Fulfillment (mostly) completed! Extra pins available!
Thank you for all of your patience and understanding during fulfillment. We definitely learn new things each time about what does and doesn't work, and this was the most complicated campaign we've ever wrangled! The last of the orders shipped in May, minus a few select items that a handful of backers will receive via a second shipment. At the end of everything, there was a higher flaw rate on one design, but we expect to receive those replacements from the manufacturer within the next two weeks.
If you haven't yet received your order or have anything missing or damaged, please reach out to us at [email protected] so we can get that sorted out!
Some of you asked about buying extra pins and we do have very limited numbers remaining. Extras are available to purchase in the pre-order shop for HEX! and will be shipped when fulfilling that campaign in August: https://hex-tile-pins.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
I just got back from a week up at Aspenhearted's studio where with the help of our friend Crys we inspected and graded over 5,000 individual pins and mounted them on their backing cards! Whew. A pretty intense task for a campaign this size, but really nice to see that only a tiny fraction of all the pins were considered "seconds" and not fit for shipping out. Here's a look at the naughty board where we housed the pins that had loose posts or flaws on the metal or the enamel.
seconds go on the naughty board
a selection of the pins all mounted
Before I left we managed to pack up more than two-thirds of all the orders, and Carrie will be working on getting the rest shipped out over the next week.
When you get your pins, if you look on the reverse, the backstamp will show which pins were designed exclusively by me or by Carrie, and which ones we collaborated on together. We love working together, so if there's anything you might like to see from us in the future, please reach out and let us know!
Pins should be arriving in Carrie's studio within the week! Then begins the grading process. Each pin gets inspected by hand, ensuring that everything going out the door is the highest quality possible.
From April 25th to the end of the month, I'll be in Carrie's studio helping with any final grading and to pick, pack, and ship out orders. If you want to follow along as we work, Carrie and I will likely be sharing on Instagram (you can find us there as @kimkuzuri and @aspenhearted).
Not long before I head up to Washington for the big fulfillment extravaganza, our Pintopia 2024 campaigns will be wrapping up. Carrie's Just Say No has been blasting through its stretch goals, and my niche little project HEX! is over 600% funded!
Returning backers from Folkgore get free stickers on both of our projects. Folkgore backers can get a free "Don't Touch Me" snake sticker with Just Say No, and for those of you interested in HEX! I'm finalizing the design next week. Let me know which one you like more in the poll!
Below you're going to get some updates and some photos from the manufacturer, but first since I know y'all love that manananggal and this project traces its roots back to a Filipino horror zine, I wanted to share BALIKBAYAN a comics project I backed over on Kickstarter which is going into its final 24 hour stretch with only about 1500 USD left to fund! If you like horror and vibe with the cultural and diasporic roots of Folkgore, please go check it out and help it meet its goal! BALIKBAYAN features writer Jeff Estrella and artist Fabian Lelay.
BALIKBAYAN is named for the care packages that Filipinos living overseas send back to family in the Philippines. This book is the 24-page opening chapter of a story that draws from traditional Filipino folk tales and is inspired by films like Hereditary, The Wailing, and The Farewell. It explores the often-strained relationships between the children of immigrants and their parents, and the difficulties of reconciling those two worlds. It asks: What if those old stories of ghosts and monsters from back home were true?
BALIKBAYAN art by Fabian Lelay
BALIKBAYAN art by Fabian Lelay
Okay, now for Folkgore's project update:
Pin adjustments are done! Sharing with you all some photos from our manufacturer showing some of the minor adjustments we requested after we received the samples. For the manananggal in gunmetal, we swapped the setting of the blood drop charm to better match the metal of the pin and adjusted the length of the neck on the rokurokubi. I love the rokurokubi design a lot, but it was definitely tricky to anticipate how it would look in person. If I designed another pin like it in the future, I'd definitely mock up more of a physical prototype in the studio.
Estimated delivery to Carrie's studio is roughly one month from now (4/20 give or take a few days). Our fulfillment team (aka Carrie, myself, and our friend Crystal) are coordinating our schedules. If my request for time off from the day job is approved, we're aiming get together the last week in April to grade all the pins, get them on backing cards, and then pack each and every one of your rewards. I'll send out a reminder when that date is firm and we're looking to lock addresses.
Next up for us will be zine files going to the printer and then we go right into launching our next pin projects. Whew. Can't believe I'm prepping to do this all over again so soon, but we both got invited to be part of Pintopia 2024 here on BackerKit. If you haven't seen it, Carrie & Crystal Tea have a fun collection called Just Say No and I just sent out an email to about my project, HEX! which is letting me indulge my feelings about tabletop games and cute stuff.
Thanks again for all your support along the way for Folkgore. I'm going to be so thrilled to start sending these gorgeous pins out to you all.
As we're waiting on the pin manufacturer to provide the requested changes, Carrie and I have been working on polishing up the mini-zine. We've got a draft laid out with a second round edit pass and proofs expected to be done in the week to come.
Here's a peek at some spreads, featuring my own art (final now versus what you saw during the campaign), and some contributing artwork by Emily Schnall (https://emilyschnall.com/), an illustrator and comic artist who does really some amazing creature and horror work. If you follow horror comics, you may have seen her work in the Dark Horse series Tales from Harrow County: Fair Folk.
Bringing the wordsmithing is writer Lor Gislason (https://lormaggot.ca/), author of Inside Out (Darklit Press) and the editor of Bound In Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror (Ghoulish Press). So thankful to have two awesome horror folks contributing to this project.
Illustration by Kim Kuzuri
Illustration by Emily Schnall
We're almost there!
So, what am I going to be up to after this? You may have noticed a bunch of amazing pin creators gearing up for Pintopia 2024 on BackerKit. I was invited to join, and I'll be doing something a little more cute than creepy. Here's a peek at my project if you want to check it out:
Exciting news: samples of all the pins have arrived at Carrie’s studio! She had already received all the stickers, and has now inspected the pin samples thoroughly. We have some minor fixes and adjustments for the manufacturer to address–further lengthening the chain on the Rokurokubi, making sure the metal is recessed on a few places on the Sirena–but overall, they’re looking absolutely gorgeous in both the gold and the gunmetal. Here's a peek:
I’ve been really thankful for Carrie’s help and expertise throughout this project, but an extra shout-out for their involvement in making sure the pins are the premium item backers are expecting. I’ve known Carrie for a long time and while I never expected anything less than the best working with them, in helping fulfill her other campaigns I got to experience firsthand the care and high-standards for all the pieces going out from her studio.
We don’t have a firm timeline yet on our requested changes, but it’s clear that Lunar New Year celebrations will slow down our production a little more than I hoped. (Happy Year of the Dragon!) As always though, I’ll keep you all informed with how that looks in the weeks to come.
Thank you for all of your patience and understanding during fulfillment. We definitely learn new things each time about what does and doesn't work, and this was the most complicated campaign we've ever wrangled! The last of the orders shipped in May, minus a few select items that a handful of backers will receive via a second shipment. At the end of everything, there was a higher flaw rate on one design, but we expect to receive those replacements from the manufacturer within the next two weeks.
If you haven't yet received your order or have anything missing or damaged, please reach out to us at [email protected] so we can get that sorted out!
Some of you asked about buying extra pins and we do have very limited numbers remaining. Extras are available to purchase in the pre-order shop for HEX! and will be shipped when fulfilling that campaign in August: https://hex-tile-pins.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
My order came in and everything is gorgeous, but the nouveau halo display board that I purchased as an add on is missing despite being listed in the packing slip. If it will save you on shipping then I don't mind waiting until the book (that has a hand written note on said packing slip about it shipping later) is ready, too.
I got my pins in this week and they are fantastic! The only thing is I’m missing the pin display board. It wasn’t checked off on my packing slip, so I’m wondering if it is a supply issue, and when I can expect to receive it.
