All the packages have been dropped off! I thought I'd be able to get them done immediatly last time but I was wrong, that was my hubris talking. And shipping to europe doubled what i thought it was goin to be and I had to actually get a bit more money in to pay for that. Anyway! Everything has been dropped at the post as of today, and hopefull will be arrive shortly! Thank you so much for your patience and for being part of this project. It took longer than I had hoped for but I think (and hope) you'll be really happy with the products 🖤
Most of the pins have been shopped! Should be all out in the next week
Hey everyone! Super excited to announce that the pins have shipped! Im currently still wrestling with some overseas packages, and canadian with the postal strikes, but at this moment 160 have been dropped in the mail and Im about to work on the rest.
Thank you all for your patience in this project, I'm really proud of how all the pins have turned out in the end. The grading and backing of the pins took me longer than anticipated because I keep getting sick, so I'm moving slower and the people who would usually help me cant because i don't want them to get sick.thankfully not any major illness but better safe than sorry. But i've been illness free other than being out of breath for about a week and a half so i finally was able to power through them with the help of a few friends! They're coming around again tonight to finish as many as we can, and im hoping to finish any scragglers sunday.
Im so proud of how all the pins turned out and also so glad to finally get them in peoples hands. If you get them, and you're also happy about it, I would love if you'd consider checking out my next Pintopia project! Its going to be a similar theme, but instead of deep sea mermaids, they will all be extinct sea creatures, going back in to the far past! It will be like this project, with larger 2.5 inch or so merpeople and 1.5 inch animals. It will be up in January. Im hoping to have some art work for it in the next three weeks. Usually id want to already have it but I spent several weeks unable to get much done so here we are 😅.
The pins are in! Im still grading them but the major issues i can see at a glance in the last pins are much better/gone. Hoping to start shipping next week and be done within the month, assuming everything is good to go.
Ill update again if there are any problems holding us up but im so excited to get these out to you guys! I cant thank you enough for your patience 🖤
The pins are not quite done yet, but I’ve been receiving a lot of pictures as they finish them and so far they look much better. Just wanted to pop in and let everyone know I haven’t forgotten, and give a small update! I’m hopeful to receive them in August so I can get everything shipped out immediatly. All the other merchandise is sitting together in a tub, waiting, staring at me.
He’s so pale TT.TT edit to add: so glad we are fixing these colors
These colors are so much better
I had hoped to be working on shipping right now, but alas. Im having to get several of the designs remade, which my manu has greatly apologized for thankfully. I waited a bit to update on this so i could be sure they were going to do so. There were much higher flaw rates and one whole design has issues with the dyed metal which ill attach. For referenc expect about 5-10% of the pins i order to be b grades. Thats acceptabl to me and i order enough to cover it no problem. This was closer to 60-90% for most of them. I can only assume they hired someone new or were panicked trying to finish them too fast from the tarrifs, because ive seen a lot of pins from them, including other artists in this event, and none had these issues TT.TT
Regardless! They are being remade now, hopefully arriving this month in a few weeks. Ill keep you guys updated as i know more.
Im attaching some of the flaws so you guys can cry with me
Her metal looks like a sweet tart. Not exactly what i had in mind...
Screen print way too close to main color and the metal is totally tarnished
My friends helping me grade these went and got my their spiced rum around this point lmao
Weirdly the two designs that faired the best were the squid and the whale.
Hey everyone, I'm sure you are getting a bunch of updates relating to this right now so i'll make it quick as I can.
Production continues, everything is slowly being made. I am still making all the pins, you will still recieve them as previously agreed, nothing will change there. What might change is the timeline for me shipping these out. My manu is a delight and has agreed that if there are still these issues when production ends they will hold them for me for a time hoping that the tarrifs will lessen or drop. I am hoping this wont be necessary but for full disclosure if i have to pay 104% tarrifs on this i will have to get another job or do a huge amount of sales or something to pay the extra several thousand dollars this will cost me and i didnt budget for. I was blessed to go over my goal to a degree but not enough to cover that. Ill do that if it comes to it. But you can probably guess thats not ideal. Hell of a time to have my best (and most expensive) project TT.TT. That said, policy is changing daily so who knows! Im not settled on moping yet, just wanting to be honest that it might take longer to get everything to everyone. This will also change how I set my goals and prices up going forward. Im hoping not to raise prices by much, but my goals will need to have much more padding on them with this going on. I dont love it, but it is what it is.
All that said, if you would like to do something to help me, and any other artist/small business out, please please please reach out to your officials. This is a site that can help you do it quicker and easier. If you are in a secure position it would mean a lot for you to do so. Im doing my best to remain hopeful, I'm still going to be doing projects going forward this year, I will likely just be doing them much more cautiously and on a smaller scale than before. I love doing huge projects with 3 inch pins and 25 designs but even if I'm lucky enough to fund all of them its not safe right now. As always, I appreciate you all for being a part of this journey with me and for going through these ups and downs. We'll figure it out! 🖤
If you love all things deep sea this is the project for you! The larger pins will be clocking in at approximately 2.5 inches, and the animals will be approximately 1.5.
If you are interested, feel free to vote on my survey here, so i can hear your voice on which design to unlock first! You can also give me your thoughts and ideas if you like. It helps me avoid putting them in the wrong order, and I really appreciate your feed back.
