Short update, just a cool thing for all you who actually care about production. Skip this part if you aren't a nerd.
To make sure all the finicky warm grays in the set will look right, I'm having my factory do a test bird.
Enamel pins are hand-filled with heat treated, colored fills, and those colors basically use the same system as house paint. You know, when you go to Lowe's and they put a certain number of drops into the white paint bucket, to color the whole thing. Every color has a code, which decides how many drops of every pigment goes in, and they can be messy. This is called the Pantone system, it is widely used and widely hated by artists since the pulled their proprietary shit out of Photoshop last year. Think the Vantablack situation, except with actual repercussions beyond stupid internet drama. But everyone still uses it, so we have to, too.
Skin tones, yellows, purples, and grays are famously the worst Pantones to get down. You can only get so close to digital RBG and CYMK colors with the Pantones that exist, and screens don't always show them correctly. Some factories will allow you to add a certain % of white to lighten and mute colors, like mine, but some of them also have a stick up their ass and would rather make your Disney princess highlighter yellow.
If you have a lot of colors like that, it pays to do samples. Unfortunately for me, BIRD CRIMES is literally only grays. My case is just a color test, so I'm not paying extra for another metal mold, or for things to be sent to me to inspect - I just need to make sure things look correct all together, in a few different lights.
The cockatiel is the guinea pig here - if he turns out good, the rest of the pins will go into production. We're super under budget, and way ahead of schedule, so it's a pretty obvious choice to ensure things look right. I'll share pictures of Mr. Cockatiel here as soon as I get photos of his mugshot. I look forward to it. I hope you do, too!
