Mon Dec 31 '18 Announcement
almost 6 years ago
– Mon, Dec 31, 2018 at 04:33:53 PM
Hello!
Let’s jump right into the shipping update.
(Wondering what Wave you will be in? Please scroll back in the updates section of our Indiegogo page to the previous update posted on Dec 18th, as we explained it there.)
Good News: All of Wave 2 safely arrived at our fulfillment center last week and will begin shipping this week.
Urgent reminder again: (All Backers) Please ensure your address is up to date in BackerKit.
Wave 2 backers: If your BackerKit survey is totally complete, you’ll just need to be on the lookout for a FedEx email with your door-to-door tracking information.
International Backers: Please be extra vigilant to track your package, as you’ll need to pay your customs/import tax/VAT before it’s delivered to your doorstep. They only hold unclaimed packages for a number of days before customs officials will confiscate it. We’re sure it would make a customs official very happy to bring your Stickybones home-- but let’s avoid that situation, as we cannot replace confiscated Stickybones.
***If you think you’ll be away when your Stickybones may be delivered, please email ASAP if you would like us to hold your order and wait until you have returned to ship it.
Miscellaneous Fact: The Wave 2 freight shipment weighed in at 4,389 pounds (including packaging and pallets.) That’s a lot of forklifts full of Mr. Bones.
Wave 3 Update:
Wave 3 is in active production and the last date we’ve heard from our manufacturer was end of Feb/early March. If that date changes, we will let you know as soon as we know, though we will be pushing as hard as we can for them to hold to this date.
**Important Side Note for Wave 3 Backers: We still have a small quantity of extra Spark Blue Stickybones available to ship in Wave 2. Are you in Wave 3 and want to get yours in Wave 2 instead? It might be possible. If your earliest contribution number is between 2742 and 8000, and you currently have a Dark Storm in your order, you’ll be in Wave 3 UNLESS you switch your colors to exclusively Spark Blue -- in which case you can be in Wave 2. If you’d like to take advantage of this, please email us immediately at [email protected] and in the subject line, please write “[Your earliest Indiegogo contribution ID number] SWITCH TO SPARK BLUE.”
Thank you.
Happy New Year,
Team Stickybones
Thu Dec 13 '18 Announcement
about 6 years ago
– Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 05:32:26 PM
Working link related to update just posted.
https://youtu.be/xzOyMuJAT5c
Thu Dec 13 '18 Announcement
about 6 years ago
– Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 05:00:00 PM
Warm Greetings,
We are thankful for our wonderful community of backers. You’ve been an incredibly patient, positive force and have left your personal thumbprint forever on the creation of Stickybones. We could not do this without you.
Part 1: Shipping update
Part 2: New Video Posted
Part 1: Shipping Update
In preparation for the big forthcoming shipping waves, all remaining shipping charges have been processed through BackerKit. So if you saw a charge come through, that was it. If you have not received your Stickybones yet, it’s not because you missed your package, it’s because it has not been sent yet.
Reminder: If you’ve moved since filling out your address, please be sure to keep your BackerKit address current. To change your address in BackerKit, please go back to your BackerKit survey and click the “Edit Your Address” button on the right hand side. (See image below.)
If you need assistance updating your address, please email [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.
SHIPPING SCHEDULE INFORMATION:
We visited our manufacturers recently and while we were there, they were running our parts on 2 mold press machines (one with heads and another with Fly-Rig parts) full time--day and night. They’ve just purchased an two additional injection molding machines which they are getting up and running now. The addition of the new machines will help them double their production speed of Stickybones parts from here forward.
Shipping Waves:
Wave 1: Fulfilled
Wave 2: Set to complete within days. They are boxing Stickybones now in a massive assembly line. Once boxed, they will be sent to our fulfillment house who will ship them to backers immediately. They may or--slightly more likely--may not arrive before Christmas depending on exactly which day they finish. We are still urging them for speed as much as we possibly can.
Wave 3: Set to complete end of February or early March at which point they will send them to our fulfillment house to ship immediately.
Which wave of shipments are you in?
To give you an estimate of which wave you will most likely be in, below is a breakdown. Keep in mind there is still some fluctuation because as people continue to fill in their BackerKit surveys, it changes exactly where the cut off lands between the two waves.
Above: Actual Team Stickybones member working in spreadsheets to calculate the shipping wave estimates below.
You’ll be in Wave 2 if:
Your earliest Indiegogo Contribution ID number is between 1 and 2741
You’ll be in Wave 2 if:
Your earliest Indiegogo Contribution ID is between 2742 and 4700 and your order does NOT contain a Dark Storm color Stickybones OR if you switch your color(s) to Spark Blue (There was a much bigger demand for Dark Storm.) IMPORTANT: If you are in this group and your order includes Dark Storm Stickybones and you WANT TO SWITCH YOUR COLOR(S) to Spark Blue to ensure you are in Wave 2, you CAN do this. Please email [email protected] immediately. In the subject line, please write “[Your earliest Indiegogo contribution ID number] SWITCH TO SPARK BLUE.”
You’ll be in Wave 3 if:
Your earliest Indiegogo Contribution ID is any number between 2742 and 4700 and you have at least one Dark Storm in your order and would be prefer to wait until late Feb/early March for the Dark Storm color.
You’ll be in Wave 3 if:
Your earliest Indiegogo Contribution ID is 4701 and up, no matter what color you’ve selected.
How do you find your contribution ID?
Log into your Indiegogo account > click the drop down arrow in the top right side of the screen by your name > Click My Contributions > Here you’ll find your Contribution ID number when you click View Contribution Details of your perk(s) on this page.
Thank you for hanging in there. We know the wait has felt like...
Prior to this latest schedule update, our manufacturers thought they’d be able to have all orders done by December. They now have told us they simply have not been able to produce the parts as quickly as they thought they could. Needless to say the schedule slips have been beyond frustrating for both backers and the Stickybones team. However, at the very least, we are given some solace by the fact that we are happy with the final product and you will have better posing function with Stickybones than any other poseable figure in the world.
We will be on location at our manufacturer’s facility again Saturday (in 2 days) overseeing assembly and helping in any other way we can with getting Wave 2 out the door and shipped to backers.
Part 2: New Video Posted
While physical manufacturing of our Stickybones parts continues with our manufacturing crew, our creative team at Stickybones HQ is producing a series called Pro-Tips which is a collection of nugget-filled video instruction to guide and inspire your own art and animation projects. We are working hard to add value where we can.
We have many more videos coming down the line to help you do your best work--we’re looking forward to sharing more.
We’ve posted the SECOND video in our Stickybones Pro-Tips series which features Head of Stop Motion Education/Animation Supervisor Florian Perinelle. (Sidenote:) Even if you haven’t received your Stickybones yet, you should still check this out as we’ve packed a lot of goodness and knowledge into just a few minutes, which can be applied even without Stickybones.
Link: https://youtu.be/xzOyMuJAT5c
Thanks for reading and for your patience and support.
Happy Holidays,
Team Stickybones
Wed Oct 17 '18 Announcement
about 6 years ago
– Wed, Oct 17, 2018 at 12:17:29 AM
Greetings,
Part 1: Production Update
Part 2: Introducing our NEW TEAM MEMBER who will help take your Stop Motion to the next level.
Part 3: New Stickybones Blog
Part 4: Backer posts and photos with their Stickybones
Part 1: PRODUCTION UPDATE
Have we begun Shipping? Oh yes indeedy. Many backers have received their Stickybones. We will share some of their posts at the end of this update.
Haven’t gotten your order yet? Sorry for the long wait. Don’t worry. If you have filled out your BackerKit survey completely, then all you have to do now is to keep on the lookout for an email notifying you that your order has shipped. You will be emailed FedEx tracking information as well. And we thank you for your patience for that--we know the waiting part is not fun.
OR--If you’ve already gotten your Stickybones and are now waiting for replacement parts like a neck rod or other? Thanks for your patience--it took a bit for our manufacturers to get us all the parts we needed (they’re quite swamped, as you know!) Good news is we have them now and will begin mailing them out this week. We’ll send them to the same address you gave us in BackerKit. If you need it sent to a different address, please email us at hello@stickybones subject line: Replacement Part Address Change
After a good meeting with our manufacturer recently, it became clear the fastest course of action we can take to get the remainder of the pre-orders shipped ASAP is to essentially ship in 3 waves. The first wave has already been shipped out. The second wave of orders, (which is going to be over 4 times as large as the first wave) should ship in about a month. And the 3rd wave (which will be double of the second wave and 8 times as large as the first wave) should go out about a month after that. Our manufacturer has now asked us to do it this way rather than smaller groups because in the end it will save a lot more time. Will all of the orders be shipped before Christmas? If they can stay on quota target, yes. But if an unexpected issue should arise, then it could presumably push past. At this point, the speed they go is out of our control and we hope all goes smoothly at the facility.
Everyone is working incredibly hard at our manufacturer’s facility, they are still running our molds all day and then running them all night when the night shift clocks in. They are very excited about Stickybones, themselves and tell us it’s great to work on something different and creative because they normally focus on precision medical devices, aerospace parts or a high precision car parts.
We’re proudly manufacturing all Stickybones in our home state of California. During our last visit, we came to find out, sadly, one of our lead manufacturers who’s been working on Stickybones this entire time lost his home to a natural disaster. He’s has had to pick up his life and keep moving forward. He’s been wonderful and has never complained---he continues to work hard on Stickybones daily. We appreciate his and the entire manufacturing team’s immense effort despite timeline setbacks.
Now, on to our favorite bit of news you can use...
Part 2: NEW TEAM MEMBER!
Behind the scenes, in addition to overseeing the complex manufacturing of Stickybones here in California, we’re ramping up another aspect of our company--one that we feel will add tremendous value for you and give you the opportunity to get the most possible benefit from your Stickybones when you receive it.
As a company founded by animators, we’re in a special position to not only make exceptional physical tools for artists and animators, but, emboldened by a passion to help other artists and animators, we are also in a position to provide you with world class instruction that you can apply to your own work through the use of Stickybones.
We are thrilled to introduce you to the newest member of Team Stickybones!
Meet Florian “Flo” Perinelle, who has come aboard at Stickybones as Head of Stop Motion Education and Animation Supervisor.
Flo's coming aboard will help you get started with stop motion animation, and take your current abilities even further!
Flo has joined us fresh from years of animating at the best stop motion animation studios in the world, like Aardman and Laika. And he’s eager to pass onto YOU the wealth of stop motion animation knowledge he has amassed during his years contributing to films many of us know and love-- like Kubo and the Two Strings, Boxtrolls, Paranorman, and Pirates: Band of Thieves (and even Laika’s upcoming Missing Link that we’re greatly looking forward to…coming out early 2019.)
Interested in acquiring next-level stop motion knowledge from Flo? Subscribe to the Stickybones YouTube channel, where we will regularly post videos featuring Flo’s guru-level stop motion animation wisdom.
Stickybones has a wide variety of uses extending beyond animation, with useful applications relating to a variety of visual arts and body mechanics—so we're looking forward to also sharing a variety of videos relating to these topics as well.
We’ve begun a video series called “Stickybones Pro Tips” and the first video with Flo, Getting Familiar with Your Stickybones is LIVE NOW. The next video, How To Create A Successful Pose will be posted soon.
Which brings us to…
We've launched a new blog. And for our inaugural blog post, we want to give you an opportunity to get to know Flo!
---> Read his first Q & A interview as part of Team Stickybones! He’s excited to get to know you, too, as we grow our community and interaction spaces.
Part 4: BACKER POSTS
We’re happy with the feedback that we’ve gotten from the backers who have already received their Stickybones. Many people are expressing that it’s been worth the wait. (As hard as we know waiting is to do, and we apologize for the manufacturing delays we've encountered.) To give you reassurance that, yes, we are already shipping to backers, please check out some of the posts and reactions below.
This was a jam-packed update—Thanks for reading. If you've gotten your Stickybones already--awesome! If you're still waiting..won't be too much longer now. Thank you for your support.
Best,
Team Stickybones
P.S. If you're awaiting on a response to an email, thanks for your patience as we get caught up/try to keep up.
Fri Aug 24 '18 Announcement
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Aug 24, 2018 at 10:22:21 AM
Part 2 of 2
Q&As:
Q: What Hashtags to use?
A: As a way of connecting with the rest of the Stickybones community we recommend using hashtags when sharing your photos and videos to social media like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and MySpace (just kidding about that last one… RIP MySpace.)
Here are some to get your started:
#StickybonesPose = anything Stickybones related
#StickybonesArt = art related
#StickybonesAnim = animation related
#StickybonesStopMo = stop motion related
#StickybonesAtWork = show us Stickybones at your workplace
#Stickybones = This one is shared with a BBQ restaurant in Texas, but feel free to use it if you’d like… why not add a little Stickybones pose “spice” to their social media “feed.” ;)
Q: Where is the Assembly Video?
A: When you get your Stickybones, please watch the “follow-along” assembly video here. For those of you who’ve already received and assembled your Stickybones, please check it out and double-check your work.
Q: Do I need to write my address in English?
A: Yes. If you entered your address into the BackerKit survey in any language other than English, please go change it to English as soon possible. FedEx requires this, as local employees here must be able to read it.
Q: I got a faulty neck rod, what should I do?
A: While starting now the neck rods will be fine moving forward, if you were one of the first backers to get their Stickybones and you got one of the neck rods we mentioned above that won’t hold the head pose, please contact us at [email protected] subject line "Neck Rod."
Q: Can I accidentally break Stickybones?
A: That is highly doubtful. The materials used are so strong that we would be incredibly impressed if you managed to break a part with your bare hands… if you did, we would advise you to sign up for a strong man/strong woman competition! Do not worry about breaking a part when snapping Stickybones together--No matter how hard you press during assembly, we’re 99.99% sure it won’t break. Now we’re not saying to put your character under a steamroller… although, admittedly, we would be curious to see the results.
Q: Why hasn’t my credit card been charged yet in BackerKit?
A: If you’ve filled out your survey, but have noticed that your card has not yet been charged, it’s because (currently at least) we’re only charging the card right before shipping your particular order.
Q: Will you enable PayPal?
A: Yes-- We got several requests, so we’re getting PayPal set up in BackerKit. It turns out that PayPal enabling is in another tier of BackerKit’s plans, so we’re first going through the process of upgrading our BackerKit tier… if you want to use PayPal, thanks for your patience as we get it set up.
Q: What is the Current Production Rate?
A: When we were at our manufacturers this week we were talking with them about their predicted production rate. Our manufacturer was communicating to us that the production of Stickybones is taking longer than they expected but, yes, the rate will increase greatly from here. They were saying we will probably have to ship over the course of at least 2 months minimum before the very last order ships. Due to what we learned when the first small sub-run we just ran, there’s a very narrow path we can walk with speed vs. quality control and since we’ve seen several surprise issues arise, it seems like they will have to take the time to be extra vigilant to catch any more surprises that could and likely will come up. The reason this is so important is because, well-- say we made too many Stickybones at once or in the name of speed we were not careful enough.. And then what if we discovered a problem with all of them. Well, then all of our material is used up and the parts would have to be replaced--not a good situation because we’d have to order more material--and since we have custom materials, that would take a lot of time. So it’s better to be extra cautious than risk that situation. It’s such a crazy fine-line we have to walk here. It’s like a tight-rope walking while juggling a cat, a dog, 5 hamsters, and an ill-tempered shark with a laser attached to his head. (Austin Powers reference, anyone?) What we mean to say is it is a challenging balancing act. But Stickybones are being made around the clock (literally speaking--our manufacturers added a night shift of mold operators to run our parts.) Now if we could only convince them to get another mold press so we could double out output.... yes... we'll try for that! :)
Thanks for reading!
Kind regards,
Team Stickybones
