Gooood morning bug enthusiasts!

This will be a short update- but I wanted to let y’all know that THE PINS ARE DONE! Manufacturing has finally finished on ALL the designs from this project, and they have now been shipped. It should be about 8-14 days before they get to me, but as soon as they arrive I’ll be counting, sorting, and quality checking all of them- then it’s packing time!

Quality checking and order packing will probably take a couple weeks, but I have a few friends (and my mom, hi mom!) coming over to help out so we can get your orders out ASAP! Right now, it looks like your orders should arrive late June to early July for domestic (US) orders, and mid to late July for international folks.

Manufacturing for this project has taken a lot longer than it usually does, so I want to thank you all again for your continued patience! Thankfully, all the backer cards, stickers, and sticker sheets are already in my hands so shipping can begin as soon as the pins arrive and are quality checked.

I’ll be posting another update as soon as the pins get to me with new photos of all the designs together, and provide a more accurate timeline update. But that’s all for now! Thanks for reading :)

Thank you,
-Danny
ApothecaryOctopus

Hello everyone~

It's been a few weeks since my last update, and while I wanted to post an update earlier, I'm glad I waited! The sticker sheets arrived a little earlier than I thought, and I got some more pictures from my manufacturer I can share- so this will be a slightly longer update as well :)

Both the stickers and sticker sheets arrived, and they are fantastic! All in all, there are 5 sticker sheet designs, plus 8 individual stickers:

I don't do sticker sheets all that often, but I LOVE how these came out and I can't wait for you all to get them~

These are taking a bit longer than I hoped they would, but they are coming along! I got some more photos of the finished designs and most of them look great already, though I've requested a couple changes on the Macaron beetles to make their colors pop a little more. 

These are looking ~delicious~ already and hopefully soon I'll have some more photos of these and the updated macaron beetles :)

One thing I love doing for these campaigns is making special backer cards for each collection! For this set, I decided to keep it simple and do a green-tile background with a warm brown frame for the large (Macaron Beetle Set) and small cards (Single Pin). This will match the theme of the campaign and provide a nice neutral background for everything.


For orders of 2-4(ish) pins, I'll be able to use a special folding card that you can open to reveal your pins! The front of this card has a chalkboard menu-style design to make the unboxing feel more special :)

While these cards are temporary packaging meant to hold everything together in transit and provide a temporary display, I still enjoy doing all I can to make a fun and immersive unboxing experience. I hope you like them!

Originally I hoped to have everyone's orders shipped by the end of June, but I think with these delays it may be closer to the end of July. Regardless, I'll make sure to keep everyone updated on any major changes and I'll be sure to show you all as many photos of the items as I can in the meantime.

That's all for now! More updates to come~
-Danny

Good afternoon everyone~

Just popping in for a quick update on pin progress, sticker production, and packaging design-

Before we start, just a quick reminder that there are still a few of you who haven't filled out your surveys or who's payments have errored, so please double check your surveys to make sure they're 100% filled out and that your card was processed. Thank you!

Onto the Good Stuff- The Pins:

Most them are nearing the final stages of production! Several designs have already been approved for full production, and I'm just waiting on the Macron Beetles and a couple others to get their screenprinted details ready for approval, but I do have some photos to share of the finished ones:





I also have some pics of the ones still waiting for the final details, but proceed with caution as some of these are quite naked lol




It'll still be a couple more weeks before these are done and in my hands, but I do still hope to get them done and shipped as soon as I can! I already plan on having a few friends over to help quality check and sort everything once they do arrive, and while it may be slightly later than originally planned, I will still try to get these shipped by the end of May :)

Next- Stickers and Backing Cards:

I'll be placing orders for the stickers and sticker sheets soon! These take far less time to make than the pins, so I usually like to wait a little bit before ordering them so everything arrives around the same time. 
I'll also be placing the order for the backing cards soon, so those should also get here around the same time as the pins and stickers. As far as the design for them goes, I originally wanted to do a pastry box inspired design, but I had the idea to do a cute cafe chalk board menu and I love the new direction :) Mock-ups of this in the next update!

More photos coming soon! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend~

Goood evening~

Just a quick update to let you all know that the pins are in production! I should be seeing some samples in a week or two, and it should be another 3-4 weeks after that for them all to be made. Keep an eye out for more on that in the coming month!

Next- I am locking surveys! This will be your last chance to make changes to your order, but if you need me to reopen your survey for whatever reason after they have been locked, please let me know and I can do that for you :)

Next week I'll be charging your cards for the shipping costs and for any additional items you may have added to your order. Please be on the look out for an email from BackerKit which will say if your card has successfully been charged, and if you receive one saying there was an issue with your payment or that the charge failed, please fix it as soon as you can! If your payment has still failed or errored by the time I go to pack orders, I won't be able to send out your items :/ I'll post another update closer to when I'll start shipping with another reminder.

In the next few weeks I'll be working on designs for the backing cards and ordering stickers. I'll of course also be working on new products and designs for my main shop, so if you're looking for more of my art feel free to follow me on Instagram, Threads, and TikTok! 

Follow my socials or check out my Etsy shop here: https://linktr.ee/ApothecaryOctopus

That's all for now! I look forward to posting another update with production progress and hopefully some pics of the pins~

Good morning everyone!
Just popping in to remind you to please fill out your survey if you haven't already! I use the information in the surveys to decide how many pins and stickers I need to order, so I need everyone to fill them out ASAP so I can tell my manufacturer how many of each design we need.

Lost the link to your survey or didn't get the email? You can recover it here
https://beetle-bakery.backerkit.com/

There are still quite a few of you with failed payments as well, so please check your survey to make sure your credit card was processed! You can check this by going to your profile (upper right corner on the website) and clicking on "Your Pledges and Surveys" then finding the Beetle Bakery. If your payment isn't or can't be processed, I will have to cancel your pledge and you won't receive any of your items.

If you recently paid off your card or got a new one, please check that BackerKit has the right number!

For folks who only backed the support tier ($1), I have updated your surveys so if you don't add anything to your pledge, you won't be charged for shipping. If you backed this tier, you won't receive any items, including the 'freebie' stickers you may have qualified for since this tier does not come with any physical rewards. If you wanted to add anything to your pledge in the survey, you can still do that and receive the campaign bonuses, but this is only if you add additional items and pay for shipping.

For anyone curious, here are the most popular pin designs right now:
1. Bread Beetle (43)
2. Mini Snail (39)
3. Croissant-opod (35)
4. Icecream Sandwich Beetle (29)
5. Maple Log Millipede (26)
6. Boston Cream Dougnut Spider (25)
7. Challah Centipede (24)
8. Cinnamon Roll Snail (22)
9. Pretzel Worm (22)
10. Sourdough Spider (19)

That's all for now! If you have any questions please let me know, and thank you all again for your love and support with this project :)