Another purple option
about 4 years ago – Tue, Mar 03, 2020 at 12:02:11 AM

This option just came in from the manufacturers. It's very obviously purple, and much more of a reddish purple. The lighting in the photos isn't great, but I don't think it could possibly be mistake for blue. I get the impression they found this option at the very last minute before the dying started, so we'll need to decide quickly if we want this one or the custom dyed option. 

What do you folks think?

Purple fabric
about 4 years ago – Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 12:31:44 AM

I've been talking with the manufacturer and they've pulled a few strings to be able to get a small batch of fabric custom dyed for us, which is excellent and will be a lot quicker than trying to source new fabric of the right colour from the open market. Normally we would need to be buying 2-3 times as much to meet the minimum order quantity but it sounds like the manufacturers called in a favour, which works out well for us. There will still be the extra costs because of the existing surplus blue fabric, but I'm hoping we can use that in a future run.

I'm in the process of picking out pantone codes, and hopefully we'll get something more purple soon. Apparently it'll take 2-3 weeks to get the dying process completed so the purple/teals and the rainbows won't be too far behind the black and reds.

What would folks think if I were to offer additional purple/teal and rainbow dragon bagons at say $45, to backers only, to help offset the cost of changing the fabric? So if you're already a backer, and you want to add another purple/teal or rainbow to your order, you get it at a discount. I'd be able to share photos of the fabric beforehand. Some folks suggested doing a discount, and I wanted to explore the possibility. I'm hesitant to offer a discount to everyone because I worry it would offend backers who already paid a higher price. What do folks think?

Also, I made a viking outfit for a festival:

Today we released 9 monarch butterflies, which leaves us with just three chrysalises now that the last caterpillar has pupated. I'm trying to get a time lapse of the development of one of the chrysalises. It's been an emotional rollercoaster, and I'm not sure whether I should be happy or sad to be honest. They're beautiful and fascinating and funny and stressful and heartbreaking and they will not listen to reason. Yes, I have tried to reason with them. They ignored me.

Oh, and if you've got kids you want to get into D&D or roleplaying in general, check out 2 Kings "Little Feet" series, it's specifically designs for kids learning to play and their parents ^_^. They've successfully funded on Kickstarter and preorders have opened.

Check them out here

manufacturing and fabric change update
about 4 years ago – Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 01:37:00 AM

Hi folks,

I've heard back from the manufacturers again and here's where we're at: 

• They have reopened, and while I believe they do not have their full workforce back, they are in operation
• The staff are all safe and well, which is a relief given the health situation, hopefully it passes soon.

Red and Black manufactured Dragon Bagons

The manufacturers are able to work on the Black and Red dragon bagons now. I have signed off on the final sample for that colour combo only, and the deposit is already paid so that should begin ASAP. If these are finished significantly before the other colours I will ask if we can have them shipped separately.

We've done the photography for the manufactured hangtag. I'm currently working on the layout and text, I'll share a preview in the next update.

Purple/Teal and Rainbow manufactured Dragon Bagons

It's going to cost approximately $2500 NZD extra to change the "purple" fabric. This is my mistake, I shouldn't have approved the fabrics without a sample in my hands, and now the manufacturers have 400 yards of the 'purple' fabric that may not be used. I thought I was moving things along quicker, but as a result it's actually slowed things down more and made backers unhappy. I'm going to try and learn from this and use more diligence, even if it seems to cost more time.

Many fabric suppliers are still not open yet and may not open for a couple more weeks, so that will slow down the search for an alternative.

My plan at this stage is to see if the manufacturers can find a better colour but the process may be slow. I'll wear the additional cost, and hopefully we can find something that everyone is happy with. If they cannot find a better fabric we will have to look at another plan. I'll keep you posted when I have more information.

Also, here's a monarch butterfly we released a while ago. I got a couple of swan plants ages ago and it's been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least.

The health situation in China
about 4 years ago – Sun, Feb 09, 2020 at 02:07:55 AM

I just heard back from the manufacturer. Here's what we know:

Due to the situation with the novel coronavirus, the Chinese government has asked citizens to stay home, and for businesses to not reopen from the New Year break until the 17th of February or later to slow down the spread of the virus. The manufacturers will be reopening on the 17th, though some fabric suppliers may not reopen until the end of February. We'll hopefully be able to get more information on the 17th or 18th. I've asked them to look for more fabric options for the purple.

I'm sorry the news isn't more position, and I realise this is frustrating, but hopefully these measures will help save lives. That being said, if anyone does not want to continue waiting, the option for a swap, upgrade or refund still stands.

The final samples have arrived
over 4 years ago – Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 12:45:35 AM

The samples arrived today! *squee*

The black and red sample looks good. There's some small variations in the head shapes and sizes across all three but we were expecting that.

The first big issue to tackle is the new "purple" fabric. I use quotation marks because it's not really purple. At most it's a very blue indigo. It looks more purple when it's against a lighter blue, but against the dark green/teal fabric, it looks very blue. I knew from the photos that it was going to be on the blue side of purple, but it's even more so than I expected. All that being said, I think it actually looks really cool against the dark green/teal. This fabric is also being used in the purple slot for the rainbows, and it does look more purplish against the lighter blue, so it could theoretically be indigo in the rainbow rather than purple. I'm a bit sad because I really wanted a bright rainbow, but I think I can live with it.

So now I need your feedback. Do you hate it? Not mind it? Love it? I could theoretically ask the manufacturer to try to source another fabric, but they already tried once and this was the best they could find within the timeframe. If they tried again they wouldn't be starting the search until the second week of February (after Chinese New Year), and some pieces might need to be recut if that particular fabric has already been started on. Bear in mind that if you ordered a purple/teal or a rainbow and you don't like this colour combination, I am happy to a) switch you over to another manufactured colour option, b) upgrade you to a handmade custom colour dragon at the old backer price, or c) refund that item (and the shipping if it was the entirety of your order).

The next thing, which probably only folks who've ordered a handmade Dragon Bagon as well as a manufactured one will notice, is that the fleece for the manufactured Dragon Bagons isn't quite as soft as the microfleece I use. It's still soft, but I use stuff that generally gets made into things for babies, so there will be a textural difference. If this is important to you (I know some folks do have texture based sensitivities), please let me know and we'll see what we can work out for you.

My gut feeling is let's go for it, but how you folks feel is important too. What do you think?

Also, I've heard that some folks from the last round of shipping we sent out haven't yet received their parcels. Shipping over the holidays was... hectic on multiple continents, so if your order has been marked as fulfilled more than three weeks ago and you still haven't gotten your parcel, please get in touch and I'll start an investigation.