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Mythical Bards 3 (Swan Song)

Created by Raden Studios

Kitsune, kraken, and griffin make music and tell stories in the continuation of my Mythical Bards enamel pin series.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Surveys are LIVE! Update Timeline, Full Set Reveal, and More
24 days ago – Thu, Oct 08, 2026 at 07:11:25 PM

Hello Adventurers! Thank you so much for your patience as I worked through setting everything up and some unavoidable delays. I have a WHOLE bunch of updates here for you, including an updated timeline and current production status. Let's dive in!

The Full Bardic Troupe

Yes, all 15 designs (from series 1, 2, and 3 combined) are DONE! The merfolk and minotaur were late adds during this campaign and are now fully designed based off of the sketches I shared earlier. I'm so thrilled with all of these bards! 15 different mythical creatures, in the air, below the sea, and everywhere in between playing musical instruments make a pretty cool bardic troupe. Take a look at all of the bards below!

Updated Timeline

We're a little behind where I'd hoped to be at this point but the good news is that it shouldn't be a long delay overall! Take a look below at what to expect.
  • Surveys have been sent! Please check your inboxes. This is how you let me know which specific pins you wanted from the campaign. It's also your opportunity to add on any pins that you missed. I can't send you your pins without the survey, so please fill this out as soon as you're able.
  • Surveys will close on October 23, cards will be charged October 26. You should receive a 48-hour warning on Wednesday, October 21, and the surveys will automatically close 48 hours after that. You should see a 48-hour warning for cards to be charged on October 24, with charges going through on October 26.
  • Orders with my manufacturers will start to be placed this week/early next week. I want to keep everything chugging right along as quickly as possible so you don't have to wait much longer, so I'll be keeping an eye on numbers coming in on the surveys to get a solid estimate as I start placing orders.
  • Shipping should commence in early November, pending any manufacturing challenges. If there are no issues, this is roughly five-ish weeks later than originally planned. I'll be doing everything in my power to get pins graded, packaged, and shipped to you as quickly as possible!

Pre-Order Store Is Now LIVE!

Along with all of the surveys going out, the pre-order store is now OPEN!
  • If you made a pledge during the campaign, please ignore the pre-order store. You will have access to all the same items as add-ons when you complete your survey.
  • If you missed the campaign, the pre-order store is open and ready for you! Any orders placed in the pre-order store should follow the same timeline as campaign orders, which should get you your pins/stickers in November.

What About Stationery?

I had mentioned in my last update that I was exploring the possibility of making stationery available as an add-on during this stage. Thank you all so much for your input on my poll, it was very helpful while I looked into options!

On the down side, unfortunately, I wasn't able to add any stationery to the add-on listings at this time. I wasn't able to finalize the design and procurement process for these and I'm unwilling to hold up the pin production longer - you're all here for pins first and foremost, after all, so I'm prioritizing the fun.

However, I'm still going through the stationery design process and working through sampling products and IF I can get that process wrapped up before surveys close I will still make these available and let all of you know! Fingers crossed and stay tuned :)

Looking for More? Stay Tuned!

I have some tentative plans ahead for campaigns at this time that give me a minute to fully catch up and also slow the pace of new pin designs down and build in some breathing room so that my estimated timelines are a little more solid. That means 2027 is currently planned to be a relatively chill year on the pin front!

  • Studio Holiday Shop, as part of BackerKit's Holiday Market, launching November 18, 2026.
    • This is planned to be similar to my summer shop in that there aren't any new pins or products planned but it is a cool opportunity to access existing work. I'm looking at some different deals this time around and we'll see what kinds of holiday surprises I can work into the mix!
  • From Paper to Pin | Artist Series 2, tentatively as part of Pintopia 2027 which would launch in January 2027.
    • As you may have seen in the add-on sections in my previous campaigns, I have a series of pins I've designed based off of my own original charcoal illustrations, which is actually my primary art medium. I've had the next set of six pins planned for over a year but hadn't been able to commit to them just yet while I focused on the Con Adventurers and Mythical Bards series, which I've LOVED. I'm really looking forward to going back to my roots a bit here and translating my original art into different format. It's a cool opportunity to re-explore my own work in a slightly different way and it's all, as always, fully done by hand!
    • This is the only set of new pins currently planned for 2027. We'll see if plans change as we get further into the year next year, but I'm keeping it very open-ended right now and looking forward to enjoying the current pin designs for a bit while I figure out what comes next.

Whew! That was a long update, thanks for sticking around to the end! I should have more soon while we begin the production process. Thank you all, and we'll talk soon!

Mythical Bards 3 Surveys THIS WEEK
about 2 months ago – Mon, Sep 14, 2026 at 02:18:31 PM

Hello, Adventurers! We've been on a JOURNEY with these Mythical Bards and I'm so excited to wrap up this series with all of you! Thank you again so much for your support of the campaign both now and in the past. They've been so fun to create!

It's been (another) minute, so I wanted to write in with a quick update, namely that surveys and the pre-order store should be launching this week!

As noted in my last update, I had two other earlier campaigns that were going through production/shipping in early August, one of them because of a number of production hiccups it had been running into that then, unfortunately, continued into August. Fortunately, those hiccups are all now resolved, both of those campaigns have now officially been wrapped, and I have been intentional about not launching any new work until I can get all of you these beautiful pins so we're absolutely full steam ahead here and running into production and fulfillment ASAP!

Thank you all so much for your patience, and my sincerest apologies for the delay here. You should be receiving an update from me later this week with surveys, pre-order store, and more updates.

Mythical Bards 3 Surveys/Pre-Order Store Incoming Soon!
3 months ago – Wed, Aug 05, 2026 at 11:02:51 PM

Hello, Adventurers! We've been on a JOURNEY with these Mythical Bards and I'm so excited to wrap up this series with all of you! Thank you so much for your support of the campaign both now and in the past. They've been so fun to create!

It's been a minute, so I wanted to write in with a quick update on where we're at:

  • First, surveys and the pre-order store are being built out now. I'm hoping to officially launch those next week and will send an update as soon as everything is ready. I have two other campaigns that are wrapping up/being packed over the next few weeks so those are quickly wrapping up which will free up even more energy that I can focus on the bards here.
  • Second, I'm hoping to include some new bard-y stationary as add-ons when the surveys launch - and a new poll is available to help! I've been wanting to make some bard journals and/or notepads and/or sketchbooks for ages and I'm excited that the timeline for those might be aligning with the timeline for the pins. What I've waffled over, though, is if there's a preferred form for a journal or sketchbook featuring the dragon bard. I've opened up a new poll to gain your insight and we'll see what I can do!
    • Bonus: If there's other bards you'd REALLY love to see on stationary, please leave a comment and let me know! I've been leaning into the dragon bards since they're the only ones not playing an instrument and favored a more writerly storytelling path, but every bard in this series is a storyteller, too!

The next time you hear from me I'll have a recap of all the Mythical Bard 3 designs, the surveys and store all built out, and a whole host of next steps! You should hear from me again very soon ^_^

32(ish) Hours Remaining: Meet GRIFFIN + Freebies + Mermaid/Minotaur Updates
4 months ago – Wed, Jul 01, 2026 at 04:32:33 AM

Hello, Adventurers! Thank you so much for your support so far! We're just under a day and a half remaining in this campaign and I am making art as quickly as I can. A few updates as we head into our final hours!

First, I'm thrilled to share the fully completed design for GRIFFIN! Griffin is playing a series of bellows-powered fanfare trumpets (and adding a bit of its own calls to the mix). Every time I see this one's face I make a joyful griffin-y squawk XD Hopefully griffin brings joy to you, too!


On MERMAID and MINOTAUR - I'm working as quickly as I can to wrap these designs up before the campaign closes but, transparently, I'm not sure I'll manage to wrap them up in the next 30ish hours. They will still be made, I'll continue sending updates, and I'm going to do everything I can to get them done as early as possible, just want to be transparent here as you're making decisions on your campaigns that you might not see the final designs for these two before the campaign ends.

On that note, I did want to share the (almost) full collection of Mythical Bards below! The ones in boxes (Griffin, Kelpie, Kitsune, Kraken, Mermaid, and Minotaur) are new ones being made through this campaign, all the other bards are from rounds 1 or 2 and are available as add-ons. I'm not currently planning any additional bards past this set of 15, but how cool do they all look together!


Lastly, if you hadn't seen them yet, I do have several freebies for this campaign for returning backers, early birds (backers who pledged in the first 48 hours), and Pin Quest backers (backers who pledge to 3+ Pin Quest 2026 campaigns). Take a look at all of them below!


That's all for now, more to come very soon!

Meet Kelpie + Poll Results
4 months ago – Mon, Jun 29, 2026 at 03:44:16 AM

Hello, Adventurers! We're quickly running up to the end of the campaign so I have a few quick updates for you!

First, I'm thrilled to share the fully completed design for KELPIE! Kelpie is playing a bagpipe and favors dark, misty vibes with lots and lots of seaweed. I'm also working as quickly as I can to wrap up the designs for the final three bards ASAP - sketches and/or current WIPs of the pins are in the campaign story. Griffin is very nearly done, too!



Second, the voting poll on our remaining two bards has closed and we're officially moving ahead with MERMAID and MINOTAUR, which will wrap up my entire Mythical Bards series of pins.

Thank you all so much for your input! I wanted to make sure I ran a version of the poll with sketches to confirm interest once you could see the direction the pins would go in, I've done a few in the past where a character received an overwhelming amount of votes pre-sketch but ended up having less interest in the end. In this case, I'm so glad that many of you still loved my more fish-y take on the mermaid! And minotaur will add some super fun rock and roll to the group.

That's all for now, more to come very soon!