You've heard about the origins of animal and plant cells? When one big single-celled organism engulfed a smaller one? Well this is like that, only it involves a castle and a bacterium and a whole truckload of antibiotics... as a pin collection!
What if a bacterium was as big as a house, or bigger - big enough to engulf a castle?
This campaign launches with four Engulfed Castle Pin designs, four Erratic Mini-pin designs, and four Antibiotic Mini-pin designs 'conquered' (unlocked). More designs will be conquered when the stretch goals are reached.
These 'Engulfed Castles' are bacteria X castle hybrids: Morax-kidw-ell-y (Moraxella catarrhalis X Kidwelly Castle) S. ep-aydon-idis (Staphylococcus epidermidis X Aydon Castle) S. tintag-enes (Streptococcus pyogenes X Tintagel Castle) E. coli-narfon (Escherichia coli X Caenarfon Castle)
Did you know that many antibiotics come from bacteria themselves? They are the weapons that bacteria use to fight each other - and we have commandeered them to fight infections in humans and animals!
If a bacterium was big enough to engulf a castle, I imagine it might drag some objects along with it. This is the thinking behind the Erratic Mini-pins - their name comes from the rocks that glaciers pick up and transport thousands of miles!
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The Engulfed Castle Pins are 40mm (1.6") and all of the Mini-pins will be 20mm (0.8").
All of the pins will be eco-metal and made in the UK. This means recycled metal, nickel-free, hypoallergenic stainless steel printed using VOC free inks, and with a solvent-free resin dome. Colours are not limited; the type of printing used means gradients are possible. Each pin comes with a black rubber clasp.
I discovered a fascination with biological cells in my first year of art school that has remained with me ever since. I made Cell Paintings inspired by biology books in the library, but I didn't understand the images I was looking at. Yet, this sparked a curiosity in me, and I studied, training as a Scientist and working in many different roles, from university settings to biotech. Now I'm back, making art and illustrations, hoping to spark a curiosity in others.
For my first campaign, Drawn to Cells? Curious Magnets, I put my original Cell Paintings on rectangle magnets, and made lots more.
Cell Painting Magnets
For my exCELLent Holiday Shop, I made a new sticker, a drawing of a Mycoplasma cell. I wanted to add texture, and started working in a map of the village I grew up in.
I liked the map, and from here it was only a short hop to thinking about bacteria as defensive organisms - like castles! - and suddenly, Attack of the Crenelated Mutants was born!
It's the Summer of 2024 and you're in the UK visiting friends and sightseeing. You keep your phone off and in the bottom of your bag - you're on holiday, after all - but you start to overhear reports of a strange illness spreading through the towns and cities. One person said they saw a strange globular thing the size of a house. Another noticed a penchant for soft furnishings - the more cushions on your sofa, the more likely you were to disappear. What is going on? You have no idea but you decide to takea tent with you on your next day trip, just in case.
You take a train to Northumberland and spend a pleasant afternoon exploring Aydon Castle! You imagine a roaring fire warming pans in the kitchen, enjoy an invisible Royal banquet at the grand table in the Great Hall, and stop for an ice cream in the orchard.
There aren't many other visitors, yet you overhear more rumours of the spreading infection. An hour before closing, you're approached by one of the castle staff keen to head home to safety. You're the last remaining visitor, yet since you look prepared, they're leaving you the key to lock up when you leave.
It's a long way back to where you're staying, and if what you heard about the pathogen favouring soft furnishings is to be believed, a castle could be the safest place to be, anyway.
You find a room inside the castle wall in which to spend the night. You head for the North Tower, away from the main buildings and find a small vaulted room up a short flight of steps. You scan the space with your headtorch and notice some stone blocks are missing from the window. You're able to lean through the window and can see the bottom of the moat below, now barely more than a dry ditch that has been filled in with centuries of debris.
Back in the room, the stone floor is cold and hard, so you unroll your tent and lay your sleeping bag on top is an attempt at some comfort.
After several hours, you manage to fall asleep, yet are jolted awake again by a strange slurping sound, unlike anything you've heard before. You listen in the darkness for a few minutes and deduce that the noise is coming from the direction of the main buildings.
With all the rumours, you're not taking any chances. You grab your headtorch and outer layer of the tent and run for the window.
The slurping noise turns to squelching and sounds like it's getting closer. You jump from the window, using the tent outer like a parachute to break your fall.
You scramble to the other side of the moat. In the dawn light, you see what you can only describe as an amorphous blob engulfing the last of the castle and its walls, finishing with the North Tower.
This campaign sits under the Animal Akademia banner for Pintopia 2026. If you back this project plus two others in the banner, you will receive this Mycoplasma galli-tent-icum mini-pin (20mm (0.8") size) free from me, plus one mini-pin from each of the other two projects you back.
The campaign launches with four Engulfed Castle Pin designs, four Erratic Mini-pin designs, and four Antibiotic Mini-pin designs 'conquered' (unlocked).
Additional designs will be conquered at £ 1000, £ 1250 and £ 1500.
Shipping fees are charged at the end of the campaign via backer survey. You will have to pay for shipping in order to receive your rewards as the shipping is not included in your pledge amount before the campaign ends.
UK backers: Rewards will be sent out via Royal Mail 48hr Tracked post (approx. 2-3 working days). Estimated UK shipping price will be £ 4.00.
International backers (non-UK): Rewards will be sent out via Royal Mail International Standard by default (without tracking), which is estimated to take 6-7 days. Estimated international shipping price £ 6.00-12.00. International backers are responsible for all import and custom duties that may be incurred in their country. This shipping estimate is based on my experience from shipping rewards from my recent campaigns in October & December 2025, and includes the new 'Trump Tariff' for US backers. This was charged at 10% of the cost of the order plus 10% of the shipping cost. Please note, I am unable to ship to backers in the European Union or Northern Ireland due to the GPSR.
This campaign is running for 3 weeks as part of Pintopia 2026!
Campaign launch: 22nd January 2026. Campaign end: 12th February.
The pre-order shop will open after campaign close, then there is 2 weeks while backers can fix any failed payments. BackerKit will begin processing pledges while I prepare the surveys.
The surveys will be sent at the end of this 2 weeks, 26th February. It is at the survey stage that you will be able to choose which specific pin designs you would like from the conquered pin designs; shipping costs will also be collected through the surveys.
At this time (or before if I can), I will order samples of each of the pins to check I am happy with the designs as printed. When I have them how I want them to look, and when the surveys hit ~75% completion, I will place the full order with the manufacturer.
As soon as the pins arrive, I’ll start packing and shipping rewards to all backers who’ve completed their surveys. I'm expecting this to be by mid-May 2026, but it's very likely it could happen before this date.
Returns will be accepted for refunds. I will check all rewards for defects before sending them out, but if you find a flaw or any damage, please send photographic evidence and I will send out a replacement.
📌 Pintopia 2026
Pintopia 2026 / Pins • Plushies • Ita Bags
This project is participating in the BackerKit event Pintopia 2026, a celebration of enamel pin, plushie and ITA bag project featuring an all-star lineup of creators crowdfunding together from January 22 – February 12, 2026.
Animal Akademia
Welcome to Animal Akademia - a celebration of animal science and sci fi! Please browse our curated selection of oddities, curios, specimens, and stories. Godspeed on your pursuit to research and understand the wonders of the animal kingdom and beyond!
