Highlight - Special Custom Order for 100 Hellhounds

Hello & Welcome!

We wanted to take a moment and highlight something that we were happy to be part of.

It all started with a message from a new potential customer to see if they could 100 of one of our Yasashii Kyojin Hellhound models. 

The message initially came in over Etsy (from Katie) and in the initial message she also mentioned that they would be needed quickly and if we could take on the order.   

I was immediately curious about the order and was wondering what they would be doing with so many of the same model. I thought to myself perhaps they were working with some club or group or possibly even doing some sort of large display diorama. 

I replied back and asked clarification details and also pointed them to this website from Etsy because on Etsy I only have one pose of the Hellhound available whereas on the website I have a total of 4. I wanted to clarify if she wanted the same pose or different poses and we also clarified the dimensions of the model in case we needed to do any scale adjustment.

Katie clarified the mechanical details quickly but more importantly she satiated my curiosity by explaining the need behind the purchase. She was working for an author and they were working to fulfil elements of their Kickstarter that was as part of her latest book. They had a supplier previously lined up but that had fallen through at the last moment and so they were looking for someone else that could supply the models.

Of course, this just made me more intrigued so I immediately went to researching the author / etc and quickly found what I was looking for (I still practice the ancient art of Google-Fu). And what I found I immediately found appealing.

The author is Heather G Harris and you can see her links here:

Check out Heather G Harris' Kickstarter for her book!

Check out her website!

I read about her and her work and it struck a chord with me. An urban author, independent, working within the fantasy space working to put together a special edition of her book. 

And this is right up my street - helping those independent / solo artists fully aligns with our ethos here and how we primarily select the 3D artists that we support. So of course, the answer was yes!

We aligned the details and I set to work.

It wasn't just Katie and the author that had a time constraint. But so did I! I had less than a week to produce the items because I was heading off to Prague for a work trip (as part of my day job, not part of this hobby) and they needed the models before I set off so that they could finish their fulfilment.  And to make it more complex then we were off to holiday for a city break after my work trip so it was imperative that we got the items out in time.

Luckily we made steady progress and we kept Katie informed along the way. I did some extra print job cycles over the weekend to ensure that these Hellhounds got done as well as ensuring that the rest of our orders also made it out (we generally still strive to get things done within a week).

That is a picture mid job. I had them all arranged so I could keep track of how many I had done and also to keep it easy for Sharron to finish the packaging.

It was a busy weekend but we managed to get all the pending orders ready over the weekend which Sharron packed ready for Royal Mail delivery leaving just the Hellhounds to do.

The last batch got done the day before I had to go for my business trip and then that left Sharron the solo task to pack the rest up (she had done a big bulk over the weekend) and take it to the Post Office once done. Thankfully she did it and thanks to her attention to care and detail, they all got packaged up nicely and sent on their adventure.

I heard back from Katie soon enough after arrival that they all arrived safe and sound and then we exchanged a few comments how how to best glue them to the bases and best approach to prime them.

We can see the result of her skill here and we must say that they look amazing!

And having read about the book and the inspiration on the links above, I think this is a perfect likeness of Gato! And we can see from the Blog title picture that Heather's Great Dane also approves!

I've not yet read any of her work, but I am intrigued to do so (Xmas is coming, so let's see if I've been naughty or nice this year!) but from reading through a few of her Blogs, I can say that I like Heather's writing style and vibe so I do intend to give it a look.

But more importantly, why I wanted to write about this experience was to highlight her work and show appreciation that she and Katie selected us for the job and for putting their faith and trust in us (and we are so grateful for the Review Katie left for us on the website - you can read it there). We enjoy supporting independent artists and we are glad to have been a little part of their big adventure.

And also to highlight to everyone that we are always happy to interact with customers and sort out the details of any unique order, no matter how big or small, and that we are always up for a challenge!

We are pleased this all worked out so well and we are hoping that those that supported Heather and received one of the special edition boxes with one of these Hellhounds like their extra surprise gift and of course enjoy all of the cool items in the package as well as of course enjoy reading the book.

We hope to help out again if the opportunity arises as well as help out any other special initiatives (schools, clubs, other authors, etc) because its great to be part of the community and let's not forget that D&D (and associated TTRPGs) are a social game at their core so its great to interact.

Thank you again!

Happy continued painting and gaming!

-Pete (& Mitz & Simz)