I just received some process images for our pins from our manufacturer and I would like to share them with you! Please be reminded that these pins are not completed yet, so lots of details are still missing, such as the gold electroplating for the metals, any screen print details, polishing/cleaning, and of course the stained glass clear epoxy detail hasn't been filled yet. I think they are turning out just how I imagined them to be and I just can't wait to see what they look like when it's completed! Timeline-wise, we are still on track, and I am still expecting to receive the pins sometime in October~
As of now, I am still not sure if I am going to do a Halloween/ autumn pin series, as I have been a bit busy working on in person markets/convention. But I do want to share some of the arts I have been working on with you! Some of you might be familiar with my RPG isometric drawings/ wooden pins. I have been working on some new designs for that series, and I am hoping to turn them into wooden pins again in the near future! The two new shops we got so far are the general store and the familiar shop! Is there another shop you would like to see? Let me know in the comments if you got some ideas for me! Have a good weekend everyone!
Thank you so much for supporting the Stories of the Zodiacats campaign! Orders have been locked, and production for the pins has started, and if everything goes well, I should be getting the pins in late September/ early October. Then it will take me a few weeks to grade and prepare them for fulfillment. Here is a quick review for our timeline:
Beginning of August - Production begins October - Receives pins Nov - Dec 2026 - Rewards send out
I will not be charging card for shipping, tax (Canadian orders), tariff (US orders), and the pledge manager add-on until we are close to fulfillment, and that probably won't happen until October - November. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Backer's Survey 92% Completed! Lock Order July 29th & UK Pre-order Now Available on Etsy!
Hello backers!
My apologies for not sending out an update earlier! I created an update two weeks ago to let everyone know that the survey has been sent but somehow that update was never published?! I am really sorry about that, but you guys are amazing because 92% of the surveys were completed already!! Thanks so much for everyone who completed survey already! I will go ahead and lock order by July 29th, so I can get a final count of the pins we need for manufacturing. If you haven't completed your survey yet, please kindly have it done as soon as possible so I can get the most accurate count for the number of pins I need to order.
Charge Card Error For The Campaign
Right now I still have around 10 charge card error from the campaign, but surveys have been sent out to those backers as well. Your pledge and input is extremely important for the success of this campaign. If you know that is an issue with your pledge, please kindly have your credit information updated, and complete your survey by July 29th, so I know that you are still committed to it. More importantly, your participating will help me figure out the count I need for manufacturing. If the survey is not completed (only for those with the charge card error for the campaign) by July 29, I will cancel your pledge. Thank you so much for your understanding.
Quick Reminder Regarding Shipping
Canadian backers - shipping fee is $5 for 1-3 pins (no tracking), and $15 for 4 or more pins (with tracking). If you order 4 or more pins but your shipping is still shown as $5, that's because shipping in backerkit is set up to be calculated using weight, and sometimes even ordering 4 or more pins (especially if there are lots of mini pins) is not heavy enough to trigger the higher shipping cost. If that is the case, I will manually change the shipping fee before I charge card.
US backers - Tariff is currently NOT included in the calculation when you place your order at the end of the survey. I will add tariff charge later when we are closer to fulfillment day to avoid having to keep updating the tariff rate, as it does change, and that could create confusion. Thank you so much for your understanding.
UK backers - Etsy pre-order is now available! If you are interested in these zodiacat pins, please check out the pre-order LINK <-click here.
The Stories of Zodiacats Campaign Successfully Funded!
Hello everyone!
Thank you so much for supporting our Pin Quest Campaign- The Stories of the Zodiacats! Our campaign is successfully funded with 162 backers and all stretched goals are unlocked! Thanks again for supporting our project!
Quick Review Of Our Timeline
July 2 - Campaign ended 🎉 Week of July 13 -Surveys send out End of July - Lock orders. Production begins October - Receives pins Nov - Dec 2026 - Rewards send out
As recommended by backerkit, we are going to wait two weeks from campaign end day before we send out our backer's survey. But as usual, I might cheat a little bit and send out our smoke test earlier. The purpose of the smoke test is to send out the backer's surveys to a small group (5%) of backers first, so that if there are any issues, we can fix it before everyone gets their survey. If you are one of the chosen one for the smoke test, please have it completed as soon as you can, and if you found any issues with it, please reach out to me via email at [email protected], as this will be the fastest way to get a hold of me.
Shipping Fee
Just a quick reminder that shipping fee has not been collected yet. Instead it will be collected later, when we are almost ready to ship out your rewards.
Canadian Backers If you order 1-3 pins, shipping will be $5 CAD (no tracking). Tracking upgrade is available as an add-on ($10 CAD) in the pledge manager. If you order 4+ pins (approx. 60g), shipping will be $15 CAD. Please note that I am currently using weight to determine how much shipping is going to be, so if you order 10 mini pins, your shipping will still show up as $5 (no tracking), as the weight will still be less than 60g. I will do a final check before I ship out your order, and if I happen to notice that shipping fee is incorrect, I will manually add the $10 shipping upgrade fee in the pledge manager for you. Thank you for your understanding.
US backers In addition to the shipping fees, I will also need to collect tariff in the pledge manager, and remit it to the US government via my shipper when I ship out your rewards. Having said that, tariff fee is not added to the pledge manager for now, but will be added when we are almost ready to ship out your rewards. This is to avoid any confusion in case tariff rate changes from now until fulfillment date, which had happened to my previous campaigns. I am just trying out this new approach in the hope that things will not be as confusing. Finally, I am hoping to use a 3PL (third party logistic) service in the US to ship out all of US rewards. I am currently working with them for my last backerkit campaign, Kitties' Space Dream. As long as everything goes smooth with them for that campaign, then for sure we will be using them again for this project. I will send out an update if there are any changes. In the meantime, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
I just received some process images for our pins from our manufacturer and I would like to share them with you! Please be reminded that these pins are not completed yet, so lots of details are still missing, such as the gold electroplating for the metals, any screen print details, polishing/cleaning, and of course the stained glass clear epoxy detail hasn't been filled yet. I think they are turning out just how I imagined them to be and I just can't wait to see what they look like when it's completed! Timeline-wise, we are still on track, and I am still expecting to receive the pins sometime in October~
As of now, I am still not sure if I am going to do a Halloween/ autumn pin series, as I have been a bit busy working on in person markets/convention. But I do want to share some of the arts I have been working on with you! Some of you might be familiar with my RPG isometric drawings/ wooden pins. I have been working on some new designs for that series, and I am hoping to turn them into wooden pins again in the near future! The two new shops we got so far are the general store and the familiar shop! Is there another shop you would like to see? Let me know in the comments if you got some ideas for me! Have a good weekend everyone!
Thank you so much for supporting the Stories of the Zodiacats campaign! Orders have been locked, and production for the pins has started, and if everything goes well, I should be getting the pins in late September/ early October. Then it will take me a few weeks to grade and prepare them for fulfillment. Here is a quick review for our timeline:
Beginning of August - Production begins October - Receives pins Nov - Dec 2026 - Rewards send out
I will not be charging card for shipping, tax (Canadian orders), tariff (US orders), and the pledge manager add-on until we are close to fulfillment, and that probably won't happen until October - November. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
My apologies for not sending out an update earlier! I created an update two weeks ago to let everyone know that the survey has been sent but somehow that update was never published?! I am really sorry about that, but you guys are amazing because 92% of the surveys were completed already!! Thanks so much for everyone who completed survey already! I will go ahead and lock order by July 29th, so I can get a final count of the pins we need for manufacturing. If you haven't completed your survey yet, please kindly have it done as soon as possible so I can get the most accurate count for the number of pins I need to order.
Charge Card Error For The Campaign
Right now I still have around 10 charge card error from the campaign, but surveys have been sent out to those backers as well. Your pledge and input is extremely important for the success of this campaign. If you know that is an issue with your pledge, please kindly have your credit information updated, and complete your survey by July 29th, so I know that you are still committed to it. More importantly, your participating will help me figure out the count I need for manufacturing. If the survey is not completed (only for those with the charge card error for the campaign) by July 29, I will cancel your pledge. Thank you so much for your understanding.
Quick Reminder Regarding Shipping
Canadian backers - shipping fee is $5 for 1-3 pins (no tracking), and $15 for 4 or more pins (with tracking). If you order 4 or more pins but your shipping is still shown as $5, that's because shipping in backerkit is set up to be calculated using weight, and sometimes even ordering 4 or more pins (especially if there are lots of mini pins) is not heavy enough to trigger the higher shipping cost. If that is the case, I will manually change the shipping fee before I charge card.
US backers - Tariff is currently NOT included in the calculation when you place your order at the end of the survey. I will add tariff charge later when we are closer to fulfillment day to avoid having to keep updating the tariff rate, as it does change, and that could create confusion. Thank you so much for your understanding.
UK backers - Etsy pre-order is now available! If you are interested in these zodiacat pins, please check out the pre-order LINK <-click here.
Thank you so much for supporting our Pin Quest Campaign- The Stories of the Zodiacats! Our campaign is successfully funded with 162 backers and all stretched goals are unlocked! Thanks again for supporting our project!
Quick Review Of Our Timeline
July 2 - Campaign ended 🎉 Week of July 13 -Surveys send out End of July - Lock orders. Production begins October - Receives pins Nov - Dec 2026 - Rewards send out
As recommended by backerkit, we are going to wait two weeks from campaign end day before we send out our backer's survey. But as usual, I might cheat a little bit and send out our smoke test earlier. The purpose of the smoke test is to send out the backer's surveys to a small group (5%) of backers first, so that if there are any issues, we can fix it before everyone gets their survey. If you are one of the chosen one for the smoke test, please have it completed as soon as you can, and if you found any issues with it, please reach out to me via email at [email protected], as this will be the fastest way to get a hold of me.
Shipping Fee
Just a quick reminder that shipping fee has not been collected yet. Instead it will be collected later, when we are almost ready to ship out your rewards.
Canadian Backers If you order 1-3 pins, shipping will be $5 CAD (no tracking). Tracking upgrade is available as an add-on ($10 CAD) in the pledge manager. If you order 4+ pins (approx. 60g), shipping will be $15 CAD. Please note that I am currently using weight to determine how much shipping is going to be, so if you order 10 mini pins, your shipping will still show up as $5 (no tracking), as the weight will still be less than 60g. I will do a final check before I ship out your order, and if I happen to notice that shipping fee is incorrect, I will manually add the $10 shipping upgrade fee in the pledge manager for you. Thank you for your understanding.
US backers In addition to the shipping fees, I will also need to collect tariff in the pledge manager, and remit it to the US government via my shipper when I ship out your rewards. Having said that, tariff fee is not added to the pledge manager for now, but will be added when we are almost ready to ship out your rewards. This is to avoid any confusion in case tariff rate changes from now until fulfillment date, which had happened to my previous campaigns. I am just trying out this new approach in the hope that things will not be as confusing. Finally, I am hoping to use a 3PL (third party logistic) service in the US to ship out all of US rewards. I am currently working with them for my last backerkit campaign, Kitties' Space Dream. As long as everything goes smooth with them for that campaign, then for sure we will be using them again for this project. I will send out an update if there are any changes. In the meantime, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
