The pins are here!
They're my new enamel pins
It's the first time I've ever designed any
There's 3 of them:
There's the hedgehog nigiri
Cherry Cats
And pegasaurus
Which is the prehistoric ancestor of the pegasus
I'm really pleased with how they've come out
They look so small and shiny
And colourful
And I think they look really cute
While I was designing them I filmed little bits along the way
So you can see my design process
And what it's like designing something new for Cakes with Faces
So I hope you enjoy that
And if you like the designs
You can get them from my website
Which is cakeswithfaces.co.uk
You can also get them from Cakes with Faces on Etsy
So now let's rewind
To two months ago
Back in January when it was really dark
And I was first trying to decide which designs to get made
Here's where I work
And here are some of the rough designs for the pins
This one would be really nice
An Illuminatea pin
This one is a hedgehog nigiri
No reason!
Just because it'd be cute
Pegasaurus!
Now this is one of my top ideas for a pin
*phone* oops sorry!
Here's the original design
To make it into a pin
I got rid of these shading parts
Because it has to be flat colour
And all the different colours have to be outlined in metal
So you can't have any shadows like this
But what I can't decide with this design
Is whether to have the name Pegasaurus on the actual pin
Or not
Because without the name
Is it too difficult to understand?
But I think he looks really cute without any text on
Maybe it could be an in-joke
So if you've got the pin and you know the design, you know what it is
Bumblebee Cat would make a really cute pin
This is my other favourite
Snowbow!
It was a drawing I did that was really popular
Sun plus rain is rainbow
So sun plus snow makes a snowbow!
It got a lot of love on Facebook
But I've never done anything with it
This one, the Cherry Cats
That was a design from the Cattoos
I've made the outlines a bit chunkier
Taken off the shading
And I made the cherry stalks a bit shorter
To make the shape of the whole thing a bit fatter
So it won't get caught on clothing
Let's look at them on this now
I laid them out to post them on Instagram
To see what you guys think
Here's another one kind of inspired by the Cattoos
It's a rainbow
With cat head clouds
Not sure about that one
I don't really like it that much
These 2 at the bottom
Are really a bit too girly for Cakes with Faces I think
And these ones: I was trying some designs inspired by Japan
These signs: ka-ra-o-ke
Karaoke!
Are just like the signs you get on karaoke bars
On the street in Tokyo
And this one is a gacha machine
Which would be really cute
Now the other decision to make
Is whether to get them with silver or gold finish
Or black finish
And I'm talking about the outline here
These ones are gold
That's black
That one's silver
Because I think the black outline would suit the style of my artwork better
But shiny metal pins
Just look really cool and magical
And I don't know...
Is something about why pins are nice the shininess?
Making new products always involves so many little decisions like this
And it's important to get them right
So they turn out nice
It's also a risk when I get new things
Because I have to order loads of them
In bulk
Before I know if anyone's going to like them
So I do take my time over it
And try and get it right
The proofs have arrived for the pins!
A proof is a preview
So you can check it's going to look ok
Before it goes into full production
And look!
On the cherry cats
The whiskers are webbed!
It's because they can't do angles that small
At this size
So I've just changed the design a little bit
And made the whiskers slightly shorter
So they don't look like monster cats
With webbed whiskers
And
Look how bare my desk is
I had to pack all my figures away
Because we're going to be moving soon
And it looks so boring
I've been working on the designs for the backing cards for the pins
Here they are
I've gone for black with sparkles in the background
And on the back
We've got why he's called Pegasaurus
Prehistoric ancestor of the pegasus
Here's the one for the cherry cats
And the back
And I was going to have hedgehog nigiri matching as well
But I just thought it looked so good
On this sushi rolling mat background
I had to go for it
And on the back of that one
I've got my favourite fact about hedgehogs and Japan
The Japanese name for hedgehog means "needle mouse"
How cute is that?!
Ha-ri-ne-zu-mi
And finally, the pins have arrived!
Here they are, they're in these bags
They're all individually wrapped
There's all the hedgehog nigiri
Pegasaurus
And the cherry cats
I'm really pleased with how they've come out
I'm glad I went for the black finish
On these ones
So the eyes look better
And for pegasaurus I went for a dark metal
A gun metal finish
So he's a bit more shiny and magical
Here's the backing cards
They've come out really colourful and shiny
So I'm really happy with them
I've taken photos of them
I've done all the photoshopping
And they're in the shop, ready to go!
I'm designing lots of other new things as well
At the moment, so look out for that
I've been putting a few previews on Twitter and Instagram
So if you're interested
Go and have a look
And I'll be back soon with more videos about Japan
And more colourful things!
See you soon!
Bye bye!