Flora & Feather - Enamel Pins & Bookcharms - Birds, Flowers, and Dragons!

I have some happy updates today - that come with pretty pictures :)

The manufacturer has sent me photos of all the pin and charm samples! And they are looking so pretty ✨🖤 With how intricate and complex my designs are, I'm always a little nervous about how they will translate into metal and enamel - but these ones have actually exceeded my hopes :) and I'm so happy to show you guys how these are turning out!

They sent me photos of both metal colors for each design, as well as photos of both pins and charms for each design. So rather than upload hundreds of photos - I put together a photo of each in both metal colors. The pins are charms are mixed together, but most have a photo of each if I had one. There are a few designs that they didn't send a photo of both metal colors, but there are only a couple of those and you can get a pretty good idea of what they will look like from the related photos.

There are also one or two Pantone colors I am changing - for instance, the lightest pink on the peony pin is too different from the other pinks in my opinion so we are changing it to a more harmonious pink color. But overall, I am thrilled with how pretty these are coming out.

These samples are also before the UV printing - so the colors won't be this simple or flat. These enamel colors were chosen to be good bases for the UV colors to be printed on top of to create gradients of color - so the final pieces will have all the color and variety once the UV printing process is done.

We have been having some trouble getting the UV printing right - as on some it looks ok, but on others, it is way darker or less blended than expected. So we are in the process of troubleshooting the UV printing now to make sure they come out as pretty as possible :) This might add some time again as we troubleshoot why that is happening and how to fix it - but as always, I would rather take the time to make sure they turn out as beautifully as possible rather than try to rush them.

And I think when you guys see how pretty they are turning out so far with the molds and enamel - you will be very happy! :) Ok - without further ado:

















On another note, I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming Pintopia event in January. I have been trying to decide if I will be able to participate again - and I would really love to!

I was nervous because they moved it up by 3 months which made the timeline much more difficult for me to get everything finished with this campaign, as well as all the work for the new campaign - and I wasn't sure if it would be ok to run a new campaign if this one wasn't completely wrapped up yet.  Since each new round of troubleshooting (like we have now with the UV printing) puts off fulfillment by several more weeks usually - and makes me not sure if I can get everything completely finished before the next Pintopia. 

But a lot of the time in between is downtime, as I wait to hear back from manufacturers - and I am super excited about my ideas for future Pintopias. So I am still on the fence but I am leaning towards going ahead and participating in this upcoming Pintopia as well - but wanted to make sure you guys know it will in no way interfere with me finishing everything with this campaign if I do. Just that I want to make sure to take the time to ensure these ones are as nice as possible, even if it means there will be a little overlap in the timelines. 

Anyway, that's all the updates for today 🖤 thank you for all the support and patience as I bring these little treasures to life and I hope you guys love the sample photos!!  

I wanted to post a progress report update for everyone :)

Surveys: The surveys have gone very smoothly (and there are only a few left that aren't filled in yet). I plan to leave them open for now until I am much closer to having everything in hand to ship. I will be sure to let you guys know when we get close to that point - and when the pins & bookcharms are getting ready to be shipped to me I will let you guys know and likely lock the orders then.

Samples: As of now, the samples are actively being made by the manufacturer. They will ship them to me, so I will have photos to share of those once they are in hand. Getting physical samples mailed to me adds cost and time to the project, but I really want to make sure they are as nice as possible for you guys before having them go ahead and make thousands of them. And photos just don't seem as reliable.

Tassel Woes: However, I got an email from my manufacturer this week that is a pretty frustrating complication! They just informed me that they are no longer able to make them with matching cords and tassels. I am super frustrated with this news - as they have said since April that they could. And since I've already sent them thousands of dollars for molds and samples, I'm already too far down the path with them to turn around and start over with another company. For the cords, they sent me menus with several good options per design and I was able to find exactly what color I wanted for each design. However, for the tassels, they sent me a menu that has about 20 colors to choose from and none of the colors are the same as the cord options. 

So right now, I am left with two options:

Even though it is a more expensive and time-consuming option, I am starting with the second option. I've already reached out to several companies and contacts to see what I can find. This is definitely adding a ton of stress, time, and cost to the production - but I really want to do everything I can to make these as nice as possible. It's been a very frustrating week for sure with this news - and I can't believe that they didn't tell me until now that they couldn't do the thing we agreed on since the spring. But I am trying to just keep pushing through and finding solutions.

I wanted to let you guys know about this obstacle to keep you informed of what is going on behind the scenes. But also wanted to let you know that I am on it, and working as hard as I can to make these as nice as possible.

Flora & Feather Puzzles: And, on a different note, I also wanted to add a note here that the surveys for the puzzle Kickstarter are also starting to go out today :) I sent out the first smoke test surveys for the puzzles and the rest will hopefully go out in the next few days. So if you backed that campaign as well, be sure to keep an eye out for those!

A bit of a tangent, but I also ended up with troublesome news from the puzzle manufacturers this week as well. Unfortunately, about 20% of the puzzle boxes were smashed in shipping to me and the manufacturer has refused to replace them. I still have plenty to fulfill the campaign but, there is definitely not nearly as much left over to sell once the campaign ends. This has been a very stressful week as far as emails from manufacturers go!

Puzzle Pre-Orders: But also, if you didn't back the matching puzzle campaign, and were thinking of getting some puzzles later - I have set up the pre-order store for the puzzles so you can order them if you like while I still have some.

I am not sure how long the extras will last or when I will be able to make more since I need to find a new puzzle manufacturer now. Its such a shame since the puzzles came out so beautiful that I was really excited to get a bunch more made with them. But the customer service is so bad that I can't trust ordering from them again. But in the meantime, I do have some extras if you would like to order them on the pre-order store: https://flora-and-feather---jigsaw-puzzles.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders


               ********               ********

TLDR: pin and bookcharm samples are being made and will be shipped soon, but unfortunately, the manufacturer can't match the tassel colors to the cords so I am trying to find some good solutions to this, and lastly, the Flora & Feather puzzle pre-order store is open if you missed that campaign.

               ********               ********


✨ Thank you so much for your patience with me as I work on getting these made as best I can! 💖✨ It's been a very tough week, but I am just keeping my eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel, which is sending beautiful shinies to you guys! ✨

After sending out all the surveys, it seems that for some no pictures are showing up in their survey - as well as some confusion about the metal choices.

I'm not sure why pictures aren't loading on some surveys as I put soooo many pictures into the pledge manager setup (literally hundreds - to match the hundreds of various SKUs) - but I went back in tonight and tried to find any spots I could add in a picture of all the designs together as well. So hopefully that helps make it easier to select your favorites!

And I also went ahead and made a new page on my website that has all 24 Flora & Feather designs, as well as all 20 Egyptian designs - so you can see them all super clear with their names and pick your favorites from there. I also listed the metal color options for each trio on the page as well.

>>>   https://jeszika-lee.squarespace.com/flora-feather-design-choices <<<

For the metal choices - the tldr: all the designs are available in gold or silver metal - except for 2 trios. The Quetzal & Jade trio, and the Scarlet Ibis & Poppy trio are available in gold or black metal.

Hopefully, that helps make it more clear and easy to choose! My apologies for any confusion!

(Also adding a picture here of all the designs in case it helps) 

So it seems the initial wave of surveys has gone off without a hitch and everything went smoothly and perfect :) whew lol I was a bit nervous because it was such a complex one to set up. But it seems the weeks of dotting all the i's, crossing all the t's, and triple-checking everything paid off - and everything is working as it should.

This means - all the surveys are now going out to everyone not just a random percentage of each tier. So keep an eye out for the email. I'm not sure how long it takes to send them all out or if it is instant, but either way everyone should have one pretty quickly. If you don't get one or if you have any questions - let me know and I will be happy to help :)

So excited! And can't wait to see what everyone picks! :) I have a few that are my personal favorites - but I am curious to see what everyone else's favorites are.



**Edit**

It looks like there were a few sticking points we didn't catch in the smoke test. A few of you have mentioned that the pictures are not showing up in the survey and the metal choices are confusing.

I went ahead and made a page on my website with all the designs clearly named and showing their metal choices: https://jeszika-lee.squarespace.com/flora-feather-design-choices 

And for quick reference, all the pins are available in either gold or silver - except for two of the trios - the Quetzal & Jade trio and the Scarlet Ibis & Poppy Trio are available in gold or black metal instead.



I will see if there are more ways to add it to the survey itself. I'm not sure why the pictures are not showing up as added the pictures in hundreds of times to hundreds of skus - but I had trouble adding photos that showed up for the whole question, rather than each individual option after you clicked the choice. I thought I had set it up so it showed each one but it seems some of the surveys are still not showing all the photos. So in the meantime, while I try to figure out how to fix that - it is definitely much clearer on the webpage I put together. (link again:  https://jeszika-lee.squarespace.com/flora-feather-design-choices) 

I will also make a new update with this link to help clarify as well, and make it easier to find - but in the meantime - I hope this helps! Thanks to those of you who let me know where the tricky spots were! <3 

Hello again! Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer :) I wanted to share a quick progress update and let you know that I will be starting to send out surveys!

Progress Report -- We're still a ways off from the pins being finished - the vectors are still being finalized and we still need a round of samples before going ahead with the full order - but everything is still steadily moving forward even if it might be another couple of months till they are finished with production on such a large order.

In the meantime, while I was waiting for the vectors, I got the Backerkit survey page built -- no easy feat lol 😅 since I made so many different options and bonuses (seriously - how did I end with hundreds of SKU's???💀). But with a bit of help from Backerkit the last few weeks, we got everything set up and hopefully it is all setup perfectly *fingers crossed*

Since the survey page is ready to go, I'm going to start sending out the surveys! I figure it will help it go smoother and quicker if I have the surveys all finished when the pins and bookcharms arrive - so I can send them out right away.

Smoke Test -- Backerkit has us start by sending out a small amount of surveys first to a random set of backers just to make sure everything is working properly (easier to fix a handful of mistakes rather than hundreds lol) before it sends out the whole lot of them. But if everything goes smoothly, everyone should have a survey in the next week or so.

New "Complete Set" Tiers - I also had a few people asking about being able to switch to tier for all the designs since we unlocked so many new ones in the last day or two - and I did add three new tiers to help with that :) I made a tier for all 24 pins, a tier for all 24 bookcharms, and a tier for all 48 pins & bookcharms. Anyone can switch to those tiers if they'd like to get the complete set - hopefully this helps!

Add-ons -- And of course, you can add-on any of the new designs to your pledge in the add-on section if you would like to just pick your favorites :) Everything from the campaign is eligible as an add-on (except of course the unicorn bonus for those who backed Kaitlund's campaign as well). Not only are all 24 pin and bookcharms designs available, but also the gold foil stickers, the bookmarks, the journals, the gold foil prints - plus all of the Egyptian Mythology series as well, including brand new black and gold foil Egyptian journals that arrived just this week from the printer ✨ there are so many goodies to choose from!

Pre-Order Store - Also, I opened the pre-order store as well, for anyone who missed the campaign and would still like to get some shiny Flora & Feather treasures! https://florafeather---pins-bookcharms.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders (link to pre-order store)

Since I decided to go ahead and complete the series, even though we were shy of the last 1 1/2 designs, I am going a bit over the budget of the campaign to get these all made - and so any extra add-ons or late pledges will help keep me from going too far in the red on this project. I just couldn't imagine being so close to the complete set and not making the last few pieces - so I decided to just trust that it was worth the extra investment for now *fingers crossed* lol but every bit will help 💞

***

TLDR: Everything still going smoothly - waiting on vectors and samples. Surveys going out this week starting with a small amount of samples and then followed by all the rest. I added 'complete set tiers' for those who would like to up their pledge to get a complete set - or you can add a few of your favorites from the new designs as add-ons if you like. 

***

Thanks again everyone 💖 this project has meant so much to me to see it come to life and it is thanks to all of you that I could bring it to life. I'm excited to be moving to the next step in getting these shinnies in your hands!! ✨