The Deep Distill pin replacements are in! Shipping resuming
over 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 18, 2021 at 12:18:14 AM

They're here!

Now that the replacement Deep Distill pins are here I can resume packaging the remaining pledges! Packages will start going out again next week, and if you need an address changed I can still do that,  but please message me ASAP so I don't send it out before updating. I plan to have all packages out by the end of the month.

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I will  admit that I'm hesitant to do rainbow pins with epoxy again, as these have been quite the rollercoaster to figure out.  I ordered an additional 100 pins so that I could choose the best 50 for everyone still waiting on these! They are much better in quality compared to the first batch, but I do want to mention for full transparency that there are still some fine textures in the metal here and there - but these are in line with how the Bright Distill (the white dragon) pins are in quality. 

I spoke with the manufacturer about everything and was informed that rainbow metal is one of the most difficult to work with and I can definitely see why. That said, I'm really happy with these and the colors are so amazing!

As always, if you ever have any questions or concerns at all please don't hesitate to message me :)

- Katie

Shipping final orders early September - Deep Distill update
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 10:09:32 PM

Hi all! I've been working on packaging orders and as of now all orders that do not have a Deep Distill pin have been sent! (plus a handful of orders with Deep Distill that had the good pins). 

International folks, please be vigilant in looking out for any paperwork regarding your package, just in case it is held at customs. 

Current Status & Timeframe

The manufacturer contacted me again to let me know that the pins are estimated to ship out next week some time (first week of September), which means the rest of the orders will go out in September. It's unfortunate that the one pin design I had to have remade happened to be the one that takes longest to make - but I'd much rather send off quality pins. I'm really eager to get these sent off to backers as soon as I get them, barring any further issues (hopefully!).

Thank you all so very much for your patience while this gets sorted out! I'll post another update when the pins are in and accounted for and shipping resumes on the remainder of the rewards.

- Katie

Shipping program snafu - missing items! Reordering Deep Distill Pins for flaws
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 09, 2021 at 01:21:45 PM

A bit of a shipping snag

Hi all, we've got a couple delays on our hands so let's go over what's going on with everything. Hopefully these are not long delays, as I'd like to get everything out as quickly as possible, but I also need to make sure each order actually has all the items which is very important (clearly!).

As you know we tried the new Kickstarter add-on feature for "+1 Pin of your choice", but for some reason the way Backerkit gathered the information from these KS add-on pins, some were not included in my packing printouts to ship! This means that I will need to go through both already shipped packages and the soon to ship ones to see what's missing which will take extra time. I will be messaging some backers to confirm add-ons if needed, so please keep an eye on any messages from Kickstarter for that.

I just sent out a batch US orders on Saturday, so some of you will be getting your packages soon and may be missing items. I'll be figuring out who's missing items and will send those separately. Sorry about that folks!

Deep Distill rainbow issues

With me not being as familiar with rainbow, I at first thought this was just the way it is but I kept going over these wondering if the way they looked was actually correct so I contacted the manufacturer and heard back from them recently.  It turns out that the rainbow coating is actually having issues and is showing small bubbles where it should be smooth.  The Bright Distill pins do not show any of these issues.

Some of the Deep Distill pins didn't have these issues so I sent those out, but the rest I'm not feeling as confident as being up to my quality standards. I'll attach examples here so you can see what the issues look like. 

Replacements are already in production for the entire batch but I'm unsure how long they'll actually take.  I was told it shouldn't take as long as the first time so hopefully we'll still see them come in this month.

I know these types of things may not bother everyone, so if you are OK with getting pins like the ones shown above, let me know and I will go ahead and send them out. Please comment below or message me. Otherwise I'll wait on sending out any orders with a Deep Distill pin until the replacements come.

Updated Shipping Timeline

Packages will be shipped out throughout the month, and it may be possible for some packages to ship next month but there will be another update if that's the case. 

All in all, we're still within the original timeframe of orders shipping in August, even with the delays above. 

Thanks so much everyone for your patience as I work through this! 

- Katie

As a PS I do want to mention that it may be possible I will need to put a short pause on sending packages at some point this month, as I have a parent currently in the hospital two states away. I'm working on the Kickstarter orders every day to get them out quickly for you and out this month though!

TIME TO CONFIRM ADDRESSES - shipping to begin soon, the rainbows are here!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 01:37:12 AM

Great news! The long awaited rainbow pins finally arrived and have been graded which means it's almost time to start prepping packages. 

But first - please check your email asap for the notification to verify your address from Backerkit, and make any changes as needed. 

Backerkit will give you 48 hours to update your address before it's locked, and after that I will be printing off all orders to begin packaging! Very exciting :D

The beauty! The grace! These are so cool to see in person. The resin is a little bit different than the typical hard enamel but still I think it really finishes off the look. 

And we can't forget about the Lucky dragons. I love how they turned out so much.

Fulfillment Schedule

Since the rainbow pins took longer than the rest to arrive, I ended up finishing all Limited Edition pins! I'd like to give them a full week for the lacquer to harden up a bit more, but they are looking fantastic and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. The overall process was quite intense so I'm glad I had the extra time to give to them honestly.

Given that Backerkit will lock addresses after 48 hours, and taking into account the drying time for the LE pins, here's the current shipping schedule;

July 29 (evening): addresses are locked

July 30 - August 1st: Orders are exported and sorted

August 2nd onward: Orders that do not contain LE pins begin package prep, and mail runs made depending on progress.

August 6th: LE Pins should be ready to go by then, and will be added to the package queue.

We are completely within the original timeframe of having all orders shipped out by end of August! I'm of course hoping it doesn't take that long, but I always account for small delays and that it's only one person fulfilling everything. (that's me!)

International Customers

Canada, Germany, Austria, Australia and Norway, as a reminder, here is what's stated on the main campaign page for international orders.

"I am not responsible for any customs, duties, taxes or other fees that may be added to the package as these are set by the countries they are shipped to. These fees are the responsibility of the recipient. Items returned to me due to being unclaimed at customs will not be reshipped without additional shipping charges.  Refunds will be minus shipping. Please expect extended shipping times to countries outside of the USA."

Since the campaign was launched in May, international Postal Orders have taken longer than usual and may require paperwork in order to be received. I wish there was a way around it, but we'll have to hope for the best and be on top of everything to make sure it goes as smoothly as it can.

International customers outside of those listed above

I will be launching a limited-time two week window for the pins and washi via an Etsy shop. This is an old shop that I no longer use, but since Etsy handles the new VAT stuff, I've decided to use their service for UK/EU customers.

If you need to utilize that Etsy shop, please sign up to my newsletter so that you know when that shop goes live. 

I think that covers everything! If you feel there is anything at all you had a question or concern about please don't hesitate to message me. 

~ Katie

Update - things are starting to arrive!
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jul 07, 2021 at 03:02:13 PM

Previews first, update at the bottom

(Only 3 surveys left to get filled out! We're doing great, let's get the last three in there)

Hello all! I'm excited for an update filled with happenings. After the last update it was just a waiting game as orders were placed and manufacturing began. Now that things are starting to arrive I can show off how they're looking :)

The Lucky Dragons in the gold metal colors are in and turned out beautifully! They're exactly as I imagined them to be. The rainbow ones have not arrived yet because they go through a different process that takes longer. 

All of the wood pins have arrived as well, and I've been grading them (above image) and sorting through the ones I feel work best for the Kickstarter. The wood pins have a nice variance of textures and wood grains. Some of the pins have some really pretty wood grain patterns I think - I love how unique it makes them look.

With the nature of wood, you can see from the photos that some of the pins are slightly lighter and some are a little darker. This means that if you have a full set they won't be the *exact* same shade across the board. This is fully expected of course, but something to keep in mind :)

The washi tape came out wonderfully! It's interesting to see how the colors have translated onto this eco-friendly decorative tape. The rolls themselves look darker than the actual tape does when you lay it down on paper because the tape is slightly transparent.

The final photo previews are of the stickers! You may have noticed while filling out your survey that there were a lot of stickers, but these were the specific ones related to this project :)

A few of the card proofs with pins on them to test the size, making sure everything fits! I love the way they look. Even though I don't have the Distill pins yet, I used another pin of the same size to test and make sure they work. Those that opted for no backing cards will get the pins in the little bags they come in from the manufacturer. The wood pins however did not come in individual poly bags, but I will make sure to package them in a way that they are safe while shipping if you opted out of backing cards.

Update, timeline, what's next

So now that you've seen what has arrived, we're still waiting on a few things to ship out. As previously mentioned the rainbow metal takes longer to produce than the regular metal pins because there are extra steps involved. This means all the rainbow pins are the last to arrive; Lucky Dragon in Rainbow, Deep Distill and Bright Distill dragon pins. Once they arrive they will still need to be processed (which means graded for quality and counted). If they are good to go then we move onto the next step.

Backing cards are approved and should arrive in a little over a week, so maybe around the same time as the rainbow pins. 

TIMELINE 

Product: Waiting for rainbow pins and backing cards. Estimating arrival between July 16-20th. Then a few days to grade for quality. 

Surveys: Final notice before locking addresses goes out. This will be when I'm actually ready to start fulfilling orders so there will be another update for that.

Fulfillment: Because the Limited Edition pins will take at least two weeks to fully coat and cure, and at least a few days to actually apply the gold leaf, these will take the longest to get out. They will need to be worked on in addition to packing other orders which means work-time will be split between applying gold leaf and package prep - at least until the lacquer is on the LE pins then they will be set aside to cure while everything else will begin to ship. 

We're still well within the original timeline for shipping which is July/August! I'm very happy about that, and so far any issues that have popped up during production have been promptly dealt with.

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That's it for this mega preview update! The next one will be after the rest of the pins arrive and I'm ready to send out the final notice for shipping and charging any remaining credit cards through Backerkit.

- Katie