This was a truly insane journey the last few weeks, but I am happy to say that ALL COMPLETE ORDERS ARE NOW SHIPPED!!!
My progress has been slow and my days very long, often sitting until 10pm after work to complete these as soon as possible. My fantastic friend Blossom Beast has come down all the way from one end of Ireland to the other to help out with this and packed over 80 packages in three days. That's insane!!
This campaign has taught me a lot about streamlining the process, how various exports options work, how to use a label printer, and how to bulk upload shipping labels instead of copy pasting line for line. So thank you to all my friends and mutuals who have helped out along the way. This community is incredible and it's an honour to be part of everyone's lives here.
Be sure to look out for your packages, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know how you guys are liking the socks! :D Customer feedback is SO important to me, it helps me improve my art, craft, and how I approach designing new products. You can tag me with your goodies and reviews on Instagram, Bluesky, or Tiktok, all under @Erujayy
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Now for the stragglers.... There is around 16 of you who haven't finished filling out your pledge, or have problems with cards. That's quite a big number actually. So if you have any problems with that and would like help, either email me at [email protected] or contact backerkit staff please!
I will leave the project open for the next few weeks so people can fix up their pledges.
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Since this is going to be the last update of this project, I'm giving one last shoutout to my next campaign BUGGED OUT which is launching in a few weeks! Don't worry EU folk, nothing changes for ye, I will still ship.
I now also have some of the first pins designed! One of which will have community polls to decide for colours, so make sure to sub to the new campaign to know when those polls go live! :]
I can't believe it was so close again but with the split of votes between the two polls the winner is Deluxe Chained Pin Set ! This option will have a design poll up through this weekend, with the final pin artwork displayed next week. These pins are available to add to your pledge now!
With so many votes between this and the last poll for the set, this outcome makes sense to me. I'm so excited to sketch out the variant options for these fast bois!
Even though the designs aren't finalized, I have added the Ancient Cave Cheetahs Deluxe Chained Pin Set to both pledge levels and add-ons. If already know you know you're going to want them, you can add them now! B Grades are also available in limited quantity as both pledge levels and add-ons. If you are pledged to an inclusive tier you will now see this set listed among your rewards. You can add-on one set for $50 in the variant of your choice, or add all 3 variants for the even further discounted price of $115!
Here are the options to choose from for the Ancient Cave Cheetahs poses:
A: Running
B: Stalking
C: Seated
Thank you for your support of this project! Starr Vipi
Three poses to choose from for the Ancient Cave Cheetahs Deluxe Chained Pin Set. Choose the pose set you like best, and the winner will be refined into a pin design added to the campaign!
Here are the two sketches to choose from for the Armored Komodo Dragons design. Choose the composition you like best, and the winner will be refined into a pin design added to the campaign!
This project was funded in just 3 hours and I am so grateful for your support! I have a list of variants and a variety of new designs that YOU backers can choose for stretch goal designs as the project reaches $4,000+ in funding. A new stretch goal will be added at each $1,000 mark beyond!
How can I choose the design?
First, back the campaign! That will list you as a project backer, giving you access to the backer-only polls I'll be using. Then go to the Community tab of the project and select "Polls", and vote! New polls will be released as designs are selected and finalized and funding goals are reached.
The first 5 stretch goals will be "Variety", brand new designs to the campaign. Following that, stretch goals of $9,000+ will be "Variant" goals, or different color schemes for existing designs. Before the goal is met, a Variant or Variety poll will be live. Once the funding is reached (see achievements for progress) the poll will close, and a new poll for the design category will open. This category poll will be open for 48 hours to give people time to review the options. The sketch poll will be released after that, to determine the final design. Once the design is added to the campaign a new Update will be posted to begin the cycle again!
How do I add these designs to my pledge?
Important! Pledging to the Ultimate Collector or Complete Enamel Pin Set (Standard & Deluxe) tiers WILL INCLUDE THESE PINS AT NO ADDITIONAL COST. In other words, as stretch goal pins are added to the campaign, inclusive tiers will not go up in price but will include more rewards. This is also true for the Complete Sticker Set tier. Each design will have a matching sticker made and the Complete Sticker Set tier will include ALL stickers from the campaign with no change to the pledge tier price. This pricing is EXCLUSIVELY available to Backerkit backers, as without your support these pins would not exist!
What are the designs to choose from?
I have a list of designs I had considered already, but will be adding to this list based on what YOU are interested in! Go to the project, or reply to the stretch goal update and comment what you want to see and I will pull up relevant research to see if it fits the series. If it does, I'll add the paper here as *BACKER SUGGESTION* so you can spot them right away!
I missed the last update, can I still make a suggestion?
I am always accepting Backer Suggestions, you can comment them on updates or directly to the project and I will see them! If I have 👍 your comment that means there is a match to both relevant research and it is on theme with the series. Please bear in mind they will not be added until the next poll goes up, which will be once the current poll ends or the next goal is reached, whatever happens first. Otherwise any answers that do not win will still be in the rotation of upcoming polls, unless there is an overwhelming amount of Backer Suggestions. Polls will have 10 or fewer options each time to keep it manageable.
Here is a list of variants of existing designs I considered, but did not use, for this project:
Queen of Wolves 926F Spitfire (Harmonic Future Wolf Deluxe Pin Variant)
Chocolate & Black Lab / Community voted service vest text (Dog Video Call Variant)
White Tiger Duo (Melanistic Odisha Tiger Chained Pin Set Variant)
Gothic Cathedral (Black metal with red stained glass effect fill Bat Harmony Variant)
Here is the list of papers I saved, but did not use, for this project:
Here are the two variants for the Harmonic Future Wolf Deluxe stickers. Which color do you like more? (For a larger photo, check the update!) Backers within the first 48 hours will get this sticker for FREE with their pledge!
These stickers are also available as add-ons in the campaign and will come with any Harmonic Future Wolf LE: Uridim pledge tier
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.
Now's your chance to grab Remnant and friends!
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.
Current Fulfillment Timeline
I checked in with my pin factory representative to ascertain the status of our order:
Box one of two!
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. :)
Byte Prototype Finished!
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:
The spacing of all the facial details looks perfect now!
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!
Python's Third Prototype
I'm also excited to declare that we're down to last granular adjustments on Python!
Almost there!!
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 supplier has concluded the only way to fully show off this absolute noodle is to dangle them, hahah
The top vs bottom wing embroidery now includes the desired subtle variation in line placement, so that the panels overlap more like feathers.
I'm so pleased with the wings!
I sent along my final adjustment notes as well —
All picky little requests, since they look wonderful as is too now~
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.
Plush Bandanas
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. 😊
All six Unit Line colorways, to plug in bot boards on your plush~
Magnets
The final Soft Circuit goodie update is that I now have the character magnets in hand, which calls for celebratory photos.
How they look as a set!
I'm pleased with how they turned out, and the magnetic backing on them is nice and strong too.
They're right at home on a fridge.
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!
More Sneak Peeks of Upcoming Campaigns
The gears keep turning, so to wrap up I'd like to offer two more pin-in-progress sneak peeks~
A pyrotechnic puppy and bearded vulture that will be up for funding this autumn!
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.
Tigers Sticker Sheet
Cheetahs sticker sheet
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
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.
HOW GRADING WORKS
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.
OTHER GOODIES
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?)
THE SOCKS!!!!!
Yes the socks! I got the socks. The socks are here!!!!
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!
SO LET'S GET TO IT!!!
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.
NEW PROJECT?!
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!
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!
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.
