Another super delayed update. This one is a combined update with where things are with Jurassic Peck, and to be transparent about what has been happening behind the scenes throughout production.
Firstly, I'd like to apologise for surveys not being sent out when I mentioned they would be. The plan was to have the surveys distributed much sooner, however I wasn't comfortable sending while all the extras and add-ons were still in their current position (more on this later in the email.) I felt it would be more responsible to wait until after production progressed more rather than collecting information and payments for shipping prematurely, potentially causing confusion if manufacturing details changed.
As many of you may know, Jurassic Peck has had a number of production challenges. While the main star of the show, the pins, have been completed and in my apartment for a while, a combination of faulty products, manufacture coordination issues, and financial complications has meant that the project has not moved forward as smoothly as originally planned. All lessons learned since this is my first ever backer-funded project.
Here is where things are at the moment: Pins - Fully manufactured. They look great and are sitting all safe and sound in my office in their nests (plastic buckets) Stickers - Troubleshooting my faulty printers (potential printhead replacement needed if I can't fix the clog) Patches - After being, as us Scots put it, "patched" by the manufacturers I reached out to and a disasterous attempt to use my university's embroidery machine, there has been no progress here except in learning what not to do. I'm reaching out to some other artists for their personal patch-making recs to try and advance this Lanyards and card holders - These were manufactured albeit with a different design due to design bleed issues. However, on every single lanyard, the retracting component refused to retract so I have had to request these be remade. I may have to find a way to salvage these by making them non-retractable and will sell them at a discount. The card holders came out great though. I've been using one at work and it's STURDY. Manufacture stage is SO fun and I soooo enjoy having limited physical control over it besides hoping people respond to messages and emails.
I'd also like to address the financial side of things directly since it's important to me that this be as transparent as possible.
During production, I experienced a number of banking and financial issues which affected my ability to access and move funds as intended resulting in me having to pay for a lot of things out of pocket. At the same time, I have been navigating some major personal life events that I have been saving for personally, such as a house purchase and my wedding. These circumstances have made a difficult financial situation more stressful since I haven't been able to push more of my personal funds towards this in favour of the house move and wedding.
These events are done now though so on to the next big part of this update:
Paying out of pocket to get everything manufactured for Jurassic Peck is unsustainable and I'm not afraid to admit that. At the very least, now all the big life things are out of the way and I'm back to my regular scheduled programming - four days of my day job and one day of university a week.
To try and recover from this and help finish manufacturing everything so everyone can finally have their fierce wee birds, I'm planning to take part in an artist-run pin event called Tributes. Tributes is a fan-run pin project celebrating our favourite games. Each artist makes a series of pins and for people who back three or more projects, they will receive a 1" pin free from each backed project. I've been accepted into the project to make Sonic the Hedgehog pins and I'm really excited to see reactions to what I have in store!
There will be NO non-pin add-ons or extras. This is purely a pin project. I'm confident that this project will have less issues as a result of this due to my pin manufacturer being reliable.
Taking part in this event will give me the opportunity to begin rebuilding from the losses while supporting the completion of Jurassic Peck. I'm going to continue working with the manufacturer for the Jurassic Peck pins for this project since they were reliable and VERY quick for production.
I know this project has taken far longer than any of us, especially myself, originally hoped, and I sincerely apologise for the frustrations and confusion that the delays has likely caused. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone's patience, understanding, and support throughout this process especially with this being my first project.
Thank you all for continuing to stick with Jurassic Peck. I will continue providing updates as manufacturing progresses and will share further information regarding surveys, fulfilment and production milestones as soon as I am able.
Mixed nest of updates for you all. LOTS OF TEXT AHEAD! I'M SORRY!
First, the exciting news: the pins have arrived and they look awesome! Seeing them in person has been such a boost. I have been experimenting with 3D printed pin boards for displaying my pins on tables at conventions so you can see the pins below on one of the test prints!
I'm planning to get some good product photos taken soon while the weather in Scotland has been favourable and bright so keep an eye out!
Now for the tricky bits:
THE LANYARDS The manufacturer let me know that the current design of the lanyard fabric has resulted in a lot of misprints. As a result, the design will be changing to remove the yellow bands on the sides. This will reduce the risk of noticeable print placements.
THE PATCHES My patch supplier has gone quiet :(
I have been nudging them and I am preparing a backup plan to switch manufacturers if I don't get a response back to begin manufacturing.
THE STICKER SHEETS I do also want to be honest with the sticker sheets. Life has been chaotic lately. In between real-job commitments where I am heavily supporting an office move (yay! IT!) I am also one month away from my wedding and things are RAMPING up. This has led to me not being able to finish doodling all 100 promised birds for the "100 pre-launch followers" goal. Fortunately, I do still have enough doodles from this to get 4-5 sticker sheets.
I would MUCH rather get these sticker sheets in a polished state instead of rushing to finish the 100 birds to reduce the delays as much as I can.
EU BACKERS For EU-based backers, please be aware that there is a new rule affecting small-value goods shipped to the EU. This changes how VAT is handled and means shipping costs will be affected to ensure all of the cool Jurassic Peck stuff can get to you. I'll make sure that the survey covers this.
SURVEYS Speaking of surveys - I'm sending out smoke tests Friday 3rd July. The main thing that had been holding this back was the bonus doodle sticker sheets. Full surveys will follow ASAP once smoke tests are done and everything checks out.
PRE-ORDER SHOP For followers of the project who weren't able to back the project, I still plan to open the pre-order shop. I have not yet started work on this but once all of my wedding things are done and I'm married (WOO!), I will start making progress on this.
Thank you all so much for sticking with me through the ups and downs! Your support genuinely keeps this project moving.
Hey flock - I am WAY overdue for a proper update so thank you all for bearing with me.
The project hit an unexpected snag when my business bank failed to release the full funds due to detecting it as potential fraud. After trying every route to get it sorted while riddle with sickness, and also dealing with a house move and university assignments, I have decided to switch banks. It has been frustrating but it is the right move to keep things moving.
Because of that delay, surveys haven't gone out yet and manufacturing has been incredibly delayed. I am currently working on them and aiming to have them in inboxes before the end of May. Once surveys are out, I will be working on the preorder shop so that anyone who missed out on Pintopia can get a chance to order them. Please be aware though that pre-order prices will be higher than the Pintopia prices.
Even with the funding hiccup (and sickness, and moving, and assignments), I am not going to let production stall much further. I will be starting pin manufacturing with the portion of funds that did come through, and I will be personally covering the remaining production costs through my job income as well as any preorder sales and survey add-ons. It's not the smooth production I had planned, but the project is still very much alive and progressing.
Thank you all so much for your patience, kindness, and excitement. You're helping to bring these little dinosaurs - er - birds to life.
- Red
P.S. Because it's taken so long, I'm going to throw in the below doodle as a sticker for free to all Pintopia orders.
It’s been a few weeks since the Pintopia event ended, and I wanted to thank you all for your patience while I’ve been continuing work behind the scenes.
First, a HUGE thank you to everyone who supported the Jurassic Peck project! We managed to just hit the stretch goal for the crow pin by the skin of our teeth (£5 over the goal - talk about close!). This means that when surveys go out, you’ll be able to choose from all five bird pins for your tier rewards.
I expect the survey to be ready to send out by 6 March, if it isn’t approved sooner. The survey will allow you to select the pins you want and will also include shipping costs, which are charged separately from the backed cost of the project. During the survey, you’ll also be able to add additional add-ons to your order, including pins, stickers, prints, patches, and lanyards.
Once the survey is live, please complete it as soon as possible - otherwise, I won’t be able to ship your order.
Please be aware that there may be a slight delay in transferring funds to the manufacturer. My business bank needs to confirm the validity of the campaign amount, and since this is my first campaign, they’re understandably being extra cautious. While I work through this, please make sure that if your payment method has failed, you correct it as soon as possible so I can place manufacturing orders without further delays.
I will be setting up a pre-order shop for anyone who missed their chance to back the project to obtain Jurassic Peck merch so keep an eye out for this!
Some more good news: I’m moving house! This will give me more space to process orders, and I don’t expect this to cause any significant delays. My flatmate will be staying in my current place for a few months after I move out, so I’m arranging for deliveries to continue there to avoid any issues. Rest assured, this is something I’ve been saving for over the years, and the money raised from Pintopia will be going directly back into the project.
I’m really looking forward to placing the order for all the Jurassic Peck merch and will continue to provide updates where I can.
100 pre-launch followers This was a big surprise to me. As some may know, this is my first EVER campaign project AND pin project. I had no idea how many people would have interest in something like Jurassic Peck - a very unserious campaign of doodles, parody, and experimentation.
There are currently sticker sheets with 100 bird doodles being made to celebrate this achievement. I wish I could have streamed them all but my time has been so limited that I haven't been able to get the space for enough streams. They will be finished tonight/tomorrow in time for people to add the sheets to their pledges during the surveys!
Funded in less than a week Also a surprise to me. I half expected this project not to get funded until the last possible moment. This is probably the biggest achievement out of everything. Without this project being funded within the first week, I likely would not have had anything to show for all of the work I put into Jurassic Peck.
I'm so incredibly excited for everything that comes after the event ends and for people to start receiving things that I have designed. It's awesome to think that people like my silly doodles!
(Nearly) unlocked the entire bird set With less than two days remaining, we are so close to unlocking all of the birds which is AWESOME! We are less than £150 away from the final bird - the crow- being unlocked. I'll be posting more "escaped" clues today and tomorrow in the hopes that the crow can be found and the birds can all be funded for everyone to select their favourite between them during the surveys.
If you haven't backed yet - NOW IS YOUR REMINDER BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!
No bird left behind!
A big thanks
Finally I'd like to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign! Whether you followed before launch, gave the project a share either on social media or through word of mouth, whether you directly backed the project, or if you are another creator who gave me a shout out. Every single person who has supported this project has been crucial in it's success.
Thank you all so much!
Let's end this project with a bang... or a honk... or squawk?
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