Aqua Quartz Crystal Kittens preorder opening soon!

I have really great news, I feel that I can finally open a few preorders for Crystal Kittens.

Aqua Quartz Crystal Kittens will be available in my Etsy shop on Friday 5th Feb for £120 + p&p each (approx. $175 USD).

There will be four available initially and they will come in a firm black box with the silver Crystal Kitten logo on the lid, packaged in black tissue with an adoption certificate and cast resin crystal.

I didn't want to open preorders for the Crystal Kittens until I had properly finished all the backer rewards from the Kickstarter, but I have exhausted the prep work for the Crystal Stags and I am limited by resin curing times as to how many sets of antlers I can cast in a day.

To give you an idea, I get in to work at 10am and demould the previous days antlers: set 1

At 10:30 once the mould is cleaned up I can pour set 2

Once the resin is cured around lunchtime I demould set 2

At around 1:30pm the mould has been cleaned up and is ready for set 3 to be poured

And by 4:30 set 3 can be demoulded

At 5pm when the mould is cleaned again I pour set 4, ready to be demoulded at 10am the next day!

So every time a set of antlers is demoulded I have to:

1. check for defects, like bubbles, broken tips, mould lines..

2. tidy up the defects. Fill bubbles with clear resin, reattach broken tips if it's not too obvious, and spend a while sanding mould lines

3. Tidy up the bottom of the "skull cap" - the crown of crystals between the antlers - so that it fits neatly into the deer head socket.

4. clean up the silicone mould of bits of flashing and clean out the vents and sprues

5. spray release agent on the mould and reassemble it with elastic bands and what-not.

6. put the mould in the oven for ten minutes to heat it up a little, to help the resin cure

7. measure, mix, degas and pour the next batch of resin!

I tend to do steps 4-7 first and do steps 1-3 while I'm waiting for that set to cure. Steps 1-3 don't take a huge amount of time, but it takes about 3 or 4 hours for the resin to cure so while I'm waiting I have been doing prep work - filling and sanding the deer heads, making armatures, measuring and cutting patterns, painting and so on.

However I've exhausted all the prep work I can do! I took on a few private custom orders for kirins and mofs, but they will be finished soon too. So I have time to make a few Crystal Kittens.

If you have pledged for a Crystal Stag I hope this helps allay your fears of being forgotten - you haven't been! I'm just making best use of my time.

I will update when the listing is available with a bit of lore and some more information, but if you a question - don't hesitate ;)

All the best

Maddy