WRAP BUDDIES | World's Simplest Gift Wrap Assistant
Created by Bret Wortman
Lightweight, simple setup, easy storage. Kitchen and craft room uses too! Get up off the floor and make wrapping fun again!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Working out the kinks
about 7 years ago
– Wed, Feb 08, 2017 at 11:39:06 AM
Hi! Happy February!
Status Update
So, where are we at? What's going on? Why haven't we called or written?
Don't worry. We still love you all.
What we don't love is our torsion spring design. To be precise, we love the look of it, but once we had one made we figured out it was too weak to do the job we were asking of it.
And it was oriented incorrectly so that pinching the clamp open actually spread the arms of the spring instead of compressing them. Who knew that was a thing?
So we've gone back and are now testing a number of alternates. Torsion spring strength is a function of the number of coils in the spring, the thickness of the wire used. We're confident we'll find a combination that will work for Wrap Buddies.
How did we get this wrong?
Honestly? Because we went all low-tech for our initial prototypes. We bought a bunch of chip clips and disassembled them for their springs. So while we knew the specs of those springs, the new ones are a completely different layout. It doesn't translate.
Fortunately, we have found a spring vendor who's helping us work out the particulars and there are four new candidates on their way to us even now.
Yay!
Does this affect production and shipping?
We're behind where we wanted to be, but we've got enough flexibility in the schedule that we still expect to be shipping these to you no later than October for delivery in November.
Need inspiration? Check out some of our pinboards on Pinterest.
Got friends who are sad they missed the Kickstarter? We're taking preorders (to ship right after our Kickstarter rewards go out) on Indiegogo. The "preorder" button on our Kickstarter campaign page will also take you there.
Peace!
Bret & The Wrap Buddies Team
Happy New Year!
over 7 years ago
– Sat, Dec 31, 2016 at 11:10:29 AM
Happy New Year!
I've been a bit quiet over the holidays, trying to give some time back to my family. But next week it's back to work and back to Wrap Buddies! Tonight, though, it's New Year's Eve!
Yeah, not me. I'll be cashed out on the sofa and heading to bed around 10. I'm just not a party animal any more....
Kickstarter News
Kickstarter just informed me that they have released the funds from the campaign and I should be receiving them in a day or two. So by mid-next week, we should be in the green and ready to rock & roll with final evolutions on the design and packaging.
If Your Pledge Got Missed...
There were a few folks whose pledges didn't get collected in time, so they got dropped from the campaign. Don't worry, we still love you. You can pop over to our page and hid the "Preorder" button, or head directly to Indiegogo InDemand and put in your preorder. It'll process through in about 10 days and you'll be part of the preorder team! Woot!
Future Updates
Because we've got backers and fans on multiple platforms now, I'm going to try to consolidate our updates to our web page at wrapbuddies.co. If you want to be sure you're getting updates from there, please subscribe to our mailing list. We won't spam you, we promise, and unsubscribing is easy too, because we hate signing up for lists that you can never get off ever again.
Hope your new year is a fantastic one, and we know your next holiday season will be a better one, wrap-wise, at least! :-)
Bret and the Wrap Buddies Team
Model Proofs
over 7 years ago
– Mon, Dec 19, 2016 at 10:07:43 PM
Christmas came early today. Better photographs and in-use shots will follow, as well as our notes after testing them, but I just had to share these right away!
Bret
That's a Wrap!
over 7 years ago
– Sat, Dec 17, 2016 at 01:53:11 PM
WE DID IT!
We're feeling very restrained & proper this morning.
Oh, who are we kidding? It's celebration central around here.
If we could, we'd invite you all over for a cuppa and a hug. Thanks for getting us past the goal, and over 50% past that goal, to boot!
What's Next?
Well, honestly, I'm going to disconnect for a short while and give my family some attention. They've been great sports throughout the past year and I owe them a few weeks of uninterrupted daddy time, especially for Christmas.
In January, we should have our first prototype version in hand so we can work out the specifics of spring tension and assembly and fix any issues we find before sending the models over for production units. Even then, we'll have a short round of back-and-forth with the factory as we work on making them manufacturable. We'll receive a few units from that effort that we can use for photography and ensuring everything is right.
In case you missed the earlier announcement, we're honoring the first stretch goal and ensuring these Wrap Buddies will have tape dispensing and ribbon management included!
Then it's production time!
We've also got packaging design to work on in the midst of all that. So it's going to be a busy first quarter.
We are partnering with BackerKit for survey purposes, and we now have a preorder page up at Indiegogo. As a backer, you'll be able to add extra units to your order at special backer-only prices below what preorders will cost, and yours will be the first to ship. Because we love you. You, specifically. Yes, you. But not in a weird, creepy way.
If you have friends who want in, you can either add to your order during the survey process if they're, like, your besties, or you can point them to our preorder page at https://igg.me/at/wrapbuddies/. It's also liked from our Kickstarter campaign page with a lovely green "Preorder" button.
Thanks again
Mostly, this update is about us saying, "Thanks a million." Each and every one of you is part of this, and we'll be standing up a "thank you" page on the wrapbuddies.co web site soon to make sure you're immortalized forever on the interwebz.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or please accept our best wishes for whatever you and yours celebrate at this time of year. We'll talk again in 2017!
Bret and the (extremely thankful) Wrap Buddies Team
4 Days (plus a few...) to go
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Dec 13, 2016 at 09:56:31 AM
We're Almost There!
There's just about 4 days left in our campaign. Or, to put it another way:
96 hours
5760 minutes
345600 seconds
Just after I get up Saturday morning
It doesn't seem so long ago that we kicked this thing off on Kickstarter, then set back and held our breath to see what would happen. You all responded and made our dreams come true. As I type this, we're 140% funded heading into these last few days.
So, What's Up with Us?
So since we spoke last, I received the Rev 1 designs from our design team and am working to get a quick prototype made so we can test fit, finish, and work out the specifics of tensioning the spring so it holds firmly, but not TOO firmly.
Know what I'm saying?
Next Steps
After we work with the prototype a bit, we'll refine the design as needed and make another prototype unit. As long as this one looks good, we'll head into production and produce the initial run of Wrap Buddies, including all backer rewards and preorders.
Preorders? Yep, once the campaign ends, we'll be taking preorders up until we place that initial production order.
During all that time, we're also working on packaging, logistics, shipping, and distribution. And starting to get our sales pipeline working so we can get these in some retail shops for Christmas 2017!
And that's about it for now, except that we found another stocking stuffer you might find interesting and incredibly useful once your Wrap Buddies arrive (or even before). I'm proud to have been one of the original backers of these on Kickstarter as well!
Our friends over at Version 22 have launched Nimble, the world's 1st one-finger cutting tool, that funded on Kickstarter in just 75 hours. You can use this handy gadget to open plastic packaging in the kitchen, open parcels, cut out coupons and more. It's definitely worth checking out. The best bit? You can't cut yourself with it! They’re now InDemand after overfunding here on Kickstarter, so you can take a look HERE.
That's it for now. Until Saturday morning, thanks for all your support and for keeping our dream alive! Don't forget to give us one last share on all your facebooks and twitters.
