Fulfilment has been complete for over a week now, which means it’s time to add all remaining pins to the shop! The shop update happens TONIGHT at 7PM CEST! If you couldn‘t support the campaign, because you didn‘t have a credit card, now is your chance!
If you order 3 or more items in my shop you get 15% discount this weekend only!
If your card declined during the campaign or pledgemanager, make sure to update it asap so I can send your order before the shop update
US-Customers: you can‘t order in my shop yet, but I am setting up a US shop in October, I‘ll reserve some pins for you and you will get to shop with a special discount then!
Thank you for your support throughout the campaign and stay tuned for more in the future!
Today just a quick update that shipping for the campaign is nearly complete!
Thank you for being patient and for letting me know when your packages arrived, as well as tagging me in your stories. If you haven‘t yet received a shipping confirmation, you may be one of the few people whose pledge hasn‘t shipped yet. Here are the remaining to-dos:
20 UK pledges - You will have gotten an email from me regarding your pledge. Your package will ship tomorrow and your refund should be processed by the end of the week. Let me know if you have any questions left!
10 pledges including colouring books - I am working through them steadily and your pledges should ship by August 22nd. I am taking a few days off next week for two birthdays in the family and will ship all 10 outstanding colouring book orders together the weekend after next.
7 late surveys/payments - your addresses will be locked August 20th and your orders will be shipped on the weekend of the 22nd as well.
In addition, 19 of you still have failed payments and declined cards. If you want to receive your pledge, please update your card details. I will deal with these pledges as and when the payments go through.
To send you off, here is the cover for the colouring books! Every hardcover is laminated with this nice and shiny holographic star foil; laminated, cut and covered by me - this is one of the main reasons I delayed the colouring books to the end of fulfilment, if you ever tried to add vinyl laminate to anything you know you need to concentrate and it still might go wrong :D I LOOOVE the effect though and can‘t wait to show off the full book soon!
I have a quick update for you today with a first look at the Zine and the slightly revamped Vulpecula and Canis Major notepads, as well as a shipping update.
I have to make a small detour though, because I finally got to see My Chemical Romance after 20 years of obsessions. It was such an amazing, empowering and affirming concert experience and I am STILL not over it (and probably never will be).
I’ve also gone a bit insane about the lore since the show, more so than before. I am fully in red string and thumbtacks territory now.
So, after taking some time off to spend it with family, finally see my favourite band and recover from all that and the heatwave I am ready to get back into working overtime 💀
Zine + Notepads!
You guys ordered so many fox and dog notepads that I had to restock them, and I used that opportunity to slightly update the designs. Here is your first look at what the notepads look like. They now also have upgraded paper, 50 sheets of 120 gsm FSC-certified paper!
I also got the Zines professionally printed so you get peak quality! They are double-sided with a star pattern on the back that will peak through even when it’s folded up. It was a lot of fun to design, and I really want to make more. Dare I say the hardest part was reducing my yapping to a minimum? I really did WAY too much research for this project, I could write a whole book!
I am also working on a way to send all of you who ordered the Zine the digital version as a colouring page so that you can colour, print and fold it yourself.
SHIPPING UPDATE
US shipping has now officially started! The first packages will be picked up by DHL Saturday or Monday and I am reasonably confident that everything will work out as expected! You should receive an email with tracking information this weekend, if you were in the first batch. I would appreciate it immensely if you could let me know when your package arrives and whether everything worked as it should with customs, namely that it is delivered to your door with no extra charges!
For my UK Friends: The tax office have emailed me this week saying they (finally) processed the application and will send my tax ID by letter mail. Nothing yet, but I am using the time by packing up your orders, so that ideally I can ship them the day it arrives. Should there be further delay, I‘ll let you know individually.
EU/RoW Orders with Zines and Notepads: Your orders will also be shipped this weekend!
Quick reminder: if you ordered a colouring book, your order will be shipped last. That‘s because crafting the books requires time and patience and I don‘t want to rush it.
Thanks for your patience and excitement for this project! Let me know what you think of the zine!
It looks like a handful of you have already received your pledges, how exciting! Please do tag me in your stories, if you post them, I’d love to see it!
The first pledge all packed up!
Here is an update on the progress!
📮95% of EU and RoW orders fulfilled💫 - the only ones not shipped contain colouring books, a zine or a fox notepad. You should have received an automated tracking mail from me, the “official” BackerKit mail will follow next week - uploading them is super annoying, so right now I am prioritising shipping over admin :).
To my Australian friends: if you can, let me know when you receive your parcel. I’d like to check whether the shipping times my carrier provides are accurate.
📦US: 25% percent prepped, shipping delayed: my shipping provider is having a big IT issue at the moment; I’ve been waiting two weeks now for them to assign me a tracking number range. In the meantime I’ve started prepping your orders, so that once the issue is fixed I simply need to print invoices and shipping labels and can send your packages ASAP
💌UK: prepped, waiting on VAT. I am still waiting to hear back from the UK tax office with a VAT-ID. To ensure you don’t have to pay for VAT twice, I need to provide that VAT ID to my shipping carrier and create a VAT Invoice for you. I have prepped all your orders so once I get that ID I can send out your packages right away.
Looking nice and shiny
As for the timeline, I am taking a very necessary break to spend time with my family and friends and attend a concert this week. All remaining orders will be shipped after July 10th. The good news: By the time I return hopefully all IT issues will have been resolved, and (US)shipping should go quickly!
Thank you for your patience, your excitement and your good vibes! It’s been a pleasure creating this project and seeing your enthusiasm.
As usual, if you have any questions reach out anytime!
My organisation station! This is where I collect and check your items before packing them up.
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
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!
Fulfilment has been complete for over a week now, which means it’s time to add all remaining pins to the shop! The shop update happens TONIGHT at 7PM CEST! If you couldn‘t support the campaign, because you didn‘t have a credit card, now is your chance!
If you order 3 or more items in my shop you get 15% discount this weekend only!
If your card declined during the campaign or pledgemanager, make sure to update it asap so I can send your order before the shop update
US-Customers: you can‘t order in my shop yet, but I am setting up a US shop in October, I‘ll reserve some pins for you and you will get to shop with a special discount then!
Thank you for your support throughout the campaign and stay tuned for more in the future!
Today just a quick update that shipping for the campaign is nearly complete!
Thank you for being patient and for letting me know when your packages arrived, as well as tagging me in your stories. If you haven‘t yet received a shipping confirmation, you may be one of the few people whose pledge hasn‘t shipped yet. Here are the remaining to-dos:
20 UK pledges - You will have gotten an email from me regarding your pledge. Your package will ship tomorrow and your refund should be processed by the end of the week. Let me know if you have any questions left!
10 pledges including colouring books - I am working through them steadily and your pledges should ship by August 22nd. I am taking a few days off next week for two birthdays in the family and will ship all 10 outstanding colouring book orders together the weekend after next.
7 late surveys/payments - your addresses will be locked August 20th and your orders will be shipped on the weekend of the 22nd as well.
In addition, 19 of you still have failed payments and declined cards. If you want to receive your pledge, please update your card details. I will deal with these pledges as and when the payments go through.
To send you off, here is the cover for the colouring books! Every hardcover is laminated with this nice and shiny holographic star foil; laminated, cut and covered by me - this is one of the main reasons I delayed the colouring books to the end of fulfilment, if you ever tried to add vinyl laminate to anything you know you need to concentrate and it still might go wrong :D I LOOOVE the effect though and can‘t wait to show off the full book soon!
I have a quick update for you today with a first look at the Zine and the slightly revamped Vulpecula and Canis Major notepads, as well as a shipping update.
I have to make a small detour though, because I finally got to see My Chemical Romance after 20 years of obsessions. It was such an amazing, empowering and affirming concert experience and I am STILL not over it (and probably never will be).
I’ve also gone a bit insane about the lore since the show, more so than before. I am fully in red string and thumbtacks territory now.
So, after taking some time off to spend it with family, finally see my favourite band and recover from all that and the heatwave I am ready to get back into working overtime 💀
Zine + Notepads!
You guys ordered so many fox and dog notepads that I had to restock them, and I used that opportunity to slightly update the designs. Here is your first look at what the notepads look like. They now also have upgraded paper, 50 sheets of 120 gsm FSC-certified paper!
I also got the Zines professionally printed so you get peak quality! They are double-sided with a star pattern on the back that will peak through even when it’s folded up. It was a lot of fun to design, and I really want to make more. Dare I say the hardest part was reducing my yapping to a minimum? I really did WAY too much research for this project, I could write a whole book!
I am also working on a way to send all of you who ordered the Zine the digital version as a colouring page so that you can colour, print and fold it yourself.
SHIPPING UPDATE
US shipping has now officially started! The first packages will be picked up by DHL Saturday or Monday and I am reasonably confident that everything will work out as expected! You should receive an email with tracking information this weekend, if you were in the first batch. I would appreciate it immensely if you could let me know when your package arrives and whether everything worked as it should with customs, namely that it is delivered to your door with no extra charges!
For my UK Friends: The tax office have emailed me this week saying they (finally) processed the application and will send my tax ID by letter mail. Nothing yet, but I am using the time by packing up your orders, so that ideally I can ship them the day it arrives. Should there be further delay, I‘ll let you know individually.
EU/RoW Orders with Zines and Notepads: Your orders will also be shipped this weekend!
Quick reminder: if you ordered a colouring book, your order will be shipped last. That‘s because crafting the books requires time and patience and I don‘t want to rush it.
Thanks for your patience and excitement for this project! Let me know what you think of the zine!
It looks like a handful of you have already received your pledges, how exciting! Please do tag me in your stories, if you post them, I’d love to see it!
The first pledge all packed up!
Here is an update on the progress!
📮95% of EU and RoW orders fulfilled💫 - the only ones not shipped contain colouring books, a zine or a fox notepad. You should have received an automated tracking mail from me, the “official” BackerKit mail will follow next week - uploading them is super annoying, so right now I am prioritising shipping over admin :).
To my Australian friends: if you can, let me know when you receive your parcel. I’d like to check whether the shipping times my carrier provides are accurate.
📦US: 25% percent prepped, shipping delayed: my shipping provider is having a big IT issue at the moment; I’ve been waiting two weeks now for them to assign me a tracking number range. In the meantime I’ve started prepping your orders, so that once the issue is fixed I simply need to print invoices and shipping labels and can send your packages ASAP
💌UK: prepped, waiting on VAT. I am still waiting to hear back from the UK tax office with a VAT-ID. To ensure you don’t have to pay for VAT twice, I need to provide that VAT ID to my shipping carrier and create a VAT Invoice for you. I have prepped all your orders so once I get that ID I can send out your packages right away.
Looking nice and shiny
As for the timeline, I am taking a very necessary break to spend time with my family and friends and attend a concert this week. All remaining orders will be shipped after July 10th. The good news: By the time I return hopefully all IT issues will have been resolved, and (US)shipping should go quickly!
Thank you for your patience, your excitement and your good vibes! It’s been a pleasure creating this project and seeing your enthusiasm.
As usual, if you have any questions reach out anytime!
My organisation station! This is where I collect and check your items before packing them up.
