Short and sweet instead of just short!
about 5 years ago – Sat, Mar 13, 2021 at 05:53:57 AM

Conventions are slowly starting to happen again!!!

This means I can actually vend again.

This means I can spend time working in my shop and actually make money off it instead of spending all day doing slow gig work just to pay bills.

This means I can actually finish projects and have the money to ship them, hint, talking about this one.

Finally a light at the end of this freaking tunnel.

To all the anti mask and antivax people whose selfishness made the tunnel so long in this country, please punch yourself in the face as hard as you can for about 45 minutes, in order to celebrate your freedom (just pretend someone told you not to).

Actually ahead of schedule for once! :D
over 5 years ago – Fri, Aug 14, 2020 at 02:05:00 PM

So, I'm finally getting used to living in COVID... which, honestly I wish I didn't have to get used to it, but whatever, guess we gotta open the schools in Georgia to prove what scientists keep saying about, ya know, viruses spreading.  *Goes back into quarantine... again...*

But, the good news is I'm getting a lot faster at working on my own, and I am actually getting ahead of my previous schedule.

I had said that I wanted to get all the remaining pledges cut, stained, and engraved by the start of September.

Well... it's August 14th and I just hit that goal!!!

The final step is of course the tedious hand-stitching, and that does usually take the most time and effort out of the whole process, but the plus side is I can do that anywhere.  I can lounge on the sofa stitching dice together while watching TV, and that makes it a much easier task in a lot of ways (compared to the work on the laser, which means dedicating time to setting everything up and then monitoring it throughout the day).

So.. new goal is to have the "shell" of every final pledge done by the end of September, which will leave only the final step of stitching the cloth bag into place and attaching the magnetic lid pieces.

I'm looking forward to sending every final pledge a holiday present, in other words. :)

Quick update on international orders!
over 5 years ago – Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 08:28:09 PM

Okay, looks like I'm down to the final handful, and finally got things sorted with a new home for my laser officially!  I'm going to be in this location until the start of September so I'm aiming to get all the remaining pieces cut and engraved by then and I'll be wrapping up all assembly the following month.

I'll try to post more updates on these final steps, while I'm getting ready for a documentary trip I've been planning for quite some time!  A lot of your help and support on these kickstarters has made this possible and I owe you guys a ton for that!

Remaining backers who are getting late fulfillment, be ready for some particularly nice bonuses for your patience, including metal dice sets (be careful with glass tables, not joking)

Important Update regarding Shipping and Dragon's Claw post-Covid
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 08, 2020 at 12:39:53 PM

Spoiler: There's no bad news.

I wanted to say that up front since a lot of these "important updates" people are getting on campaigns right now are essentially "Covid killed our business, we don't know what to do."

Covid has not killed our business, we are a small home-based decentralized manufacturing facility with two live-in product designers.  Our main employees are a laser named Trogdor and a CNC router and 3D printer that have not yet been given a name (taking suggestions).

So, first the shipping update:  Domestic shipments of the Leather D20 dice case have officially resumed, and so has final production on International shipments.  We've been including some free dice sets in every Leather D20 as well as a small item of our appreciation for your patience, such as a wooden dice jail or pedestal. 

The other news is something a few of you may already be aware of.  Along with using our laser to cut cloths for masks we have been making at the request of local healthcare providers, we've also been using our laser to cut a simple wooden Tablet/Nintendo Switch stand.  The concept was simply to have something to do with our scrap wood that could at least be a little bit helpful in these difficult times, especially since a lot of people are stuck at home and, let's face it, keeping yourself entertained during a quarantine is as essential as any other need, and people tend to forget that.

We posted this to multiple yard sale groups in our local area, encouraging people to swing by and take one of the stands from a sterilized box attached to our mailbox.

The response was incredible.  We even had people leave us gifts and letters of appreciation, for something that literally cost us pennies to make (if that, since a lot of the wood was scrap pieces) and almost no labor (aside from brushing off the pieces and bagging them, the hardest part is pressing a flashing button on an automated laser when it's ready).

We realized that, with very little effort and almost no expended resources, we had made a difference in a way that is often overlooked.  We provided an essential need that isn't talked about very much, we made some people smile and appreciate something in the middle of a crisis, and honestly we've been buzzing from that ever since.

So, we're gonna keep doing it...

The decision was made on March 23rd, 2020, that Dragon's Claw Tabletop will function, at least in part, as a post-scarcity manufacturer.  We are still going to make and sell tabletop accessories including our planned future kickstarters, and make our living using our CNC Routers, 3D printers, and Lasers to produce quality gaming accessories, but we're going to use the downtime on these machines (which is extensive) to produce various small items from artwork to household goods.

We don't know what all we will be making, since we're having to completely re-think our business model on this one.  We never would have made a Nintendo Switch stand before because, to be honest, it's not worth the small amount of profit to try and sell such a simple low-cost item.  In order to sell it I'd have to price it around $2-3 at the most, and that's just not worth the effort to promote as a product.  But, by giving it away, I no longer think of it as a product I have to try and *sell* and suddenly it's just this simple little thing that makes people happy and costs me practically nothing!

So, we're currently working on a collection of simple items that we can create on our machines with minimal labor (things that don't require a lot of assembly effort or spotchecking) and we'll be posting them in a section on our website as completely free items, not add-ons (you do not have to buy something from us to get it) for either local pickup or at-cost shipping.

Again, these are things that cost us practically nothing to make, they will be made in batches on our machines through automation and with mostly scrap materials, so this is absolutely a "why not?" for us.  

Machines like ours sit idle a lot of the time, especially during a crisis like this one, and it's absolutely brilliant that so many people would fire them up to make things like masks and face shields.

We're hoping that in even a small way we can demonstrate that it doesn't take a crisis to turn on a machine if it can provide something for our communities.

#PostScarcityNow

Everyone Roll Constitution Saving Throws! (Important shipping update)
about 6 years ago – Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 10:41:08 PM

I apologize for the delay in this update, I was honestly hoping to not have to send it.  Several of you have been in contact with us considering final shipment of our Leather D20s and have been told they would go out last week or sooner, and as I'm sure you've noticed, we missed that deadline.

I wanted this update to announce that your packages were on the way, but we've all failed our saving throws at this point, and even though most of us just have mild flus, the biggest issue we are dealing with is the panic over COVID-19 causing the cancellation of multiple conventions.

We keep our kickstarter fulfillment and vending operations as separate as possible, but it's still a huge impact to us when our mailbox fills with cancellation notices for various conventions and other vending events.

It has not hurt us badly, especially with our second kickstarter performing so well, so we know we will be able to weather the storm as a company, but things have been pretty scary nonetheless.

All that aside, the good news is that we'll still be able to finish fulfillment, including shipping, by the end of the month.  Also, force majeure or not, we like to take responsibility for any delays, AND we have a surplus of inventory due to all of the convention vending cancellations... so we're going to be including extra items such as dice holders, metal D20s, and acrylic dice sets for ALL delayed orders.

Yes, it's a bribe... but honestly, who doesn't love a bribe? :D