Next Dragon Pin Kickstarter is scheduled! Previews and launch info (no more updates associated with this campaign)
about 3 years ago – Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 09:54:25 AM

I'm excited to drop in for my single shout out to let you all know that a new Dragon Pin kickstarter is close at hand, and includes not only more enamel pins but my first ever wood series of pins and nature washi tape!

New pins and washi launch April 21st, 10 am PDT

Here's a link to the campaign page where you can get notified of launch day

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**A note about international shipping: Due to a lot of shipping issues and UK VAT, I'm only shipping to USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Australia, and Norway for this KS.  I will open worldwide shipping on all pins later in the year via my website and Etsy that handles the UK VAT so that all international folks can still get open edition pins. I feel really bad that I need to do this, my sincerest apologies to those this might affect!

A look at this year's Limited Edition

(There are only 50 of the LE pins this year because I'm adding the gold leaf by hand and then adding a layer of lacquer over the whole pin - also by hand. A lengthy process but a very unique effect!)

Preview of what's to be unlocked ~

This year's promo sticker!

A full length preview of all pins, prices, tiers, etc. will become public on this post on April 20th, the day before launch. Thanks for taking a look! Have a great weekend everyone :)

All packages shipped!
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 10:33:50 PM

Today I dropped off the last batch of packages to all locations US and International, woot! This means as of right now all of those who have completed their survey have a package on the way. 

Thank you all again SO much for joining me on this amazing project to bring new dragon pins into the world. We had a couple bumps but nothing we couldn't handle! 

Shipping times 

Please allow up to 2 weeks for all orders shipped within the US, and 8 weeks for all international orders to give the postal services sufficient time to transport and process packages due to all the extra restrictions in place right now. 

Where to go from here?

Now that the Kickstarter is fulfilled I'll be turning back to painting in the studio and updating more often on my Patreon page with new behind the scenes wip, process photos, painting ideas and generally just what I normally do as a full time artist. Patreon also has a couple high tier spots available for monthly legacy print collectors and original art collectors.

And of course you can find me on Instagram and Twitter. 

Thanks for reading and being along for the ride! Stay safe out there :)

- Katie

Another large batch of orders out - including *International*!
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 09:32:23 AM

General update part

Thank you all for continued excellent patience while I work through these! In this batch that was just now dropped off to the Post Office, included is the first group of international packages along with many more US packages. After today there is only one more batch of orders to ship and we're all done! I'll be working on getting the rest packaged and sent this week =]

Information for International backers

After speaking with other artists that have been sending international orders I have determined that there are significant delays for most international packages. I have researched online different countries and most shipping delays are due to significantly less flights (some shipping is being switched to cargo which take an additional 2 weeks), additional border checks, a high demand of shipping in general that is higher than peak Christmas season, precautions taken to prevent the spread of Covid, shipping routes changed, moved or canceled and other impacts on shipping times. 

After checking each country for restrictions I've determined that as of June 9th, none of the countries I need to ship to are restricted, just have significant delays possible. Though some packages may arrive within 2 weeks, many will take much longer unfortunately due to worldly circumstances. 

*** It may take up to 8 weeks for international orders to arrive once shipped***

I understand that 8 weeks is a very long time to wait for a package, but with inbound mail piling up at some of the customs centers this is to be expected right now. Many packages arriving to Australia seem to hit that 8 week mark from what I can gather. Please try to wait the full 8 weeks to allow for shipping to process. So far, I have not heard of any truly lost packages from other artists and no shipping taking longer than the 8 weeks. Hang in there international friends <3

Some countries have changed the way they deliver packages that need customs payments. The two I have determined so far are Germany and Canada which will notify recipients of a package that will need to be picked up from a postal outlet, but other may require this as well. Please check your local post to see if they have any updates or changes for your area for inbound international packages.

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*** Please remember that customs and duties are applied to packages by the destination country and are responsible to be paid by the recipient. I unfortunately do not have control over this part.

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International orders sent out as of June 9th, 2020 include;

J. Sturm, M. Zehtner, T. ZehtnerK. Irvine, A. Pershouse, R. Crawford, A. Mccoombe, B. Cahill, N. MincherS. Wesel,S. Thompson,D. Watson, N. Cook, G. Morley, C. Ramsay-Turner, T. Hinthorne, S. KopanC. JessenD. Buckheister, A. Michael, E. BertramK. Vermeeren H. Bjerke (LE Pin)N. ChrzastekL. NilssonL. Hudson, B. Nixon, M. Baillie, S. Sleight, R. Hill, N. Mcblane

If I have it all set up correctly you should be receiving an email notice once packages are scanned into the post office, but just in case you do not receive a notice I've included international packages here so you know if your package is on it's way.

Thanks everyone!

- Katie

Good news - things are moving!
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jun 01, 2020 at 11:54:55 PM

What's gone out

I've packaged all orders that I could that have all the pins available, so the rest are just those that have designs we're waiting on from the manufacturer for replacements.

The first batch of US orders went out on Wednesday May 27th and some people are starting to get their pins from that batch. These consist of LE pins that do not have either 'Bottled With Water' OR 'Healing' pins in the order since these are designs that are getting remade, and orders following that starting with the early backer #'s and working upwards.

The second batch is currently sitting behind me in the studio and are about to be brought to the post office today - these are also all US orders again that don't have "Healing" or "Bottled with Water".

International orders have not been shipped yet, though many are already packaged and just waiting for labels. Today I'll be researching the USPS website to see if there are any current country restrictions or shipping issues I need to be aware of before shipping.  I want these orders to have the best chance of making it to their destinations as possible. I will make an update when International orders have shipped so please do not worry if you haven't seen your package yet.

ALL orders left that are still waiting to be packaged just need a pin design that was from the damaged batches - 'Healing' or 'Bottled with water' which leads to my next announcement.

Replacement pins

- are on the way! I just received word this morning that the replacement pins have shipped from the manufacturer so that's great news! This means once they arrive I will do the same process as before; count the pins, inspect the pins then packaging. 

Thank you all SO much for your continued excellent patience as I work through these orders! I'd planned to have everything shipped by the end of May but that hiccup with the damaged pins didn't help us there. Kickstarter packages are still my top priority until every single one is shipped.

- Katie

Update - damage found to some pins, partial delays but still going!
almost 4 years ago – Thu, May 14, 2020 at 02:13:57 AM

Hello everyone! I'm back with another update, and it's a bit of bad, but most of you hopefully will not even notice the delay depending on which design(s) you ordered. Let's go over what's been going on and how this will affect things going forward.

Large flaws and Pin Damage

Once I started getting into the pins to begin grading and pulling out the quantities needed for the Kickstarter, I quickly realized that many of them had some kind of very noticeable flaw or damage. After the first design had many of these big flaws, and then the second design I checked also had many problems, I realized I was going to have to grade all 2200 pins I had ordered to see how extensive the issues were. It took a solid 5 days of me doing this, inspecting each pin individually and took notes on the damage.

The affected pins

Because I order a lot of extra pins to sell on my online shop at a later time, luckily most of the designs I still have enough Kickstarter quality pins to send out. But some designs were affected really badly so I don't have enough to fulfill all orders until the manufacturer can send me replacements. When I say "Kickstarter Quality", I mean I choose the best pins out of the entire batch for backers.

Below I'll list out the affected pin designs. Keep in mind that even though I may be short on pins at the moment, there's still a chance I'll get the replacements before I even need them in the fulfillment process.

LE Pin "Day-Night" - this design I'm short about 15 pins, and these are still getting priority to be sent out first. I'll fulfill as many as I have, and as soon as the replacements come in I'll switch back to these orders for fulfillment. 

Open Edition "Night-Day" - this design I'm short 36 Kickstarter quality pins, but there are over 100 other orders to fulfill that I have good pins for so it's likely I won't get through these fast enough for anyone to notice. You guys really liked this design :D

"Bottled With Water" - this design had flaws on so many of the pins that I don't feel extremely comfortable in sending any of them to backers. I know that I've been told I grade my pins too harshly but once I see a flaw in one I can easily spot it on any pin, and even if you guys don't notice the flaw, I'll know if it's there and I don't think I can do that. I'm willing to put imperfect pins for sale in my shop with a notice that they're imperfect up front, but for a Kickstarter that doesn't feel right, so I think it's best to wait for the replacements on this design. 

"Aura Dragon in Nature - Healing" - this is the white dragon with the purple crystals. This one again had widespread issues, enough that I don't feel comfortable in sending any of them out to backers. Any order that had this design will need to be set aside until replacements arrive.

Timeline 

I've emailed the manufacturer about all the issues and they have been very responsive in getting replacements made. The only thing I don't know yet is how long it might take, but was told Monday I should get more information on that.

I'll still be following the order that I originally had set out for packing. First I will be packaging all Limited Edition pins that I have all pins for and that are not waiting for replacements on. Only LE pin orders that have "Bottled with Water" or "Healing" will be set aside until replacements arrive, in which they will be packed immediately.

From there orders will be packed based on backer number mostly. Orders will be dropped off at the Post Office once per week so the order that I pack may not be obvious up front, but it's a method at least! 

International orders need to be checked against other shipping rules, delays, suspensions, etc. due to the pandemic. They will likely be the only orders delayed for sure, so that I can make sure I'm not accidentally sending a package to a country that has a current suspension. Once I begin doing international orders I'll message those that may have an extra or extreme delay.

In general I am told even US orders may be delayed an additional week, and international up to 3 additional weeks due to the pandemic and extra work loads on shippers. I'll keep you all updated if I find out any more information on this part. If you are currently in a country outside the US and you know there are current customs issues or problems receiving international orders, please reach out to me if you would like me to hold off on sending your package.

(Sorting the pins into correct quantities for fulfillment)

Thank you for being so patient while I sort through this! I think the factory just got hit really hard with all the pandemic stuff and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt with this. There are still many orders to get packaged up so this is not going to stop motion in the studio one bit, just re-arrange the order in which some things get packaged and sent out. I'll update you again when things start shipping out.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send me a message ~

Thanks so much for reading :)

- Katie