Last Day to Get a Mini Museum T-Shirt! Plus: Which Specimen Would You Like to Explore Next?!
over 6 years ago – Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 04:45:33 PM

Hello, everyone!

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to pick up a Third Edition t-shirt! The campaign ends at midnight tonight (GMT-5) and all proceeds will be used to help fund the Educational Donation Program.

Here is the link! https://www.customink.com/fundraising/minimuseum

 

Which Specimen Would You Like to Explore Next?!

Now that we're winding down on Kickstarter shipments I'm excited to get back to sharing additional details about the specimens in the Third Edition. I have a few long updates ready to post but I thought that I'd ask all of YOU to pick the next one we'll explore together -- just leave a comment below with your choice!

Here are a few pictures to spark your imagination, but feel free to pick any specimen at all. I'll tally up the choices next week and get the project update ready!

As always, thank you all so very much for your support! I'm very excited to see which specimens you are excited to learn about next!

Now, it's back to work!

- Hans

P.S. One final note: we still have about 150 backers who have not filled out their surveys. If you haven't received your Mini Museum yet (or a ship notice), please visit https://mm3.backerkit.com to retrieve your survey. If you have any issues, Stephanie and Andrea are standing by to help! Just email [email protected] and they'll be happy to get your Mini Museum moving!

Almost There! Third Edition Shirts Now Available - Benefits Educational Donation Program
almost 7 years ago – Tue, Aug 01, 2017 at 02:39:48 PM

Hello, everyone!

First, a quick update on production. We're coming down to the final shipments to Kickstarter backers! June shipments are complete and July is nearly complete. Right now, we expect the final batch of July shipments to come out of QA this week which means the last Kickstarter shipments should go out the week of August 7th.

Thank you all so very much for your patience! We're almost there!

Please Note: There are about 150 people who have not completed their BackerKit surveys, including backers who have Mini Museums ready to ship! You can retrieve your survey at this link: https://mm3.backerkit.com. If you have any problems, feel free to drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll be happy to help!

Third Edition Shirts: Now Available - Benefits the Educational Donation Program

I'm happy to announce that we're finally ready to take orders for Mini Museum 3rd Edition T-Shirts! Based on your comments, we've added another color choice as well as adjusted the design a bit.

I've also decided to take this a step further and dedicate 100% of the proceeds from the t-shirt campaign to fund the Educational Donation Program!

The Educational Donation Program sends Mini Museums all over the world. Schools, libraries, orphanages, community centers, churches, and even museums have received Mini Museums at no cost. As you can imagine, this is not a small expense and your purchase of a t-shirt will help us to continue and expand the program!

Shirt Designs

The images below show both the original maroon design as well as a new black design:

 

Designs are available on fitted t-shirts for men/unisex (above) and ladies (below).

 

A non-fitted unisex shirt is also available with a broader range of sizes.

 

The non-fitted unisex design is available in black and antique cherry. As you can see, the cherry is a little brighter than the maroon, but it is the closest we could get with this particular t-shirt style. Black is of course black. :)

Pricing and Shipping

To manage this campaign we are using Booster, a service from CustomInk. CustomInk is the company we used to make t-shirts for MM1/MM2.

With Booster, each shirt will be shipped directly from CustomInk, saving time and expense, and allowing us to put more funds towards the Educational Donation Program.

Price on the shirts (all styles) is $20 USD. Shipping in the US is $4.99 and International Shipping ranges from $11.99 to $14.99. More details on International shipping can be found here.

The campaign for the shirts will remain open until August 31st. You can reach the campaign using this link: https://www.customink.com/fundraising/minimuseum.

The campaign is open to the public so please help spread the word if you can by sharing the link on Facebook, Twitter, and so on! Thank you!

Add-On Update

In addition to the regular production update, I wanted to update everyone on the status of sold out add-ons. I'm happy to report that we will definitely have Spinosaurus, Megalodon Teeth, and Insect in Amber. I am also working on Neolithic Hand Axes, but don't expect to hear more about these for at least 2-3 weeks.

For those of you waiting on additional Samurai Sword slices, I know that we will have extra, I just can't make the call on the final number until all of the specimens are ready for the rest of the Third Edition run. As you no doubt noticed in the last update, the process for making the Samurai Sword specimens is quite involved. I don't want to commit to a final number until we've completed all of the specimens, but that should be very soon!

Thank You!

We're getting close to the end of shipping but we still have so much more to share! As always, thank you so very much for your support!

- Hans

Production Update, New Backer Pictures and Josh Fields Unboxing Video, the Tale of the Samurai Sword Specimen
almost 7 years ago – Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 08:55:00 PM

Hello, everyone!

First a quick update on shipping and production!

I'm happy to report that we are on track this week to finish preparing shipments for the May tiers as well as beginning June shipments. This matches up with the timeline I reported in the last update.

Not sure which tier you are in? You should be able to find this on the Backed Projects page of your Kickstarter profile: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/backings. The estimated delivery date on this page is the same thing as the tier.

Also, if you did not receive the first email from us inviting you to fill out your survey, it might have gone into junk mail, but not to worry. You can always retrieve your pledge online at https://mm3.backerkit.com or by sending an email to [email protected].

Thank you all so very much for your patience! We are working very hard to stay on schedule!

New Backer Pictures and Josh Fields Unboxing Video

As mentioned in the last update, we've already received so many great pictures from backers! I made a quick collage of just a few of these wonderful and creative images below but you can find many more in the backer album on Facebook.

 

It's really wonderful to have these pictures to share with everyone! Thank you, thank you!

Of course, what would a Mini Museum launch be without an unboxing video from 3X backer Josh Fields?

Always so great! Thank you, Josh! Love that MM1 shirt too. Details on the MM3 shirt will be coming soon, including a second color choice.

P.S. If you'd like to share your pictures with the community, you can tag me on Instagram or Twitter (@hansfex), post on our Facebook page, or even email us directly ([email protected]). We'll also find pictures in all of these places if you use the #minimuseum hashtag. Looking forward to more!

The Tale of the Samurai Sword Specimen

While preparing the new backer pictures, I was struck by this dramatic picture sent in by backer Justin Owen:

This beautiful image makes me feel so grateful for the opportunity to share the Mini Museum with all of you. Pictures like this also remind me of all the hard work the entire team has put into making the Third Edition. Telling the tale of the Samurai Sword specimen seems like a perfect way to illustrate just how far we've come on our journey, so let's have a look!

The Japanese sword is a symbol of unparalleled beauty and quality. Bound closely to the image of the samurai class, the blades are highly prized and honored by collectors all over the world. The history of these incredible weapons and the warriors who wielded them are intimately connected to the development of the Japanese nation and the culture of modern Japan. Forging a traditional Japanese sword is an intense process. It begins with smelting iron sands in a massive, purpose-built clay furnace known as a tatara.

Side Note: This illustration above is just part of an enormous scroll from the collection of the University of Tokyo Engineering, Information Science and Technology Library: Saki no Ohtsu Agawa-mura yama-satetsu arai-tori no zu (先大津阿川村山砂鉄洗取之図). The full scroll measures 370mm × 22,000mm (roughly 1.2 ft x 72 ft). You can explore the entire scroll here: http://gazo.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/kozan/emaki/10/index.html - it is truly amazing.

By means of the massive bellows illustrated above, layers of charcoal and iron sands were kept under constant heat for days, eventually yielding a porous mass of iron, slag, and steel known as a bloom. When complete, the bloom is removed and different grades of steel are separated based on their carbon content - the most famous being tamahagane, a high-carbon, hardened steel with an almost jewel-like appearance.

The oldest blades, known as Ko-tō (Old Sword) were created by combining tamahagane with steel containing both higher and lower amounts of carbon. Kneading or folding this mixture created a material that could be both strong and flexible, provided the blade survived the creation of the ultra hard edge known as the ha. To create the ha, the swordsmith would coat the blade with a combination of clay, charcoal, and crushed stone. This mixture was applied in two steps. First a light coat for the entire blade and then a second, thicker coat for the body. Returning to the forge, the blade would be thermal cycled several times. This process of heating and cooling causes the metal to expand and contract, forcing a molecular reorganization which makes the material denser. The varied application of the clay controls the heat, allowing the edge to become harder while the spine remains flexible. It also results in a beautiful and natural outline of the hardened area, known as the hamon. This way of manufacturing continued for nearly 400 years until the Edo era at the start of the 17th century.

The Edo era represented a major change for Japanese society. The previous century was a time of continuous internal conflict. War, famine, and political intrigue among hundreds of local rulers and warlords kept the entire country on edge. Reunified under the Tokugawa clan in 1603, the new shogunate ruled the country from the city of Edo for 265 years, and "the way of the warrior" was transformed into a far reaching philosophy on how to live a moral life.

 The strict set of laws which governed the military rule of the Tokugawa shogunate reached into nearly every aspect of public and private life. The rules even dictated the maximum size for both the Katana and Wakizashi swords and the method of manufacture. Tamahagane during this era was mass produced using new methods, which resulted in a steel with much higher carbon content. This made the tamahagane stronger but also made it difficult to combine with other grades of steel. As a result, the new swords or Shin-tō were created using a laminating process which wrapped the harder steel around a softer core. According to polishing experts, older swords were superior in strength and flexibility. This belief led to the cutting down of many longer Ko-tō to fit the blades to the new standard.

Creating the Specimen

The creation of the final specimen for the Third Edition began with the selection of the blade itself, a Ko-tō period katana circa the mid-1300s.

It is a single-forged blade attributed to the Yamato Senjuin School crafted in the area which is now Nara, Japan. Originally, a tachi with a cutting edge of 80cm, the Yamato Senjuin katana is a fine example of an o-suriage sword, or a blade that was shortened to meet the standards of the Edo era (70cm cutting edge or 2-shaku 3-sun using traditional measurements). The blade was selected with the generous support of Pablo Kuntz. Pablo is the owner of Unique Japan, a respected dealer of Japanese swords worldwide. While lovely, the blade has a number of micro-fractures that made it unsuitable, and potentially dangerous, as a collectible.

At the beginning of the design process, I knew I wanted the specimen to capture as closely as possible the idea of the samurai sword. This meant that we'd have to prepare very thin slices of the blade which could then be married to the cloth. As I've said before, the difficult part is that the blade is only so long and most of the methods we have for cutting steel of this grade would involve a kerf (the thickness of the cut) which would consume too much of the material.

After investigating several options, we settled on a high tech method called Electric Discharge Machining or EDM.

EDM involves passing a high voltage current through a very thin wire. The cuts are very precise and the kerf is almost non-existent.

The process is slow, almost 8 minutes per slice, so it took several months to complete the initial work. You might recall there is an animated GIF of a slice being cut on the main project page, but I thought it would be interesting to include the full 8-minute video here so you can get an idea of the entire process:

This is a fairly straightforward cut, but many took much longer as the wire would break when encountering impurities/fractures in the blade. Suffice to say we are very grateful to the talented craftsmen at Winchester Tool here in Virginia. Their expert help was vital!!

It was really interesting to see how the internal structure of the Yamato Senjuin katana matched up with studies on samurai sword blades across time. In the Companion Guide, we included a small chart of different blade slices, our blade matching up with other one-piece forged swords (particularly the 4th from the left):

With the slices in hand, we moved on to the polishing phase. Cutting residue and scorch marks were removed using a lapidary wheel, which is a simple thing to say but in fact it was a very intense, time-consuming process.

It's also a rough process at times. Occasionally, the gloves do give way... but with slices this thin it is important to feel the metal so that the blade slices are not made any thinner.

Of course, even though the blade slices are quite thin the metal is still very tough - and sometimes had a mind of its own!

After working on the wheel, each slice is polished to a bright shine.

Below is an image of blade slices during early stages in the process. You can also see the tiny impurities/fractures within the blade that I mentioned earlier. It's also worth noting here that the add-on slices are also treated using this method with extra time spent on final hand polishing.

Ok, now we're finally ready to make tiny swords!

Even though the slices are quite thin, it still takes a fair amount of leverage to work the shear (not to mention care). Yet, after many hours and many thousands of cuts, we end up with piles of shiny, little swords like these:

Each one of these little swords will be examined and then hand-trimmed to shape a point in the fashion of a kissaki.

With swords complete, we turn to the second half of the specimen: an Edo-period Kataginu, or front vest, which was part of the samurai's formal court attire.

 To prepare the cloth for inclusion, we infused the fabric with resin to make it firm.

Now firm, the fabric could then be cut into straight-edged strips and later the specimen-sized swatches you have in your Mini Museum:

The final step in the process is carefully marrying the sword to the fabric swatch using just the smallest drop of resin.

Getting the angle just right requires patience, as the swords tend to float in the resin.

It's delicate work, but it's also the final step in the long process to produce this stunning specimen!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this update! I hope you enjoyed learning more about all the steps that went into creating the Samurai Sword specimen. I am so happy with the way this particular piece turned out, and I love thinking about each member of the team played a part in creating it.

Over the course of the next few updates, we'll take a closer look at the steps involved in some of the other complex specimens in the Third Edition. There is still so much to share!

Now, it's back to work!

- Hans

Production Update & Delivery Timelines, Digital Companion Guide Now Available, Sharing Backer Pictures
almost 7 years ago – Wed, Jun 07, 2017 at 10:40:50 PM

Hello, everyone!

First, I'd like to begin with an update about production and shipping:

Large Mini Museum Shipments

We finished the first batch of May shipments last week, but we've been running a little slower than expected on the second batch. So, I think it is important to set expectations based on the current production and QA timeline:

• May Large Mini Museums - First half already shipped, second half shipping now through late June
• June Large Mini Museums - Shipping late June to early July
• July Large Mini Museums - Shipping mid-late July (includes the Touch Mini Museum tier)

Thank you for your patience. I'm very sorry about any inconvenience this might cause, but please know that we are doing all we can to improve on these times without impacting quality!

Small Mini Museums

• June Small Mini Museums - All shipping now, unless you added on a Large after the campaign in which case your order will ship when your Large is ready.

Mosasaur Tooth Backers

• May Mosasaur Teeth - All completed pledges have shipped, unless a Mini Museum was added after the campaign in which case it will ship when your Mini Museum is ready.

Special Note for UK Backers

Due to events in Manchester, Royal Mail is scanning all packages going into the UK. UK Backer Wilksy confirmed this directly and made note of this in the comments. Across the board, we're seeing delays between 5-10 days on packages we've already sent.

If you are expecting a package in the UK, you can always use your tracking number on the Royal Mail website for more detailed information than USPS provides. This tracking tip also applies to many other countries as well.

Again, thank you for your patience as we work through deliveries around the world. As always, we are doing our best to make each Mini Museum the best Mini Museum possible, but if you have any issues with delivered items or want to check on the details of your pledge don't hesitate to email us at [email protected].

Digital Companion Guide Now Available

We've had a couple of backers ask if the Third Edition Companion Guide would be available in a digital form. I'm happy to report that not only will be it available, but it is ready to download now! 

 

The Digital Version of the Companion Guide is in PDF format. The file weighs in at 65MB, so you might not want to download it until you are on Wi-Fi. The pages are arranged in "spreads" for easier reading. The picture above shows two spreads side by side.

Download the Digital Version of the Third Edition Companion Guide: https://bit.ly/mm3guide

Sharing Backer Pictures

We've already had a lot of great pictures come in from backers. The team is collecting these images to add to our backer album on Facebook, but I wanted share this adorable picture we received from 3X Backer Stuart Young in the UK:

If you'd like to share a picture of your Mini Museum with us and the whole Mini Museum community, you can post to our Facebook page, tag me on Instagram or Twitter (@hansfex on both), or send us an email ([email protected]). You can also use hashtag #minimuseum and we'll find it that way too!

In the next update, I'll share more of the great pictures we'.e received as well as all the details behind the creation of the Samurai Sword specimen!

Now, it's back to work!

- Hans

Companion Guides have arrived! Shipping begins!
almost 7 years ago – Mon, May 22, 2017 at 06:35:14 PM

Hello, everyone!

I'm excited to announce that we've received our first batch of Companion Guides and we're ready to ship!

If you've been following the comment board, you know that Jamie went to our warehouse this morning to inspect the shipment of companion guides. Everything looks great and we're moving forward with boxing up the first orders:

I'll have more pictures of the completed packaging, but as you can see in the sneak peek above the Third Edition box is shiny black and the Microfiber Pouch is a deep crimson/maroon. Now you know how we picked the color for the shirt design! :)

We expect to have several hundred orders ready for our first mail pickup on Wednesday. There will be more each day from that point forward, and we'll be working hard to catch up after the delay. I suspect we'll be very close to getting most of the May orders out by the end of the month.

"How will I be notified when my Mini Museum ships?"

Our system will automatically email you when your order ships. Because we examine each Mini Museum before it goes out it is really difficult to pin down the exact day, so we ask for your patience.

"How can I track my shipment after it goes out?"

Each Mini Museum shipment is insured and will have a tracking number. You'll receive your tracking number when your Mini Museum ships. Our system will email you automatically once we receive notice of the first postal scans.

"How long will it take to receive my Mini Museum once it ships?"

If you're in the United States, you should receive your Mini Museum within 3-4 days once it ships. If you're outside the USA, shipping time depends on your local postal service. In general, we see deliveries to most of the world within 7-10 days though some places do take longer.

"I need to change my address!"

Not to worry! As long as we haven't put a label on your package, we should be able to change your address. To change your address, visit https://mm3.backerkit.com and retrieve your pledge from the BackerKit system. If it says that your order is already in the process of being shipped, you'll need to email us at [email protected] very quickly because it means that we're in the process of preparing your shipment.

As always, thank you so very much for your support (and patience)! I'm so very happy to be onto this stage of the project and I can't wait to see your pictures!

Now it's back to work!

- Hans

P.S. I'll have more pictures of the Display Box and Pouch very soon!