Big update with a lot of detail and transparency!
I was contacted last week by Expert Playing Card Company as the products were at the Hong Kong port, ready to ship to Japan. The handler at the port noticed that the professional gilder had actually made a mistake and applied a silver gilding instead of a gold gilding.
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While the tucks would be switched out and still used in the final products, the mis-gilded cards would be disposed of, which simply did not sit with my goals of creating a sustainable business and running a project that helps the planet.
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I have negotiated with EPCC tirelessly over the last half a week. In conclusion, they have agreed to give me the misprinted decks, with tucks, at discount. Therefore, this project is officially over budget as I have spent about $4000 of my own money (please see the financial details below). But what this means is that I will NOT be wasting materials, and I will have extra products to sell to hopefully make my investment back and then continue with my creative work and raising money to help abandoned animals in Japan with ARK.
What this means for you. I want to show you that I am considering every element of my campaign and will continue to in all campaigns and projects to come. So, partly as an apology for the slight shift in timeline as well as more a recognition that we are on this journey together, to grow, I will give all backers for decks a free deck of the Cultuarae Animalis 'misprinted edition' cards.
But I was not satisfied with simply having limited edition misprints
I have negotiated to give the 'misprinted' decks, a whole new feeling. Allow me to introduce the Culturae Animalis 'misprinted edition'. The tuck boxes will be printed with a silver foil (instead of gold) to match the gilding, and I have also changed the seal from black to a lighter grey. The one point I cannot change is that the original card printing with my back designs had hand-drawn yellow/gold line-work, but otherwise, the whole deck will still feel comprehensive and entirely fresh. I am not comfortable releasing anything that feels unfinished, but these new decks both with their new comprehensive design, keeping all original art work, and now interesting backstory, will become beautiful stand-alone decks. (photos to be posted when they
arrive).
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Another good message I've kept under-wraps until now. The gold decks may have second-edition iterations down the line, but this print run (not stated before) WILL BE a limited edition run of only 1000 units, and the seals will be numbered. What's more, the silver decks will most certainly not be re-printed, and also will have limited edition, numbered seals.
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I also believe in transparency - it helps the backers understand what decisions I have made through the project, what work I have put in and how this project makes a difference (not forgetting all the good it has already achieved). I may try to put something more comprehensive together later, but here are some basic figures, all approximated.
Total funding on kickstarter: ¥1,630,000
Total received after dropping the backers with incorrect or insufficient account information, and minus Kickstarter and bank transfer fees: ¥1,420,000
Cost for printing, packaging and shipping to me: ¥1,200,000
Estimated cost of shipping from me to backers: ¥280,000
Profit/loss: -¥60,000
NOW, cost for printing Culturae Animalis 'misprinted edition': ¥400,000
Final profit/loss: -¥460,000
Final product I keep: Approximately 400 original decks and now 600 misprinted editions remaining.
Sale price following campaign:
Culture Animalis: ¥3000/$30 + shipping
Culturae Animalis 'misprinted edition': ¥2000/$20 + shipping
Profit before taxes if all decks sell: ¥2,000,000
Enough to help me begin funding my next project, take my wife to dinner, and to rescue, foster and permanently rehouse some of the abandoned cats and dogs of Japan. Efforts like this could help spray/neuter and provide vaccines for 10 animals, or sponsor an animal to provide everything including food, medicine, housing and care giving for a year. All efforts also help reduce the number of abandoned animals through educational programmes and other activities (I will try to keep you informed of the difference this campaign makes later on).
With that tuck box I'll definetly would put it in the deck of the year category aswell.
I'm really pleased with how it's coming and I love how the use of gold foil from light to shadow helps hide the patterning even more - the purpose of my William Morris inspired original hand-drawn 'forest' design for the tuck was a commentary on how we (humans) are intertwined and inescapably part of nature and therefore should respect it, but also how we don't and so animals/nature have to hide from us. The foil also means that it constantly appears different (in different light), another common theme with this whole deck design - to constantly be discovering hidden design elements. But I admit, when I first opened it, the same thought went through my mind...wow...that is what I call a shiny tuck. 
