The Midnight Ocean Tarot

Hey everyone

Sorry this is kind of an update promising to update later. This project is due a big status update, I'm just waiting to hear from the manufacturer. I'm not sure how long that will be, but I promise there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes right now. Here's some factory pictures we got from the manufacturer recently;

We sent off over 60 designs, in the end! There's still a ways to go.

We ended up having to do a lot of redesign work behind the scenes, due to issues with our chosen manufacturer, and some things not going to plan. It looks like there might be some items we cannot fulfil for this project - but if that's the case, we will be refunding those items in full. Anything that we had to change significantly we'll also be previewing before we lock orders/charge cards, in case you'd like to change your order. The next update will be an important one so please keep an eye out for that. 

As a follower of this project, you should get an email soon advertising our holiday market. As part of that market we will be selling a few Midnight Ocean items. This is not at all how I would like to handle it - usually I wouldn't sell anything that hadn't been sent to backers yet. Unfortunately, we have been really let down by a couple of manufacturers this year, to the tune of thousands of pounds. Manufacturers that we trusted and that we've worked with before. Most of what I'm listing is either prototype or sample items, overstock due to minimum order quantities or seconds (b grade) pins. Nothing will be cheaper there than it is here. You can still cancel items in the add-on store here and order there to recieve them faster if you want to, but it will cost an extra round of shipping (and the selection there will be much more limited). I am sorry for this, I would much rather we had fulfilled months ago and you already had your items in hand.

Thank you everyone, for your patience. Please stay tuned for the big one, soon :).

 Hey hey ~

I've had a few requests for an update about US shipping and the new tariffs and what not, so I just wanted to put out a quick update. 

Unfortunately, for the most part all I can say is 'wait and see', and I know that's not very reassuring.

In short I have no intentions of stopping shipping to the USA, but the shipping costs are going to go up, its inevitable.

The new system requires that sellers pay duties and taxes upfront on US shipments, putting the burden on us to charge you (the customer) at the point of sale, rather than you paying customs directly after your item arrives. If we don't pre pay and have all of the paperwork correct, then you are charged a flat rate fee of $80 when your item arrives. (If this happens to you with one of our packages contact me immediately.) Our UK postal service (Royal Mail) put out an announcement that they will be setting up a service that allows us to do all the prepayments and paperwork online, and they'll handle the rest. This service goes live next week. I won't know exactly how it works, or exactly what the fees are, until it goes live.

The duties/taxes are different depending on the country of origin of your items. All of our items are manufactured in China, therefore that's their country of origin.

For the Midnight Ocean and Mythical Garden campaigns, prepare for your shipping to increase in cost before cards are charged. We don't know how much by yet; and with everything changing there's nothing to say it won't be different again before these projects are ready to ship. We strive to keep our shipping costs as low as possible, and I will continue to do everything I can on that front. I know that the Midnight Ocean has a lot of heavier items, and we might be able to refund just those items to people who need to get back under a weight bracket for cheaper shipping. Bear with us; we'll handle it closer to the time. 

For now that's it, just know that we are keeping an eye on things in the background. If I find out anything concrete then I'll update again. 

Sorry, I don't have my photography equipment with me, so the pictures are a bit rough. But here's how we're looking. 

Ghost shark is perfect.
Red comb jelly, I am adding layer back to the print art, but it looks fab.
Mystery mollusc, the colours need tweaking to differentiate the front from the back a bit. Otherwise, the level of detail is crazy!

Now I have a physical sample in hand, a few designs are getting a little revamped and its time to make the big order. I have a better idea of the scale and what the manfacturer can do now. Onwards and upwards!

Alright, smoke tests are going out. It would help a lot if you could fill them out as soon as is convenient. It gives me an idea of which designs to order most of, especially as we have over 40 options for some things. Since the min order number for things like the notebooks is only three pieces, we decided to just offer all of the designs. It was too hard trying to predict which ones people would like, so this way I know you can definitely get the one that you want. 

Oh, quick note. A couple of the pledge tiers had acrylic keychains and I managed to bind the wrong options. So now you get two acrylic keychains, one from previous campaigns and one from the tarot set. I couldn't take the previous one away so I just added another one. Not going to lie to you guys, I made a couple of massive mistakes setting up the campaign and the survey turned into a bit of a nightmare so there may be a few errors. If you have any issues, please get in touch.

That said, here's a look at what we have in the survey store;

There are 39 main full size pin options, including all of the blood moon pins, the glow in the dark variants, and the four suit designs. The suit designs are just placeholder names for now, since I won't be able to add them later. They have both normal and blood moon options. If you backed the ☆ Full Collection ☆ pledge tier, you'll get four suit cards added automatically - either the classic or the blood moon version depending which set that you pick. 

As of right now the survey is going to make you choose 22 seperate pins for the full set. I've set it up so you should get a question before hand asking if you want to opt into one of the full sets instead. It will still make you answer 22 times after that, but you can just select the first one every time, and we'll send you the full set that you chose instead. If you'd rather pick a selection of 22, go ahead! 

Pin samples are already underway;

We ordered one of each 'type' so we could pick a palette going forward for the rest of the set. The detail they managed to get into the top border is looking really good.

Creature mini pins! We needed more mini pin designs for Pintober so we're converting some of the creature designs. Not all of them work, some have too many spines/thin areas or complicated outlines. There are 16 to choose from, we didn't include the blood moon versions this time. They'll be 1.75" in size (not so tiny mini pins). During Pintober they'll only be available in mystery bags, so this is the only way to pick out the one that you want for now. 

One off print run holo finish major arcana deck. Cards will have holo film back and front. Cards are 5.9*10.2cm in size, and do not match the finished deck. A folding cardboard box will be included. *Card pictured is just an example of the holo foil, the new gulper eel is included. Basically... I wanted a copy of the major deck in holo, and the minimum number is 10 so I'm offering them just in case someone wants one. I won't make them again so if you want one, grab one. Small batch + holo finish costs more, that's why its the same pricing as the main version. Both classic and blood moon are available.

These are the working designs for the notebook right now. The line spacing needs to be increased (its only a6 size, so at least doubled). The border was made a bit chunkier for some foiling options, but the foiling didn't work out unfortunately. Sub in the creature of your choice :). The sticker books will have the exact same cover design, although they're just blank inner pages.

We also have the creator edition of the Mystery Mollusc. It will be soft enamel, with an epoxy coating and a rainbow metal finish. The epoxy coating makes it sturdier and its almost impossible to tell apart from hard enamel. On the right is our lucky white cat, that has the exact same finish. 

The shipping is automatically the cheapest option, please make sure you buy a shipping add on if you want the security of tracking/signiature on delivery. Pledges over £100 will be upgraded automatically. 

And the rest I think is self explainatory. Scroll down for previous campaigns, then further down for other designs and stationery. All of the stock left from the event is listed, we have magnets and keychains, a whole load of stickers and all sorts of extras. 

Cards won't be charged for this until we're nearly ready to ship, and that's gonna be a good while yet. You'll be able to amend your choices right up until then, I'll try to make sure there's plenty of warning.

Everything's going to go quiet for a bit, while I crack on with getting the work done. I'll post the sample pictures when they come in and try to keep you updated on the projected timeline. Thanks for your patience with this one, I know I've been very slow. 

Have a wonderful summer (or appropriate season!) everyone :). 

Sorry for the radio silence, I think I got Covid at that event and its kicking my butt still. I had to take a week or two off completely and then its been crazy busy. But things are happening behind the scenes.

Surveys were delayed while we pondered a couple of extra items. They should be going out very soon, possibly with some surprises in the add-on store. I apologise in advance - a lot of things have every card design as an option, so they are chunky to get through. For example, for the 'full collection' its going to ask you 22 times which pin that you'd like - right now we're figuring out a work around so you can note 'full set' at the beginning, then just pick the top option for each one. You can pick all 22 individually if you want to skip one and double up on another, though.

Sample pin orders are going in today, to check the size for elements like the stars, the marine snow, the detailing on the cards and also so we can approve the fixed palette codes for all the rest. 

Some of the card art is being spiffed up a bit behind the scenes, all laid out there were definitely a few problem children haha. Nothing is changing too much, but you might see a few designs with extra shading, a few more details or a tweak or two in the posing. 

That's it for now. Keep an eye out for a survey announcement soon ~