Hey everyone,

Everything arrived from the manufacturer a few days ago, and I wanted to share a production update. There’s good news and bad news, but I need to start with the bad news so the good news makes sense.

While unpacking the boxes, I noticed right away that there were quality issues across most, if not all, of the designs.

I’ve worked with this factory for a few years now and they’ve always been incredibly reliable, so this was really disappointing and unexpected. 

Recently, enamel and metal factories have been unusually busy, which has become a common topic among my pin maker friends. Artwork approvals are taking weeks instead of days, and production timelines have been longer than usual. This isn't something isolated to the factory that produced these designs—it's something creators have been seeing across manufacturers throughout the industry. My best guess is that the increased workload may have contributed to these issues.

The main problem I noticed was tarnishing on the metal. Unfortunately, this isn’t the kind of tarnish that can be buffed out with a jewelry cloth. It appears to be tarnishing or staining that happened during the manufacturing process, which leaves marks on the metal that can’t be removed. This type of issue is usually caused when moisture, oils, or other contaminants interfere with the plating process, preventing the finish from bonding and settling properly. Because of that, the affected pieces will need to be remade.

At first glance, I’d estimate that around 80% of the pieces I received have some kind of quality issue or defect.

The good news is that I ordered a lot (so many) of extras for each design. I ordered well beyond what was needed for backer orders so that I’d also have inventory for wholesale and the online shop after fulfillment was complete.

Because of that, I believe I may still have enough standard-grade pieces to begin fulfilling and shipping backer orders. I won’t know for certain until Sunday.

On Sunday, I’ll be sorting through hundreds of pieces, inspecting each one closely, photographing the quality issues, and counting exactly how many pieces need to be remade. It’s a time-consuming process, but once everything is sorted, I’ll be able to give the manufacturer accurate quantities for replacements and have a much clearer idea of how many orders can start shipping right away.

I know this is not the update anyone hopes for, and it’s definitely not the one I wanted to give. But I’m doing everything I can to keep fulfillment moving while also making sure no one receives a pin that doesn’t meet standard-grade quality. Waiting longer for to deliver this project is kind of worst case scenario for me right now, but I can't and would not, knowingly, give backers items with defects. 

In the meantime, check out the photos below for your first look at the finished grips! (ones without defects)

Hey everyone,

The pins and grips are finally on their way to me! 🎉

Once they arrive, we’ll begin sorting everything and assembling the grips, which means we’re getting very close to shipping.

This is your reminder to double check your shipping address if you need to make any changes. You can log into your BackerKit account, navigate to your survey, and update your address there.

Thank you all so much for your patience and support. I’m so excited to get these into your hands soon 💖

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give a more personal update about where things currently stand with both Firmly Grasp It and The Secret Night Market, because I know I’m very behind on both projects.

I’ve always been really honest with y’all about my mental health and chronic health struggles, two topics I literally make pins about, and the biggest reason for these delays has been my health over the last year and a half.

I’ve been dealing with ongoing GI/chronic health issues that eventually led to another surgery earlier this year. Because of the GI issues, my psychiatric medications also weren’t being absorbed properly, which made managing both my health and work extremely difficult.

Thankfully, I’m now almost two months post-op, things are improving, and my psychiatrist helped me find a medication plan that’s finally working again. I’m no longer out here raw dogging ADHD with nothing but vibes and caffeine, I’ve got meds again, and suddenly it turns out my brain actually functions when the chemicals are chemically balancing. Who could’ve guessed.

All items for this project have officially been ordered, and about 90% of everything is already here in my office ready to be packed.

The last items I’m waiting on are:

There was quite a bit of back and forth with the manufacturer regarding the pearl gradients and getting the colors right. I wanted to make sure they actually looked correct before approving production, which added some extra time. Communication with manufacturers can also take several days at a time simply because we are in completely opposite time zones.

Right now, I’m expecting the remaining enamel pieces to arrive in roughly two weeks.

Once they arrive, I’ll immediately begin:

I’ll send out another update right before shipping begins as a reminder in case anyone needs to update their shipping address.

Manufacturing for The Secret Night Market has been split between three different manufacturers. This was mainly because I’m also restocking some older designs at the same time, and certain manufacturers already have molds for specific designs.

At this point:

That last order took a bit longer because we’ve been going back and forth on quantities and confirming exactly which designs each factory will be producing, but I’m about to submit payment for it.

The factories have estimated a working time of approximately 20–30 days, so if everything stays on schedule, the Night Market enamel pins should hopefully start arriving in about a month.

The good news is that aside from the enamel pins themselves, all of the other products, stickers, bookmarks, and additional items are already completed and ordered/produced.

Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding with the delays on both projects.

I’ve been running crowdfunding campaigns for about eight years now, and delays can happen for all kinds of reasons, especially with small businesses like mine, where one person is often handling everything from design and manufacturing to customer service and shipping.

I truly appreciate how kind and supportive y’all have been through it all. It genuinely means a lot.

Business Update - Snarky Co. is now operating under an LLC

One big change behind the scenes is that I’ve officially moved my business from a sole proprietorship to an LLC.

Snarky Co. now operates under All at Once Creative LLC.

This is mostly just a heads up that you may occasionally see the name “All at Once Creative LLC” appear on things like invoices, charges, emails, paperwork, shipping labels, or other business-related operations moving forward. That is simply the LLC that Snarky Co. now operates under, so if you see that name anywhere, just know it’s still me and still Snarky Company.

Pin Kids Collective will be launching its Summer Sun Collaboration on June 7th.

Six pin creators have teamed up to launch new collections of varying themes together. Back paired campaigns, or all campaigns, and receive free bonus items along the way.

These are all smaller collections, and if you’d like to check out the teaser pages for the upcoming projects, you can do so here: https://www.backerkit.com/c/collections/pin-kids-collective?ref=bk-discover-leftnav

This is a much smaller project. Most of the work is already done, the campaign has been sitting in my drafts, and some designs are already in production. So at this point it mostly just needs to launch and run. 

This collection is called Admit One: A Reader’s Club Collection and features a series of enamel pins designed like vintage “Admit One” tickets, each themed around different book genres and tropes.

This collection is designed for anyone who uses humor to cope with mental illness, chronic illness, neurodivergence, or general life chaos.

It's kind of like if Own Your Stigma and All Out of Spoons had a chaotic little humor-filled child together.

Once I have a teaser page and date for this project, I will let y'all know.

Cheers,
Liz