Hello everyone!

Like the title says, this update will be a bit of a mixed bag with some good news and bad news. We'll start with the good, but please read to the end!

The pins are finally here! They were delivered to me early last week, and I've been hard at work quality checking, counting, and taking photos of them. They look adorable and the packaging I designed for them looks fantastic! I truly cannot wait for you to get your orders!

While quality checking/sorting the pins, I noticed a lot of them are damaged. I can't tell if this was a shipping/ packaging issue on the manufacturer's part, or if they just didn't do as thorough of quality checking as they usually do, but there are a LOT of pins affected. I estimate around 60% of these pins have scratches on the face of them, spots in the lighter enamel colors, one design has the wrong color enamel entirely, bubbles under the plating, missing enamel in some designs, and scrapes on the edges/corners of them. I've already reached out to my manufacturer with my concerns but have yet to hear back. I really hope they offer to replace the damaged pins, especially since there are sooo many but until they respond to my email, I don't know what will happen. This is super disappointing- this is the fourth time I've used this manufacturer for pins and I haven't had any issues with them before, but I do think they will fix this!

Fortunately however, while a lot of the pins are damaged or have noticeable flaws, I have enough of most designs to fulfill your orders. As with all my campaigns, I ordered much more than I needed for this project in the hope of listing these in my shop after the campaign concludes, so I ended up with enough pins in good condition that I can fill most campaign orders.

That being said, there are two designs that I do not have enough pins for. Those being the Boston Cream Doughnut Spider, which I only have 14 'A Grade' ones out of the 31 I need, and the Challah Centipede which looks greenish instead of the rich brown they were supposed to be- which unfortunately affects all pins of this design. 

Please comment on this update, message me on Instagram (apothecaryoctopus), OR email me at [email protected] which of the following is your preferred course of action:

If you ordered one or both of these designs and I don't hear from you by June 15th, I will assume you are OK waiting for the remakes.

Since I do have enough of the other designs to fulfill orders without the Boston Cream Spider or Challah Centipede, I do plan to start shipping your orders this week. If you need to update your address because you moved or just need your order delivered somewhere else, please keep an eye out for the 'locking addresses' email that should go out tonight and follow the prompts to update your shipping address. If you don't need to make any updates, you can ignore that message and I'll send it to the address you provided with your survey :)

I'm so sorry this isn't a happier update, but I do hope I can clear this up soon and the folks who ordered the Boston Cream and Challah Centipede pins won't have to wait too long for the new pins. 

Thank you for reading, and again thank you so much for your patience!
-Danny

Gooood morning bug enthusiasts!

This will be a short update- but I wanted to let y’all know that THE PINS ARE DONE! Manufacturing has finally finished on ALL the designs from this project, and they have now been shipped. It should be about 8-14 days before they get to me, but as soon as they arrive I’ll be counting, sorting, and quality checking all of them- then it’s packing time!

Quality checking and order packing will probably take a couple weeks, but I have a few friends (and my mom, hi mom!) coming over to help out so we can get your orders out ASAP! Right now, it looks like your orders should arrive late June to early July for domestic (US) orders, and mid to late July for international folks.

Manufacturing for this project has taken a lot longer than it usually does, so I want to thank you all again for your continued patience! Thankfully, all the backer cards, stickers, and sticker sheets are already in my hands so shipping can begin as soon as the pins arrive and are quality checked.

I’ll be posting another update as soon as the pins get to me with new photos of all the designs together, and provide a more accurate timeline update. But that’s all for now! Thanks for reading :)

Thank you,
-Danny
ApothecaryOctopus

Hello everyone~

It's been a few weeks since my last update, and while I wanted to post an update earlier, I'm glad I waited! The sticker sheets arrived a little earlier than I thought, and I got some more pictures from my manufacturer I can share- so this will be a slightly longer update as well :)

Both the stickers and sticker sheets arrived, and they are fantastic! All in all, there are 5 sticker sheet designs, plus 8 individual stickers:

I don't do sticker sheets all that often, but I LOVE how these came out and I can't wait for you all to get them~

These are taking a bit longer than I hoped they would, but they are coming along! I got some more photos of the finished designs and most of them look great already, though I've requested a couple changes on the Macaron beetles to make their colors pop a little more. 

These are looking ~delicious~ already and hopefully soon I'll have some more photos of these and the updated macaron beetles :)

One thing I love doing for these campaigns is making special backer cards for each collection! For this set, I decided to keep it simple and do a green-tile background with a warm brown frame for the large (Macaron Beetle Set) and small cards (Single Pin). This will match the theme of the campaign and provide a nice neutral background for everything.

For orders of 2-4(ish) pins, I'll be able to use a special folding card that you can open to reveal your pins! The front of this card has a chalkboard menu-style design to make the unboxing feel more special :)

While these cards are temporary packaging meant to hold everything together in transit and provide a temporary display, I still enjoy doing all I can to make a fun and immersive unboxing experience. I hope you like them!

Originally I hoped to have everyone's orders shipped by the end of June, but I think with these delays it may be closer to the end of July. Regardless, I'll make sure to keep everyone updated on any major changes and I'll be sure to show you all as many photos of the items as I can in the meantime.

That's all for now! More updates to come~
-Danny

Good afternoon everyone~

Just popping in for a quick update on pin progress, sticker production, and packaging design-

Before we start, just a quick reminder that there are still a few of you who haven't filled out your surveys or who's payments have errored, so please double check your surveys to make sure they're 100% filled out and that your card was processed. Thank you!

Onto the Good Stuff- The Pins:

Most them are nearing the final stages of production! Several designs have already been approved for full production, and I'm just waiting on the Macron Beetles and a couple others to get their screenprinted details ready for approval, but I do have some photos to share of the finished ones:

I also have some pics of the ones still waiting for the final details, but proceed with caution as some of these are quite naked lol

It'll still be a couple more weeks before these are done and in my hands, but I do still hope to get them done and shipped as soon as I can! I already plan on having a few friends over to help quality check and sort everything once they do arrive, and while it may be slightly later than originally planned, I will still try to get these shipped by the end of May :)

Next- Stickers and Backing Cards:

I'll be placing orders for the stickers and sticker sheets soon! These take far less time to make than the pins, so I usually like to wait a little bit before ordering them so everything arrives around the same time. 
I'll also be placing the order for the backing cards soon, so those should also get here around the same time as the pins and stickers. As far as the design for them goes, I originally wanted to do a pastry box inspired design, but I had the idea to do a cute cafe chalk board menu and I love the new direction :) Mock-ups of this in the next update!

More photos coming soon! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend~

Goood evening~

Just a quick update to let you all know that the pins are in production! I should be seeing some samples in a week or two, and it should be another 3-4 weeks after that for them all to be made. Keep an eye out for more on that in the coming month!

Next- I am locking surveys! This will be your last chance to make changes to your order, but if you need me to reopen your survey for whatever reason after they have been locked, please let me know and I can do that for you :)

Next week I'll be charging your cards for the shipping costs and for any additional items you may have added to your order. Please be on the look out for an email from BackerKit which will say if your card has successfully been charged, and if you receive one saying there was an issue with your payment or that the charge failed, please fix it as soon as you can! If your payment has still failed or errored by the time I go to pack orders, I won't be able to send out your items :/ I'll post another update closer to when I'll start shipping with another reminder.

In the next few weeks I'll be working on designs for the backing cards and ordering stickers. I'll of course also be working on new products and designs for my main shop, so if you're looking for more of my art feel free to follow me on Instagram, Threads, and TikTok! 

Follow my socials or check out my Etsy shop here: https://linktr.ee/ApothecaryOctopus

That's all for now! I look forward to posting another update with production progress and hopefully some pics of the pins~