GOLDEN AGE PARROTS PREORDERS

Update on surveys (they're still cooking)
8 days ago – Thu, Nov 07, 2024 at 07:38:41 PM

Hey there, bird gang! I figure I owe you an update.

So, after a pretty long behind-the-scenes fiasco trying to find housing and tie up some loose ends, I signed a lease for a new place a few nights ago. After a, frankly, fucking horrible year, this is a reprieve and victory I needed badly. It is a place, literally just for me, with a home office and fulfillment space, ample natural light for the birds, and all of my neighbors are quiet old people. 

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of work to do, and it is on a strict time limit.   

I am finalizing everything and starting to move this weekend. It's just going to be me, and some extremely kind volunteers getting everything over. It's "all hands on deck," which means, basically, "all of Ken's time and energy not spent at the day jobs."

And, as much as I'd like it to be the other way around, having a real house with a roof and internet, and keeping my jobs I pay rent with, does take precedence over art.

I am chipping away at surveys. We are in a state we're almost ready for review and smoke tests, but we need some thumbnail/example art for items. I get some mercy on scheduling tomorrow, and Saturday, so I'll try to have this set to go.

I can't say anything for sure, but I am aiming to have smokes out by early next week.

Smoke tests are early surveys sent to a percentage of backers to test for problems. If you get a survey early next week, you have a smoke test. What should you do? Fill it out as normal.

Please be ready to reach out to [email protected] with any missing items, variants, typos, or confusing wording with the survey. I offer free sticker sheets for people who find critical problems. And, spoiler alert, I am running on empty, so, there will probably be some.

Whenever smoke tests go out, we will send surveys to the masses a few days later so I have time to fix issues.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Oh, yeah.

You should go back this campaign. I made some chickens for it.

Survey delay
11 days ago – Mon, Nov 04, 2024 at 02:57:19 PM

1 week since GAP ending - quick update
14 days ago – Fri, Nov 01, 2024 at 05:20:04 PM

Hey there, bird gang!

Just checking in, since things have been radio silent for a bit. It's only been a week, but, anyone who knows me, knows that's a long time for me to be quiet. I'm like a toddler - if you don't hear anything, for too long, that silence is a little bit suspicious.

I am dealing with a few cascading real life issues right now. Probably the most pressing one of them, I'm trying to find housing before my lease runs out. Out of caution, I'm moving most of my belongings to a secondary location, which is taking a lot of my time. We have a fairly promising lead right now, but I'm not going to get my hopes up too high.

This is taking up a lot of my time. I'm not getting as much done as I'd like to, but, rest assured, things are happening with GAP.

I'm currently taking a break from packing things up. After that, I'm going to be working on vectors, and setting up the pledge manager + preorder store until I pass out. It's a matter of pantone matching dozens of pins and getting them ready to go to the factory.



Unless something seriously changes (for better or for worse), we are still planning on surveys + preorder store going live on November 5th.

BIRD CRIMES UK orders are almost ready to go out, I am waiting on some packaging supplies to arrive. I will try to get my dining table clear enough to sit down and send those ASAP.

If you want to help with the move, and associated costs: wait for surveys!

You will be doing me a huge favor long-term by supporting GOLDEN AGE PARROTS, more than anything. I would like to rebuild KEN'S PIN HUSTLE's retail stock to a point I can make a hundred or two a week on sales, and get the business to pay rent.

If you already have everything you want on your pledge, you can go to KEN'S PIN HUSTLE - the whole store is 20% off until the end of the month, to clear shit out and lighten my load. Just keep in mind shipping might be a little unpredictable. 

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS! Project summary + next steps
21 days ago – Fri, Oct 25, 2024 at 11:16:48 AM

Good afternoon, bird gang!

I've moved to mornings on my job, so unfortunately I didn't have it in me to stay up like a teenager yesterday. People gotta eat, and, for better or for worse, that takes priority over pins.

The masses have been sated, though, so before I'm off to my other wage gig...

GOLDEN AGE PARROTS wrapped at 11 PM yesterday with a final total of $9,263.



I won't say we hit the heights I planned, but we didn't do too awful. The main funding goal for our cockatiels, budgies and green-cheek conure pins was reached in about 4 hours. We had a little slog towards the middle, but, spurred by the promise of cartoon crows and popular fat parrots, we had a nice second wind that took us to the last few hours.

I would like to do some more GOLDEN AGE sets in the future. GAP's been an interesting test, and our decent second half confirmed that there is some demand for the 1.5" and 1" pins. We will be focusing on those over color alts for any other similar campaigns.

Speaking of pins... and, everything else, let's go over what will be available to you guys once surveys go out. Any item with an asterisk is something we technically didn't make during the campaign, which I will be funding out of pocket.

Buckle up, it's a lot. Who do you plan on getting with your pledge?

COCKATIEL:

• Gray male 2" pin, 1.5" pin*
• Gray female 2" pin
• Lutino male 2" pin, 1.5" pin*
• Lutino female 2" pin
• Whiteface male 2" pin, 1.5" pin
• Whiteface female 2" pin
• 1" face pin
• Gray male, gray female, lutino male, lutino female, whiteface male, whiteface female 3" vinyl stickers

• Green male 2" pin, 1.5" pin*
• Green female 2" pin
• Blue male 2" pin
• Blue female 2" pin
• Yellow male 2" pin
• Yellow female 2" pin
• Opaline white male 2" pin
• 1" green face pin
• 1" blue face pin*
• Green male, green female, blue male, blue female, yellow male, yellow female, opaline white male 3" vinyl stickers

• Green 2" pin, 1.5" pin*
• Pineapple 2" pin
• Turquoise 2" pin
• 1" green face pin
• Green, pineapple, turquoise 3" stickers

• Green 2" pin, 1.5" pin*
• Lutino 2" pin
• 1" green face pin
• Green, lutino 3" stickers

• White-bellied 2" pin
• Black-capped 2" pin
• 1" white-bellied face pin
• White-bellied, black-capped 3" stickers

• Sun conure 2" pin
• Jenday conure 2" pin
• Blue-crowned 2" pin
• 1" sun conure pin
• Sun conure, jenday conure, blue-crowned conure 3" vinyl stickers

• Scarlet macaw 2" pin
• Blue and gold macaw 2" pin
• Green-winged macaw 2" pin
• Hyacinth macaw 2" pin
• 1" scarlet macaw face pin
• 1" blue and gold macaw face pin*
• Scarlet, blue and gold, green-winged, hyacinth 3" vinyl stickers

• Green male 2" pin
• Green female 2" pin
• Blue male 2" pin
• Blue female 2" pin
• Yellow male 2" pin
• Yellow female 2" pin
• 1" green face pin
• Green male, green female, blue male, blue female, yellow male, yellow female 3" vinyl stickers

• Green 2" pin
• Blue 2" pin
• 1" green face pin
• Green, blue 3" vinyl stickers

• 2" pin
• 1" face pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• 2" pin
• 1" face pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• 2" pin
• 1" face pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• 2" pin
• 1.5" pin
• 1" pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• 2" pin
• 1" pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• 2" pin
• 1.5" pin*
• 1" pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• 2" pin
• 1.5" pin*
• 1" pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• 2" pin
• 1" pin
• 3" vinyl sticker

• Black crow 2" pin, 1.5" pin*
• Cartoon crow 2" pin, 1.5" pin
• Black crow 1" face pin
• Cartoon crow 1" face pin*
• Black crow, cartoon crow 3" vinyl stickers

• Red assortment 4" sheet
• Yellow assortment 4" sheet
• Green assortment 4" sheet
• Blue assortment 4" sheet
• Black assortment 4" sheet

• Green gunbird
• Lutino gunbird
• Dutch blue gunbird
• Dilute gunbird

Just because the campaign is over, doesn't mean the work is.

After pushing this update, I have one more custom pin to clean up, and then, I'm off to set up the pledge manager and preorder store. That's a two-birds-one-stone kind of task, because when I make renders for the store, I can also put together the vector files my manufacturer will need.

Here's a sneak peek of this dapper little dude. If you'd like him, reach out to his creator!



I will be sampling a couple of pins with the manufacturer before full production starts, to make sure screenprints look good and colors all work the way they need to. I'll post pictures when I have them.

I am still planning to have surveys out on November 5th, and the preorder store up on the same date. Any changes to this will be announced as soon as possible. All of these items above will be up for purchase (at campaign prices) on the preorder store.

Miss out on a pin you liked? Want to grab some more? All items can be added on to your pledge during the survey.

As for other stuff going on, I am waiting on some factory remakes for BIRD CRIMES to ship the final UK orders.

I am critically low on A-grades for several pins due to quality issues, but as soon as those come in, tracking should go out.

We are still cooking on the cockatiel plush. You may have seen some R&D of him and his little brother during BIRD CRIMES, but it is still in that stage.

Currently, I am planning on participating in Pintopia 2025 with a little secret surprise project. It's so secret I don't actually know what it is yet. It will probably involve dogs. Use your imagination in the comments... I might steal some ideas ;)

I am house hunting right now, and likely going to be moving mid-November. I'd like to have all the art stuff done for GAP set before the end of this month, so I can focus on getting all of the asset-related ends tied up before then. You guys fund my escapades by buying art and pins, and, while things are going rough right now, I could not have gotten this far without you.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about GAP or future projects, hit me up at the usual spots!

Thank you for the support, and, more importantly, thank you for the feedback on GOLDEN AGE PARROTS. Let's make the HUSTLE sustainable again.

FIVE HOURS - Toucan unlocked + black sticker sheet
22 days ago – Thu, Oct 24, 2024 at 03:13:48 PM

Good evening, bird gang!

We're rocking 5 hours left, with a last-minute dark horse coming in: the toucan 2" pin is now an option for backers!


His 2" full and 1" face pins will be options for you to take home when surveys go out.

Since he's unlocked, and the crows have gotten so much love, I'm also adding a black sticker sheet to the mix. I know Hot Topic sucks now, but, hopefully, this is a win for all you mall goths and 2024 Black Parade enjoyers. If you work at Spirit Halloween as a hobby, not a paycheck, this one is for you.


Unless we unlock something else, this'll be the last email you get from me until GOLDEN AGE PARROTS closes at 11 tonight. This has been a wild ride, and more importantly, a hell of a learning experience.

Enthusiasm is great, but feedback is better: and, through this entire project, the feedback from you guys has been incredible. There are a lot of things, mostly campaign structure-wise, that we'll be changing in the future. Thank you for helping the HUSTLE serve you better.

We will have a recap update either very late tonight, or tomorrow afternoon, with everything that will be available once surveys drop.