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I wanted to show you some more photos of the pins and collector cards, as well as show off the washi tape that finally arrived after 2 weeks in shipping hell. But first, all the news:
All the pins have arrived and don‘t let me keep you in suspense: first impression: they look amazing! Colours came out as expected, the metal is nice and shiny and the contrasts are great! Check them out!
Now that the pins are here, let me give you an update on the timeline!
Timeline
🔎 Quality Control - The next 1-2 weeks will be spent going through all pins individually to check for imperfections. That includes nicks in the metal, bubbles in the enamel or inclusions.
🛠️ Preparing for shipping - This might be more complex than you think! Apart from ordering more shipping supplies, it also includes weighing all products and setting them up in my inventory software, as well as importing all orders into another software to generate invoices and shipping labels. I am also still hoping for good news regarding shipping to America! I‘ll keep you posted.
💫 Finalising the last few products! I‘ve prioritised working on pins and washi which take longer to produce, so now it‘s time to finalise and order the last few products, that are printed locally or in the EU. That includes the „Thank You“- and backing cards, stickers, stickersheets and notepads, the zine and the colouring book.
✨ The bits and bobs - there are always a few things that show up throughout the process, so I am keeping some wiggle room in my timeline to account for that. For example: the pin banners you can see above come with a white string - I don‘t really like that! Let‘s make it blue! Basically, this category includes the last 10% of making everything just right, and I can‘t wait to make everything perfect for you.
SO my plan is:
May: finish QC and receive all products. Set up shipping on software side and charge cards
Early June: Ship out EU orders
Mid June: Finalise US Shipping and UK Vat, finish hand-binding colouring books
Mid to Late June: Finish shipping to UK, US and RoW
I hope that timeline works for you. Talk to you again soon! Viktoria
Pin production completed this week and all celestial companions are now on their way to me!
🔎 After the pins arrive I will check the quality of every single one + add them to their backing cards. This is my first time making enamel pins, so I don‘t know yet how long it will take me.
🛠️ After all products have arrived and gone through quality check, I will start shipping out your orders! Addresses will lock around May 22nd and cards will be charged soon after.
Please note: I am a Team of One! Things may take longer, but if they do I will let you know!
🚨 Please make sure you complete your pledge manager and enter a valid credit card by May 22nd. If your payment fails your order will go to the back of the line and will only ship after payment (for shipping and the campaign) clears.
Last but not least, take a look at 5 of the updated stamp washi designs! Hope you like them and can‘t wait for you to see them all :)
if you’ve been anything like me, you backed a lot of Pintopia Projects and got lots of updates and notifications in the last few weeks. Now that it’s slowed down a little, let me tell you what I’ve been up to these past weeks!
Just a quick update, that your orders will lock in 24 hours. After your orders lock I will tally the item counts and order all the pins! Remember, that your cards will be charged shortly before shipping, so don't worry about that yet. If for any reason you need to make changes to your shipping address later on, just email me and we will figure it out!
The preoder store is open until March 11th and will ship along with all campaign pledges.
Unlock more pins!
You can also unlock two more pins by preordering: alternative designs for Aquila and Pisces! During the campaign you got to vote for you favourite designs, but I want to give you the chance to unlock both the fish and the owl design now, because the polls really were very close!
How to unlock:
Both Preorders and Backers can help unlock the designs! Add the listing to your cart and check out as usual. If you are a backer, you get access to all the add-ons again through the survey, including the listings for the owl and fish pin.
If we reach 25 preorders for a design, it will be created - and if we don’t, the item will be cancelled and you get your money back. Basically, it’s a tiny crowdfunding campaign! If you’ve backed the campaign, please do not preorder through the store: you’ll pay for shipping twice. If you want to add more to your pledge, you can do that with the survey.
We are halfway through the campaign and have unlocked some really exciting things. I also have some great news for EU-Backers regarding my collab project "Zodiac Goddesses" - you can finally pledge to it!!
All pins unlocked
All 20 pin designs have now been unlocked. The last ones to join us were Aquila, Aquarius, Scorpio and Sagittarius. Take a look!
You have to help me though, because I have a hard time deciding how to colour Sagittarius. I want it to be distinct from Monoceros, so no blues. Please vote for your favourite design in the poll at the end of the post!
Collab Update for EU Pledges!
My collab partner "Zodiac Goddesses" by Arcane Moon has figured out a way to offer limited shipping to the EU and UK, that means EU-customers can now finally back both projects! This news comes with a caveat though. While you will definitely receive my collab pin, you will only receive the collab sticker from the Zodiac Goddesses project. We are trying to find a way to work with our manufacturers to figure something out, but we can’t guarantee anything.
The Celestial Companions Stamp washi tape is one of my all time favourite products. Thanks to you I can now not only restock it, but give it a visual update at the same time! The new tape will feature 10 illustrations of the celestial companions, updated to match the new look.
Have you ever made a Zine? I think it such a cool idea! Basically you divide a sheet of paper into 16 boxes you can illustrate and then with just three strategic cuts and some smart paperfolding BOOM - a tiny little magazine (hence the name). It looks so fun, and I am really enjoying planning out the zine and deciding which fun facts will go into it. I’ll be posting the progress here, but you can already add the zine to your pledge.
And even better: If you add the zine to your pledge,you also receive a digital download of the zine as a colouring page! This is exclusive to backers of the project. Colour in the celestial companions in your favourite colours and learn how to fold a zine. Maybe it’ll inspired you to create your own zine!
New Stretchgoals?
Only one last planned stretch goal remains: the colouring book! I made one for my last campaign as well and you can check it out here: LINK. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a second one in the series? I certainly would LOVE to illustrate all the colouring pages!
I don’t want to be too optimistic, but if we do unlock the colouring book, we could even think about other stretchgoals. Is there anything you’d like to see? Tell me!
Here are some things I am considering:
Pin alternates: the fish design for pisces or a raven/owl design for Aquila maybe?
More Pins: we are still missing a few not-animal-based zodiacs, like gemini and virgo.
Prints and Postcards: Maybe you’d like to decorate the wall around your pin banner, would you want postcards, prints or posters? If so what size?
Keychains: In the original collection I turned leo, vulepcula and ursa minor into acrylic keychains. Would you like to see that again as an add-on?
I’d really love to hear from you so sound off in the comments if any of this sounds interesting!
Last but not least, I want to thank you again for making this project so successful! I can’t wait for you to receive all your pledges, I think everything is going to turn out absolutely incredible!
I wanted to show you some more photos of the pins and collector cards, as well as show off the washi tape that finally arrived after 2 weeks in shipping hell. But first, all the news:
All the pins have arrived and don‘t let me keep you in suspense: first impression: they look amazing! Colours came out as expected, the metal is nice and shiny and the contrasts are great! Check them out!
Now that the pins are here, let me give you an update on the timeline!
Timeline
🔎 Quality Control - The next 1-2 weeks will be spent going through all pins individually to check for imperfections. That includes nicks in the metal, bubbles in the enamel or inclusions.
🛠️ Preparing for shipping - This might be more complex than you think! Apart from ordering more shipping supplies, it also includes weighing all products and setting them up in my inventory software, as well as importing all orders into another software to generate invoices and shipping labels. I am also still hoping for good news regarding shipping to America! I‘ll keep you posted.
💫 Finalising the last few products! I‘ve prioritised working on pins and washi which take longer to produce, so now it‘s time to finalise and order the last few products, that are printed locally or in the EU. That includes the „Thank You“- and backing cards, stickers, stickersheets and notepads, the zine and the colouring book.
✨ The bits and bobs - there are always a few things that show up throughout the process, so I am keeping some wiggle room in my timeline to account for that. For example: the pin banners you can see above come with a white string - I don‘t really like that! Let‘s make it blue! Basically, this category includes the last 10% of making everything just right, and I can‘t wait to make everything perfect for you.
SO my plan is:
May: finish QC and receive all products. Set up shipping on software side and charge cards
Early June: Ship out EU orders
Mid June: Finalise US Shipping and UK Vat, finish hand-binding colouring books
Mid to Late June: Finish shipping to UK, US and RoW
I hope that timeline works for you. Talk to you again soon! Viktoria
Pin production completed this week and all celestial companions are now on their way to me!
🔎 After the pins arrive I will check the quality of every single one + add them to their backing cards. This is my first time making enamel pins, so I don‘t know yet how long it will take me.
🛠️ After all products have arrived and gone through quality check, I will start shipping out your orders! Addresses will lock around May 22nd and cards will be charged soon after.
Please note: I am a Team of One! Things may take longer, but if they do I will let you know!
🚨 Please make sure you complete your pledge manager and enter a valid credit card by May 22nd. If your payment fails your order will go to the back of the line and will only ship after payment (for shipping and the campaign) clears.
Last but not least, take a look at 5 of the updated stamp washi designs! Hope you like them and can‘t wait for you to see them all :)
if you’ve been anything like me, you backed a lot of Pintopia Projects and got lots of updates and notifications in the last few weeks. Now that it’s slowed down a little, let me tell you what I’ve been up to these past weeks!
