed!

I'm very grateful to this manufacturer and the designer they have assigned to us for their patience and hard work. Knock on wood that the next sample will be ready to head to me for final approval!

You've already peeped the latest Python prototype in the top of this post, but here they are agai--

Oh, hm. The noodle child has been temporarily SILENCED. 😂 And also shaken down, as I requested a video of them being wiggled about to get a sense of the stuffing level (you can view it on Mastodon or Bluesky). But don't worry, for Python this is all in good fun and they'll be sending you a fresh volley of cheerful greetings in no time at all!

Above are the change notes I sent along! I made another attempt to convey that the top and bottom wing embroidery should differ slightly. Giving them the vague illusion of layering like feathers should is a detail I love, even though they're not bird wings per se. 

My rep also came back with the information that those small purple squares under the wings (meant to be "sockets" where the wings attach) can't be moved right up against the wings as I've requested for production. I asked if it would be possible with other adjustments, such as removing the embroidered border, and was told no, the only method they'll be able to achieve that placement would be fabric printing. For such a small detail, I gave the go-ahead to see how that looks on the next sample. If it looks good, then neat! If not, I'll either remove those squares or dig into additional options. As ever fear not, I'm particular as heck and dedicated to making sure these guys look their best.

I'm really pleased with how Python is shaping up, and I hope you love them so far too!! If you know anyone who needs a plush pup or noodle in their life, please don't hesitate to pass the link along. Word of mouth is the best gift y'all can give an independent artist. <3

Speaking of art:

You lovely folks voted on which robots should hangout, and at last here is the finished result!

Play isn't within these units' intended range of functionality, but the Short Circuit bots all run a bit contrary to their designs in delightful ways -- it looks like Malware and Mozzy learned the importance of fun for its own sake, and are engaged in a rousing game of tag!

Once finished, I settled the bulk order of magnets with that supplier asap. I'm pleased to report they were speedy as heck and production has already completed:

As with most other items, these magnets can still be added on to your pledges via the survey or pre-ordered in the store if you did not back the campaign proper. 💛

Miss out on any of the Spooky Circuit units? You'll have a second chance to get your paws on them!

I wanted to add some of the Spooky leftovers to the Soft Circuit store in June (so that they'll be available to grab with combined shipping), but life has been throwing curve balls at me lately. Soon though! I need to finish editing the product photos and setting up their associated add-ons; I will holler again in this space when they are available.

Finally a reminder that thanks to folks like you, I have several upcoming campaigns in the works! Three of them already have teaser pages live, if you'd like to follow along:

🩸 Spectral Circuit, the next update to the Short Circuit 'verse, will be launching with Pintober 2026
🎮 Gears of GAIA, a love letter to another piece of media which straddles the intersection of tech and nature, will follow closely on its heels as part of Tributes
🐕 Proud Noodles will feature colorful sighthounds set to run in 2027 for Pin of Pride

The upcoming pin designs will include a number of fun creatures, but here's an additional teaser for you: if you're a deer enjoyer, you'll be eating well --

Thank you all as ever for being here, I appreciate your support! Take it easy and stay safe if you're experiencing one of the many heatwaves going around, and regardless of location I hope you are well. <3