Leftovers

I have about a dozen sets of the Miskatonic University notebooks and postcards available for anyone who would like extras. Each includes three notebooks and three postcards identical to the ones included in the complete Miskatonic package.



The pocket notebooks measure 3.5" by 5" (8.89 cm by 12.7 cm) and have a saddle-stitch binding, 1/4" rounded corners, heavyweight cover, and 32 pages of high quality lined paper. All materials are 100% recycled and the cover designs are printed with environmentally friendly soy ink.

The three postcards are 4" by 6" vintage-style painted color prints of the Orne Library, Front Campus, and Middle Campus of Miskatonic University. The backs feature period layouts ideal for prop use. If you're using them as regular postcards please ignore the 20s era one cent postage rate. Heh.

Update: My thanks to everyone that ordered.

Miskatonic Pennant Fix

So, the Miskatonic pennant. One group of folks love it- the ones that didn't have their package crushed flat during shipping. The ones receiving mailers that did get stomped on the way through the post aren't nearly as happy. Their pennants are arriving with sharp creases, which is exactly the kind of problem I was trying to avoid by wrapping the banners around the flatpacked items.

Obviously, that approach didn't work.

There are two possible fixes for the problem. The first is to flatten out the creases using an iron set on low heat. Place the banner face down on a flat surface, place a sheet of paper on top of it, and then apply the iron. Based on my tests that should fix any mild creasing.

The second approach should work for even heavily creased pennants. This involves rolling up the pennant and immersing it in slightly warm water. Let the felt sit in the water for a few seconds so that it gets fully saturated and the fibers relax. Then spread it out flat on a horizontal surface and let it air dry. There may be some slight curling of the edges as the felt dries, but that's easily fixed with an iron. If you want your pennant stiff enough to display horizontally on the wall just apply spray starch to the back and iron on low heat.

Again, I apologize to anyone who had their pennant mangled in the mail. In the future I'll be using a hard-shell mailer for goods like this.

Miskatonic University Update

Everyone who pledged to the Miskatonic University project should have received a mailing notice for their prop sets. If you haven't, please drop me a line.

The feedback so far has been great, particularly in regards to the felt pennant. One of the comments I've been hearing repeatedly is surprise at just how big it is, which probably means I should have played up the fact it's 36" long a bit more. The one negative point I've come across is something I should have caught back in January- the art for the back cover of the notebooks doesn't have proper entry fields.

There aren't any extra sets available, but if you're interested in getting some of the leftover notebooks and postcards I'll be posting a PayPal link later today or tomorrow.

Miskatonic Update

Due to unforeseen circumstances I'm running behind on getting the last batch of Miskatonic packages out. And by "unforeseen" I mean "anyone with half a brain should have been able to figure out they were only going to have an hour long window to get to the post office by looking at their schedule". This delay is totally my fault, and I once again apologize. The last of the packages should go out Friday.

Unfortunately, it looks like there aren't going to be any spare complete sets. I'll have about ten sets of the notebooks and postcards available, but I'm not going to worry about disposing of them until I get all the pledge orders taken care of. The last thing I need right now is more packages in need of mailing.

Almost There

I spent last night packaging up the last batch of Miskatonic sets. Another 20 will go out today, and the final bunch should head out tomorrow.

Hail, Miskatonic

The Miskatonic felt pennants arrived yesterday, and as soon as I opened the box I knew all the aggravation, delays, and frustrations of this project were worth it. They're just awesome, and I say that as someone whose primary motivation for doing these projects is getting the kind of prop items I want.



The only quibble I have with the pennants is the placement of the seal. The template was marked for the felt strip on the end, but that's not where it is on the final product. Instead of taking up an inch on the broad end of the design it's actually an additional inch added to the base, but that's just a minor issue when compared to how well the rest of it came out.

I'll be packaging up the first batch of prop sets for mailing this afternoon. I'm using the same oversized mailers from the Arkham Sanitarium project, so I'll have to fold the pennants to fit inside the envelope. I'm hoping to avoid any major creases by wrapping the pennant around the plastic bag holding all the other items. That should keep a sharp fold from developing, and a quick pass with an iron on low heat should take care of any waves in the material.

If you pledged and didn't receive the Kickstarter request for mailing information I sent out yesterday please check your spam traps. I'll post off the packages in the order that pledges were made and emailing a shipping confirmation as soon as your package is on it's way.

The End is Nigh

If the tracking number from UPS is to be believed the Miskatonic University project will finally be wrapping up this week. The felt pennants are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, only a week (he said sarcastically) after their already delayed second arrival date. That means the packages should start going out on Thursday in the order your pledges were made.

Again, I want to apologize for the delays. I really enjoy doing these projects, but it seems that the larger they get the more glitches they attract. While I appreciate your patience there has to be a better way of moving things through the pipeline within a reasonable timeframe.

Miskatonic University Project Update

After a far-too-long gestation the Miskatonic University Project is nearing completion. The original end date was scheduled for 2/28, but because of complications with the felt pennant it looks like things will actually be wrapping up next week. I want to thank all of you for your patience, and I can guarantee you'll be happy with the results.

Here's a look at the 1" brass and enamel lapel pin. I'll be posting more pictures of the finished items over the coming days.

Miskatonic University Update

I've discussed my paranoia about complications popping up during a project before, and now Murphy's Law has met my expectations.

The manufacture of the patches, pins, and notebooks went off flawlessly. They're done and in my hands. The postcards should arrive by the end of the week at the very latest.

The Miskatonic pennants? They haven't even started production, thanks to a single misplaced digit in my credit card number and a total communications failure. That was resolved yesterday, but now production is going to take another 12-15 business days. Followed by the inevitable shipping delay.

Based on my initial project timeline the project is still on track for being done by the end of the month, but I had been hoping to wrap everything up next week.

Miskatonic University Project Update

Things are moving along quite nicely in regards to the Miskatonic University project.

The patches are already finished and in hand. The design is identical to last year's order, so the manufacturer just had to load up the same digital file and let the computerized embroidery machines go to town. The same company is doing the cloisonne lapel pins and those are currently in production. So far, knock on wood, the production time for the pins is on target.

The notebooks are finished and currently en route to me.

The pennant is...doing something. I've submitted the design and paid for the run, but I haven't heard back from the manufacturer since making the order. That probably means that everything is going just fine, but I always get paranoid when doing one of these projects.

Miskatonic Project Update

Things are rolling along with an almost scary smoothness. The payment from Kickstarter and Amazon has cleared, the notebooks and patch are already in production, and the lapel pin and postcards should go into production this week. The only bump in the road has been me, and this damnable flu.

Here's the layout for the Miskatonic Pennant. With the exception of the red background this is a snapshot of the actual template that will be used for production.

Miskatonic University Project Update

The orders for the Miskatonic patches and pins have been placed, so they should be done by January 24th. I'd add "...at the latest" to that, but I don't want to tempt fate.

Based on your feedback the design of the Miskatonic journals was tweaked to use the black cutout scheme from the Arkham notebooks. Here's a rough mockup of how they'll look. The order for these will go in later this week.



Here's the artwork with a small bleed. If you're lucky enough to have a pass-through large format printer this should be enough to print your own using an off-the-shelf moleskine notebook.



I have the template for the pennant in hand and I'll post the, hopefully, final design either tomorrow or Saturday.

Miskatonic Pennant Design

Here's the latest iteration of the Miskatonic University pennant.



The logo was adjusted to take better advantage of the available space, while the font was tweaked to capture the look of the vintage Harvard pennant without looking too much like a circus banner. I'll be talking with the company doing the production later today to check the template proportions and try and get a better approximation of the actual shade of red. I'm still not altogether happy with the perspective on the text, but I don't want to fiddle with it too much until I have the master template to work with.

Miskatonic Project Update

I'm in the process of getting the Miskatonic pennant design into shape and should have a close-to-final version tomorrow. I'll start placing production orders for all the other items tomorrow as well, which should speed up the project completion time significantly.

Miskatonic University Update

Today is the final day of the Miskatonic University project pledge drive on Kickstarter.

As you can see over there on the right it's been wildly successful, significantly exceeding the original fund raising target. By the time things end tonight at 11:30 I expect there will be over 100 donors. That marks an increase of over fifty percent from the sponsorship levels of the Arkham Sanitarium project.

The actual transfer of funds from Kickstarter to Amazon and then to me can take up to two weeks, but on Monday I'm going to start placing orders for some of the prop items. Ideally, that will avoid some of the delays encountered in the Arkham project. It also means I need an accurate count of how many items to order as soon as possible. If you aren't able to pledge through Kickstarter for whatever reason, but still want to participate, just click on the "View my complete profile" link to reach me via email.

Again, my sincere thanks to everyone that has already pledged.

Miskatonic University Update

Thanks to your generosity the full-sized Miskatonic University pennant is now funded.

Here's the original I'm basing it on- a Harvard pennant from the early 20's.





The repro pennants will be very close to this one in construction, with white printing on a red felt banner. The body will have a white felt strip sewn on the edge so you can mount it on a dowel and hoist it at your favorite sporting event, if you're so inclined.

The font used is a custom Tuscan that I haven't been able to find a freeware equivalent for. Reproducing it by hand is a possibility, but the "IFC Insane Rodeo" font by Anton Krylov is very similar to the original. Close enough that I'm in the process of getting a commercial license so I can use it for the project. It's not a perfect match, but it captures the stylized look of the original without edging too far into the circus or western look.

Miskatonic University Update

The Miskatonic University project has crossed the $2250 threshold, so the package will now include a 12" by 30" Miskatonic sports pennant. I'll post the mockup for the pennant in the next few days.

Miskatonic University Project Update

The Miskatonic University Project is close to leveling up.

Thanks to your generousity there's almost enough money pledged to cover the printing of a vintage-style felt sports pennant. Here's a very rough mockup.



Why red and white instead of the oft repeated purple and black? Two reasons, aside from taste. One, there's no visual contrast between purple and black. Two, given that Lovecraft based Miskatonic on Brown University, and that their colors are red, white, and brown, it seems appropriate to use the red and white while leaving them their namesake color.

I'll be revising the rough mockup above to imitate an actual Harvard sports pennant from the early 1920s. I already know the weight of the Miskatonic seal needs to be increased and I'm going to try and replicate the stylized font. I'll post updated pictures as the work progresses.

Currently there's almost enough money to pay for a 9" by 24" pennant. I had originally thought $400 above the original goal of $1700 would be enough to pay for the 12" by 30" version, but I failed to account for shipping and the setup fee for the printing. The actual threshold for the larger version is around $550 above the original goal- $2250. If the fund drive hits that number I'll upgrade the order to the larger size.

The pennant itself will be red felt with the Miskatonic seal and name screenprinted in white and a sewn white felt border. Unfortunately, at least from the standpoint of authenticity, the felt used is made with artificial fibers. I did price out genuine vintage-style wool felt pennants, but they would have doubled the cost of the entire project. Based on that fact I think artificial felt is an acceptable compromise.

Miskatonic University Update

Early this morning the Miskatonic University project passed it's fundraising goal. I can't thank everyone enough for making that happen. I was originally worried that the fund drive wasn't long enough, and I'm happy to see that fear was baseless.

Miskatonic University Prop Project

The Miskatonic University Prop Project is now live on Kickstarter. The package is almost identical to the Arkham Sanitarium package: an embroidered patch suitable for a bookbag or jacket, a full color cloisonne lapel pin, two vintage-style postcards, and a set of three field notebooks. The biggest difference between the two projects is that this one includes three of the journals instead of just one.

The pledge reward amount is still $25 (although I do ask for $28 from international donors to cover the increased postage) but the overall project goal has been raised to $1700. The extra $400 is to cover the printing costs for the additional notebooks as well as the increased postage charges. If I'm very lucky and the amount raised hits $2100 there's one item I definitely want to add to the package- a 12" by 30" Miskatonic felt pennant.

The planned schedule for the project is as follows:

12/13-12/29 Pledge Drive

12/30-1/13 Payment clearance through Amazon

1/14-2/28 Production

I expect that production won't take that long, but I'm not taking any chances with low balling the time after the Arkham Sanitarium experience. Better to be pleasantly surprised that things are done early than disappointed when they're running late.