Farewell to 2022!
Good morning to you all on this final day of 2022, or perhaps the first day of 2023 for many of y'all east of the east coast!
This is our last post for 2022, but there's certainly a lot to share, so please be sure to read this update carefully as it will likely affect many of you who are interested in changing tiers in the new year! There's a few new tiers this year so here's a quick breakdown of all the tiers to help you decide which tier you'd like to be in in 2023:
- Moujuu Club: The official name of our Japanese Theme club this year! Moujuu means "vicious animal," which most the animals we will be featuring this year aren't generally that vicious, but Taka thought it would be a funny contrast since we'll be doing cute animals that are "viciously" cute! And would you all believe Taka has already drawn up like half the animals for 2023! If only I could get him to do Pretty Winkers that quickly! >_<
- Pretty Winkers: Pretty Soldiers #1 - This club won't change other than us making the distinction that Pretty Soldiers refers to Sailor Moon characters only.
- Pretty Winkers: Pretty Soldiers #2 - Like #1 tier, this one is only for Sailor Moon characters.
- Pretty Winkers: SG Collection - SG stands for Studio Ghibli. There will only be one character per month, designed by Mandy in the Ghibli style. These pins will also be in a heart shape with most designs around 2-2.5" just like the Sailor Moon series. Although, given the style simplicity of Ghibli, these won't be as detailed line-wise as the Pretty Soldiers which is why the pin tier is slightly cheaper as it will likely not be quite as expensive to produce as Sailor Moon designs. We will still include glitter or other effects if the design calls for it.
- Pretty Winkers: Triple Threat - This is for those who want all the fan art designs each month.
- Docchimo #1: This tier won't really change much other than the fact that members can choose between 3 pretty winkers which can be Sailor Moon or Ghibli characters each month. For the original design, some months may have a variant to choose from.
- Docchimo #2: Like the #1 tier, you can choose two pretty winkers between the Sailor Moon or Ghibli characters.
- Yokubari: The ultimate tier! Yokubari is often used in restaurant meal sets because it comes with all the add-ons offered. This tier will be for those who want allllllllll the designs every month.
WHICH TIER SHOULD I JOIN?!
Ok, so the one downside of running our club on our own site instead of Patreon is that you can't just go up and down a pin club tier on a whim. I know this has been a pain sometimes when you want to subscribe for 2 pins and then switch down since you have to manually quit the subscription you're in and then re-join. So, how do you decide which tier to go for?
I highly recommend only joining the minimum tier you think you'll want. So if you think you'll generally only want one design, but occasionally might like to add-on another design as it strikes your fancy, I recommend joining Pretty Winkers single pin tier (whichever fandom you prefer) or Japanese club. I always offer a listing to add-on a single pin to your box and moving forward I'll keep all of the current month's designs in a single add-on listing so you can easily choose to add one or all the designs to your current month's box. If you're fairly certain you'll want to collect all of a certain fandom and our original work, then do join the Docchimo tier or Yokubari tier! :)
Now here's the important part: IF you are planning to change tiers in the new year, please quit today before 4pm PST. Charges start going through around 4pm PST on the last day of each month (today) and into the 1st day or two of the upcoming month (January). You'll then want to rejoin anytime after midnight on the 1st at whatever new tier you'd like to be in. It's not the end of the world if you don't quit and rejoin, but it will save us some transaction fees that we don't ever get back if we have to refund you the difference if you changed club tiers. The new club tiers won't open up until midnight, January 1st so as to avoid double-charges.
If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email at shishidocreative@gmail.com (my preferred way of contact for order-related stuff), but you can still DM on IG if that's easier for you too.
JANUARY DESIGNS
Okay, let's get to it! For the Moujuu Club, we're kicking off the new year with nami usagi or rabbit in the waves. Like our original Otsukimi pin which is nearly sold out for the second time, the moon will have a translucent sandblast effect for the color version. For the black-and-grey variant, Taka wanted it to have a more irezumi (Japanese tattoo) look and will be a glittery black moon.
For the Pretty Winkers: SG club, I'm kicking it off with one of the characters I most relate to in the Ghibli universe: Kiki! I've already drawn up February's design and will be working on most of this year's characters so I can be ahead of the timeline throughout the year! This design will feature glittering sky and ocean, screen print and gradient cheeks!
As for the Pretty Winkers: Pretty Soldiers for January, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that we're tying up the Sailor Stars heroes and the Season one baddies with Chibi Chibi Moon and Kunzite. Because we never intended to have the Sailor form of the characters when we first started our collection, we drew Chibi Chibi with her staff in the original (and sold out) civilian form from 2021. While she had her incense burner at the base of that design, we've decided to have her holding it for this design. For Kunzite, I don't really have much to say except for HE HAS NO BUSINESS BEING THIS BEAUTIFUL!!!! What the hell was Taka thinking when he drew him? Also, I'm kinda getting flirty Howl vibes from this Kunzite. Maybe I'll just be lazy and do a Howl Variant and call it my Howl pin! jk jk I'd never! haha But seriously, can any of us blame Zoisite for falling for this charmer? Of course he has the rose he gives to Zoisite in hand! As always, I'll have the final vector art for you all in a matter of days.
And as a bonus design I sketched on a whim this week while binge-reading the SpyxFamily manga, here's Anya which I teased about in the most recent update:
I haven't decided if I'll do Loid and Yor, but there's a fairly decent possibility.
LUNAR NEW YEAR KICKSTARTER
In conjunction with our new pin club and tier options launching on the 1st, we are also launching our Lunar New Year Kickstarter at noon PST on January 1st. And we have limited "porcelain" variants (thanks to the person who suggested it--you know who you are!) as a stretch goal we'll be releasing if we unlock everything on Kickstarter. I'm going to work on some other stretch goals if I have time, but as always, the pin club will still take precedence over this as far as my wrapping up vectors. If I do have the time, I'll be adding washi tape and sticker sheets to the project. Maybe some board fillers, keychains or pouches if I can come up with a cute idea!
I'll also be working on a fun freebie that I offer to club members who back this project because that's just something I like to do as an extra thank you! :p So I'll keep you updated on that!
MANUFACTURER UPDATES
At last, the rep at my main manu seems to be improving from having Covid. It sounds like they're still recovering, and I want to give them the space to do that fully, but he finally was able to give me a tracking number for the latest shipment. It hasn't yet made it into FedEx's hands or at least hasn't left the FedEx facility, so I don't have a set date for when it will be in, While I don't know for certain what's going to be in the package, I do know it's 85lbs! O.O So based on that weight, I'm guessing we have most the outstanding pins coming in for both pin clubs up through probably October and possibly November. So I most definitely have my work cut out for me, and will work as fast as I can to grade and ship out in January! Once I get a quote from our main manu for the newest designs, I'll let you all know when I'm ready to put up the Princesses (and probably Anya).
Most important to this update, we want to thank you all so much for your support, kind words, patience and friendships. It is never lost on us how blessed we are to be able to be working creators because you're not only allowing one person to follow their passion, but two of us! We hope to continue building on our momentum in 2023, take restful pauses when needed, and keep serving you all our best work! Please take care of yourselves, continue to live your best lives and thrive into 2023!
- Mandy & Taka
Yaaaay! I was still planning to join regardless if there were gifts or not but your gift designs are always so cute 🙈
@aarika: yes! Absolutely will have gifts! I’ll never not offer gifts as an extra thank you!
So excited for the new things to come in 2023!! Will the SG winkers club also have milestone gifts like the Pretty Soldiers?