midnightsprings

[midnightsprings]

♡ Sweet Spiders Pin Collection by Cryptic Compendium ♡

Enamel pins of various spiders transformed into cute sweets as a part of Early Summerween

"Spider food" mini moth pin freebie for all backers who pledge for 5 or more pins!

Back five projects for physical rewards and receive a spooky pin set! Each pin is designed by one of our participating artists.

Back TWO pins from each project, and receive a second fun pin set! Using the logo designed by our very own Waxwing Cedrorum - each colorway is designed by one of the participating artists.

♡ Campaign ends June 4th, 2025! ♡

[midnightsprings]

♡ Monster Girl Riot! Pin Collection by @midnightsprings ♡

Part of Early Summerween! A collection of various monster girl hard enamel pins, which will be available exclusively via gacha machine after the campaign!

Back five projects for physical rewards and receive a spooky pin set! Each pin is designed by one of our participating artists. See the rewards below

Back TWO pins from each project, and receive a second fun pin set! Using the logo designed by our very own Waxwing Cedrorum - each colorway is designed by one of the participating artists.

♡ Campaign ends June 4th, 2025! ♡

[midnightsprings]

i do not want to live in a world where a pathetic, evil loser like OJ Simpson can murder two innocent human beings (one of which was his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, whom he abused their entire marriage), and have all evidence pointing toward him + an audio recording of him confessing to the double-homicide, yet he still escapes life in prison and leads a long, free life… but a modern day Robinhood like Luigi Mangione that (allegedly) popped a monster who made billions off denying people healthcare (killing thousands), can’t also be let free.

seeing the people in power scramble to villainize Luigi and paint him as a danger to society, try to convince us that we should be scared just bc they are? babe, it isn’t working. use your brains. that billionaire shitass was shot IN DEFENSE of us bc he was diabolical. how detached do you have to be to not understand how every day people are not going to be afraid of someone who (allegedly) murdered a billionaire making his wealth off our demises?

[midnightsprings]

LAST DAY FOR PREORDERS!

Vinyl stickers:

Acrylic keychains:

There are some additional colorways beyond what's shown.

These are charity items! Beyond production costs, actual profit is donated to Our Body Justice Project's mutual aid fund. 100% for the vinyl stickers, 85% for the acrylic keychains (because I have to assemble them based on your clasp choice).

Preorder period ends Jan 6th.

[midnightsprings]

I am closing Midnight Springs!

That's right, at the end of 2025, Midnight Springs as it is will no longer exist. I will be "Studio Midnight Springs" focusing only on game dev and the accompanying merchandise, not what I am currently doing (which is...whatever I wanted to, I guess).

Since 2025 is my swan song, I am really hoping to get some things funded before I "leave"! I don't want to drop these projects as they were designed with blood sweat and tears.

So that being said, here are the open preorders for 2 new septum ring designs (options available for both faux/clip-on (pictured) and 16G (not pictured). Sakura and Thorns. They both have short drops (these silicone model noses are not a great representation of this...) but shouldn't be poking anyone's noses, and the thorny one doesn't jab at all.

Please consider snagging one so that they exist! All relevant info is in the listing descriptions.

Thanks!

[midnightsprings]

EVERYTHING is unlocked and available to pledge for!! ☆

New keychains as well for add-ons -

Available without light, too!

If we hit 6k, new freebie catmoth pins unlocked! (Design wip)

Pintober 2024 - Gacha Moths Collection now Live!

As a part of Pintober, you can "trick or treat" by backing 3 or more and getting a themed mini pin from each of us as a bonus! Mine is a little gummy-inspired moth with translucent enamel!

And as a cross-collab participant, you can get both space horror moth designs from Fantasy Fox Creations and myself as well if you back us both!

Returning backers from Pintopia will receive a matte "Blue-Moth Girl" 4" vinyl sticker, and everyone who gets 1 or more moth pin will get a Blue Moth holo 4" sticker as a thank you.

All bonuses stack. 💙

Please help this collection come to life, so that we can have more gacha moths!

(from series 1 - sold out!)

Ends November 1st!

[midnightsprings]

Pintober 2024 - Gacha Moths Collection now Live!

As a part of Pintober, you can "trick or treat" by backing 3 or more and getting a themed mini pin from each of us as a bonus! Mine is a little gummy-inspired moth with translucent enamel!

And as a cross-collab participant, you can get both space horror moth designs from Fantasy Fox Creations and myself as well if you back us both!

Returning backers from Pintopia will receive a matte "Blue-Moth Girl" 4" vinyl sticker, and everyone who gets 1 or more moth pin will get a Blue Moth holo 4" sticker as a thank you.

All bonuses stack. 💙

Please help this collection come to life, so that we can have more gacha moths!

(from series 1 - sold out!)

Ends November 1st!

[midnightsprings]

[midnightsprings]

I recently found out why my mom would never sleep around me when I was a kid. Like she’d never let herself take naps or sleep if I was awake, ever. Or if she did, she would lock her bedroom door. So when I was 6, I was asleep in my bed in the middle of the night when I hear a loud bang, like a pot being dropped and come out to the living room to see my mom standing by the window, with just a huge pile of spaghetti all over the sill, and a pot on the ground, and I ’m like “Are you gonna eat all that?” And ya’ll she get’s BIG MAD and yells at me and chases me to my room but then a little while later a bunch of cops show up and ask me a bunch of random ass questions about my art? Like this one cop lady keeps asking me to draw dragons for her?! And they seem mad as hell

I didn’t want to get arrested so I just never asked my mom for spaghettis after that. Lesson, learned. Don’t ask mom for spaghettis or she’ll call the damn police on you. 

So I have this memory in my head, and it goes unquestioned until I say it outload for the first time a few months back and as soon as I say the words “When I was six, my mom called the cops on me for asking for spaghettis” My adult logic slams into place and is like “Hang on. Your mother definatly did not call the police on a 6 year old for asking for spaghetti.” 

So obviously that’s not what really went down. I call up my mom to tell her how I remember it and on top of her figuring out why her kid has always been really cagey around spaghettis for the last 3 decades she tells me what really happened. 

So on that night, a man tried to break into our house through the front window. It was just my mom, and her kids so she did what she felt she had too and shot him in the head. He’d been wearing a helmet, which landed on the floor under the window.

Now I just want ya’ll to put yourselves in my moms shoes for a minute here. This woman has just taken a human life. The trauma of that- the instant agony, the panic, the guilt, the fear- all of it hitting her at once, her only solace the knowledge that her children are safe. She protected her daughters. No matter the cost to her soul- her children are safe.

Then she looks up and sees her six year old staring at the inside of this mans head before saying “Are you gonna eat all that?” 

[midnightsprings]

Stretch goal 2 is not met yet, but I finally finished the washi tape designs!

The watermark of my brand name will of course not be included in the final result.

They were exported as CMYK, so in importing them again as RGB they wind up looking crazy and super blown out. Please refer to the actual colors of the pins in all of the campaign info and in earlier reblogs, as that is what they'll resemble in print.

The washi is going to be a glitter texture, with the foil being holographic pink for the "pop" colorway, and a shiny black for the "spooks" colorway. For both, the speech bubbles is where the foil is focused, but the spooks will also have the X pattern as black foil too. 

There's also now a live poll about stretch goal 6 if we get there - whether it should be custom bandages, or UV-safe glossy DTF artwork on one of 2 different types of liquid shaker charms!

the bandages are a design by a large company, not my own - just an example!

Still 2 weeks left!

The Jellinom mini pin backerkit campaign IS LIVE as part of Pintopia 2!

This is my first time doing a crowdfund for a gacha collection - itty bitty pins that, once in stock, will only be available at random through gacha spins! In the campaign, you can choose each specific pin you want for $12 each, or do gacha spins for a discount (pricing shown above).

As a bit of a background, "Jellinoms" were originally a collaborative concept between my fiancé and I, starting with a "Flanom" design! These are teenier updated takes on the design with different expressions and colors, and keep the translucent enamel over smooth metal concept! They will have epoxy over the faces as well, which will make them look very multi-dimensional.

The base goal is 7 Jellinom pins I designed + a collaborative Jellinom design by Fantasy Fox Creations with holographic glitter! 

They are my Pintopia partner, so I also have a collab design in their cat paw campaign.

Backers of both campaigns will get the collab pins for free with their pledges! 💕 I also have early bird incentives for the first 48hrs!

Stretch goals for my campaign will include more Jellinoms, washi tape, stickers, various types of shaker keychains, and more - depending on how much we unlock.

3D animation by Sunny Nika 3D

[midnightsprings]

first stretch goal has been met! 🥹

From top left to top right: Blue, Grape, Slime (glows in the dark), Cat Skull are now available to pledge for as their own tiers and also add-ons.

Next up is stretch goal 2!

Super excited and hope we reach it soon!

The Jellinom mini pin backerkit campaign IS LIVE as part of Pintopia 2!

This is my first time doing a crowdfund for a gacha collection - itty bitty pins that, once in stock, will only be available at random through gacha spins! In the campaign, you can choose each specific pin you want for $12 each, or do gacha spins for a discount (pricing shown above).

As a bit of a background, "Jellinoms" were originally a collaborative concept between my fiancé and I, starting with a "Flanom" design! These are teenier updated takes on the design with different expressions and colors, and keep the translucent enamel over smooth metal concept! They will have epoxy over the faces as well, which will make them look very multi-dimensional.

The base goal is 7 Jellinom pins I designed + a collaborative Jellinom design by Fantasy Fox Creations with holographic glitter! 

They are my Pintopia partner, so I also have a collab design in their cat paw campaign.

Backers of both campaigns will get the collab pins for free with their pledges! 💕 I also have early bird incentives for the first 48hrs!

Stretch goals for my campaign will include more Jellinoms, washi tape, stickers, various types of shaker keychains, and more - depending on how much we unlock.

3D animation by Sunny Nika 3D

[midnightsprings]

The Jellinom mini pin backerkit campaign IS LIVE as part of Pintopia 2!

This is my first time doing a crowdfund for a gacha collection - itty bitty pins that, once in stock, will only be available at random through gacha spins! In the campaign, you can choose each specific pin you want for $12 each, or do gacha spins for a discount (pricing shown above).

As a bit of a background, "Jellinoms" were originally a collaborative concept between my fiancé and I, starting with a "Flanom" design! These are teenier updated takes on the design with different expressions and colors, and keep the translucent enamel over smooth metal concept! They will have epoxy over the faces as well, which will make them look very multi-dimensional.

The base goal is 7 Jellinom pins I designed + a collaborative Jellinom design by Fantasy Fox Creations with holographic glitter! 

They are my Pintopia partner, so I also have a collab design in their cat paw campaign.

Backers of both campaigns will get the collab pins for free with their pledges! 💕 I also have early bird incentives for the first 48hrs!

Stretch goals for my campaign will include more Jellinoms, washi tape, stickers, various types of shaker keychains, and more - depending on how much we unlock.

3D animation by Sunny Nika 3D

[midnightsprings]

i still desperately wish this had been made

!I tried to redraw my old concept about a dating game (sort of) with youkai.

You are some guy who is investigating some strange phenomena at a certain school and you suspect some students are just youkai in disguise. It’s up to you to uncover their secrets. The true end is you dying.

Depending on your choices, you might get the bad (but true) end where you will uncover their secret and they will kill you. The false good end is that you will never know what they are and you will get to date them. 

Here are their original sketches from 4 years ago haha

Redrawing concepts is fun~

[midnightsprings]

The FINAL preorder store deadline is February 10th! These have been delayed so many times, but are finally shipping to me.

A lot has changed since my last update:

• The R18 design and the crop zipper sleeve design were removed from the preorder store, as they did not reach funding

• The goth colorway sweater now has a heart in the chest. The factory rep lied to me about having made sure the new version was feasible before I paid for the whole batch from KS, and it wasn't possible.

• They threw out 6 dresses that apparently looked bad (they didn't provide proof) in QC and didn't have time to remake them for CNY, so I only have about 10 smallest-size goth colorway dresses still available.

• I sampled some socks in the same colors and materials! These were meant to be mid-thigh, which I specified, but they only come up to about knee height because they didn't pay attention to where I indicated measurement begin from. But this was an experiment anyway, I have no idea how they'll feel worn or if they have any grip until I try them on.

I have been having nonstop production issues the past few months so I am very stressed lol. I feel like no one is listening to me and just doing what they want. If you would like the pastel colorway, or the goth colorway with a heart in the chest, please consider preordering before the price goes up when they've arrived!

The apparel kickstarter is now live! ✨️

The base goal is these two sweater dresses, which have zippered pockets! The sleeves on the goth version say "nightmare," and for pastel they say "daydream".

The first stretch goal is a small one, very easy to achieve compared to the first - coordinating earmuffs! The goth one is in sampling, but here's how the pastel one looks:

The earmuffs say "it's too cold / it hurts" and can technically be worn either direction!

I hope we can get these made in time for winter! There's many add-ons available for the lowest tier ($1) for anyone who doesn't want or can't afford the base goal but still wants to support the funding for them.

Thanks so much! 🦇

[midnightsprings]

"CLOWDER" for 30% off "Cat Lovers" section!

Hi! We are certified Crazy Cat People™️ and we need help. A week ago in the snow, while trying to trap a different cat we saw lurking around outside, this guy showed up on our porch drinking water left outside, pitiful and upset.

This is now the 4th cat that has showed up on our back deck (and let us catch them!) in a little over a year. The first was a feral and needed hip surgery, 2nd was starving and had tapeworms like this guy, 3rd was a young lad who was also very skinny and grew quickly after we brought him in. All those cats, plus the 2 others we rescued/were given to us from what seemed like a hoarding situation, needed every single one of their shots, FIV/FeLV/heartworm testing, microchipping, and to be sterilized on our dime. And of course…our one pre-existing cat from before we moved here is very elderly and chronically ill.

When we pulled him in, we gave him praziquantel for the worms, a capstar for his fleas, and he's had 2 baths (both from him peeing himself from fear...poor guy). Thankfully, this guy also had very generous benefactors who paid for his testing! He is negative for FIV/FeLV, no longer has any intestinal parasites, doesn't have ear mites, urinalysis didn't seem concerning nor did CBC, he's got his rabies shot and first FVRCP, and he's feeling better enough to spend all his time screaming at the small window in his little room now. His neuter is scheduled for Feb 12th and prepaid, and after that he will be rehomed.

I'm disabled and my shop is my only job. My partner is currently out of work because he gets chronic migraines and has chronic back pain and they refused to schedule him manageable shifts so that his migraines would be triggered less often.

Rescues are all full; anyone involved in rescue small and large scale within the past few years knows the homeless animal population worldwide skyrocketed in 2020-21 because of the plague and how people reacted to it, and it was already horrible.

With 6 other cats, cats who permanently call our home their own, we are super, super financially overwhelmed. I'm trying to afford a Popur litter box before my own hip surgery in early March of this year to help alleviate some of the physical burden.

Please consider sharing the word about the cat-themed designs in my shop! If you want to help the cats directly, there is also this Amazon wishlist. Thank you so much for reading!

[midnightsprings]

Artist Alley/Vendor Setup

Vendors were supposed to be able to start setting up at noon. This is what the vendor hall looked like until 7pm, with vendors just waiting in the hallways or in long traffic lines with trucks for hours. When they finally got in, check-in was run by someone not on Youmacon crew (the artist who made the badge art kindly volunteered since Youma was badly staffed) on the floor by this pillar.

[midnightsprings]

A detailed behind the scenes explanation about several financial (and other) crimes committed by the con, validated by Cora the (now former) gaming head of Youma.