Surveys Are On Their Way!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Dec 04, 2020 at 12:54:42 PM

Hello everyone, 

My first couple rounds of editing have been completed and my manuscript is off to the publisher. I have two big boxes of prints ready to be shipped also! So things are progressing well on this end and I'll keep you all posted on the next steps. 

Surveys

I just wanted to give you a heads up that you should be keeping an eye on your emails! I expect that the surveys will be sent out early next week. The link will send you to Backerkit, where you can choose which print you want, tell me what you want written on your rune cuff (if you purchased one), select add-ons and input your updated shipping information. 

If your address changes, you can sign back into Backerkit at any time to update your address.

Local Nelson and area residents can select Local Pick-Up at the start of the survey when it asks for your country. This will generate the amount you pledged for shipping into store credits that you can use for more items or to just leave me a tip!

I've sent some test surveys out to a few of you, if you have received the emails please fill out the forms this weekend if you can and let me know if you see any errors or if there is anything that is confusing. If something isn't right, I'll make sure to fix it right away. 

For prints to be delivered in time for Christmas, please look for this little icon and purchase the extra shipping. I'll ship your prints now, and you can receive your book later!

Pre-Order Store

If you have friends, family or loved ones who have been interested but missed out on the Kickstarter, my pre-order store is ready to go! Use the link below to guide them to where they need to go. 

 https://bookofrunes.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders 

I also got invited over to Indiegogo, so if you're on there give it a click to check out my page and help get me a bit of traffic please and thanks!

 https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-illustrated-book-of-runes 

Rune Image of the Day

Today I will share with you Ingwaz. Ingwaz is the rune of Freyr, who is also known as Ing. He is the Vanir god of fertility, twin to Freya. He rides his golden boar across the fields to promote growth, and is the king of the elves of Alfheim. This rune is a representation of the seed, and this form with the upper and lower bits is said to represent the leaves and roots sprouting from that seed. This is the rune that represents growth, particularly at the start of a project when one first starts to see the little tips of progress after a long period of waiting. 

So, although the fruits of my labour are yet to come, I am seeing the metaphorical leaves poking through the soil. It is thanks to all of you lovely supporters that this project is coming to life and I will say thank you now and forever more. Look forward to reaping the rewards for your support in the coming year!

Skål!

-Dawn

Post-Campaign Update and What You Can Expect From Backerkit
over 3 years ago – Sun, Nov 22, 2020 at 03:18:27 PM

Hello all! I just wanted to let you know how things have been progressing on this end. It's mostly been great, editing is coming along well and I expect to be able to send my first draft to the publisher within about 3 weeks. I'm excited to share this excerpt of my feedback from Freya Aswynn (hopefully it gets you excited too!):

"The Illustrated Book of Runes.  This is a beautiful labour of Love. The description of Runes is a tapestry of beauty. And something is added, the narrative for the Runes is modeled on The Hero's Journey of Joseph Campbell. This put a nice Jungian underlay of the Runes.  This book will be very helpful for those of us who do counselling as well as divination. Personally, there is no difference. The Artwork is delicate like spiderweb, deeply symbolic and enters the Esoteric sphere . New meanings  are presented of the Runes, and so the Rune Tree grows branching out and offering the fruits of the Work. These Fruits are to be found in this Work.  Enjoy!

I have everything set up in Backerkit. My scans are done and all the images are uploaded into it. I encountered a bit of a hurdle with them though, as I need to have Kickstarter funds deposited into my account before anything can proceed. Sometime in the first week or so of December is when that should happen and when surveys will get tested, so maybe second or third week of December is when surveys will be going out into your email. You will be able to make add-ons, including some scalemail bags and prints of my previous art, local Kootenay residents can select local pick up as an option, and you can tell me what you want on your custom rune cuffs! There are a lot of features I've included and it should run smoothly once things are moving. 

Again, the delay means that prints might not make it before Christmas time. But I can bypass this myself, as I have both prints and mailing supplies ready to go. So, if you want your print as a Christmas gift please message me right away! I will also be receiving your sets of runes in the next few weeks from Mimir's Tree and I may be able to ship those out soon too.

In the meantime, I'm also working on the website. All the images are now viewable at  Ravenwind Illustration's website. Descriptions are available for the first aett, the rest will be added once edits have come through. I'll also update the link to my pre-order store through Backerkit once I have it running.

So, today I'll share with you Mannaz. Mannaz is about what makes humans separate from animals, it is what makes us divine. The image is that of Ehwaz (the horse, the animal) with an additional ray of light that is said to be the insight from the gods (like the rays in Ansuz). It also looks a lot like support beams in a wooden structure. Most of what separates humanity from the animals is structure, it is our systematic functioning with designated particular roles that keep the gears of society moving. I sometimes find Mannaz a bit dull (particularly when dealing with bureaucratic activities) but then I remind myself that sometimes these sometimes dull details are what create the bigger picture and allow us to exercise our divinity through things like mathematics, making books, connecting with you folks across the world and connect us to each other. 

So, while I am working away at these small details, please stay tuned! And don't hesitate to message me if you have any personal requests with your orders. 

Thank you all again, I hope you are as excited as I am. I'm quite happy with what my editors have to say and I promise this will all be worth the wait! I'm forever grateful to all of you for making this happen. 

With love,

-Dawn

We Did It!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 12:05:05 PM

Thank you so very much everyone! We did it!!!!!! The final count is $10,776 CA in pledges! This is huge, I am so very happy to know how much you all believe in me, my team and this project. 

This book would not be in the making without all of your generous pledges and the sharing you have done. This is a major dream come true for me and I am so very grateful that my book with all my hard work and toils is going to come to life this year. There is still some hard work ahead for me, which I will be approaching with the same determination I have in creating the artwork and writing over the past nine months. 

For you folks, Backerkit is almost ready to go. I had hoped this would be a faster process, I'm done all my set-up work but now I'm waiting on them to look at Kickstarter funds, approve it and I have to do a test run. So, although I may have prints done and ready to go for Christmas, the Backerkit process is going to delay things some. If you want your prints sent in time for Solstice/Christmas, please message me and I will send them ASAP. Nothing else I think is urgent, so I'm happy to wait for Backerkit to do it's thing and make sure everything runs smoothly on there but I do want to make sure that anyone anticipating Christmas gifts receives them on time. There is still going to be an add-on that lets you ship your print separate from the book, so prints can arrive in the coming months while the book is still being edited and printed. 

Speaking of editing, I'm happy to announce that Freya Aswynn, the well known author of Leaves of Yggdrasil and Northern Mysteries and Magick has agreed to help me by writing a foreword, and going through and helping me edit my lore. My other editor works as a newspaper editor and is in the works of his own book that includes his rune poems. Thoughtweft Publishing who made my amazing cover art, is going to do the layout and final editing. I think this is the most solid editing team I could possibly ask for, and I know that the end result is going to be a book that you will all cherish. 

So, though you may have seen this rune in the video I recorded, I'm going to share Jera with you again. Jera relates to a year and the rotation of the earth around the sun. It teaches the wisdom of hard work paying off in rewards, with the example of growing wheat and all the effort it takes before you finally achieve your bread. The Illustrated Book of Runes will be a year round project for me, and though the bread is near and I am harvesting the wheat now, there is still some work to be done. I've been successful so far with my tireless efforts and I am reflecting on my harvest with great joy. 

So, thank you all so very much. The campaign is done, and it has been a successful run. But it wouldn't have happened without all of you! There is much more to look forward to, so keep an eye on your emails for updates and when the pledge manager comes your way. 

With much gratitude,

-Dawn

Just Funded With 7 Days Left to Go!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Nov 07, 2020 at 03:57:56 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Paintings Complete, Document Complete & Nearly Funded
over 3 years ago – Wed, Nov 04, 2020 at 02:44:55 PM

This update is a big one I am very happy to be able to announce. This last weekend with the full blue moon of Samhain, I was able to finish the final painting and my manuscript. This means I'm all done my work, now I just need you to help me with the funding! 

I imagine everyone is very eager to see the final aett of the artwork so let's start with that. I'm very happy with how these all turned out! My son thinks Othala is the best one, what about you folks? You can now start thinking about which prints you would like. Look at the bottom of this update for the photo of all 24 together! 

Printing will be done this month and I plan to mail prints hopefully right after. This might get slightly delayed if I have to wait for people to fill their surveys out, I've never used Backerkit before so I'm not sure if I can send pledge rewards as they come in or if I have to wait until the end of the survey date. If it looks like things will get delayed I'll make sure to email people, but please let me know if you are counting on your prints arriving for Solstice/Christmas and I will do everything I can to ensure your items arrive on time! Again, Backerkit will allow you to add on items and I'll make sure you can purchase separate shipping for the prints if you want them to arrive before the book is done.

The Illustrated Book of Runes currently has 64 pages plus 24 paintings, a total of 88 pages before formatting. My book designer hasn't touched it yet and there will be publishing information pages at the beginning as well as a foreword written by someone else (I don't want to mention who yet but they are a well known rune author and I am very excited to work with them!!). So I suspect the final to be somewhere around 100 pages. The document weighs in at double my original estimate of 18,000 words, with a current count of 36,000 before editing. I've been tirelessly editing it for the past few days and I've been able to send it off to editor number one of three. My suspicion is that books should be printed and ready to mail by March/April but I don't want to get too ahead of myself in case any steps are delayed.

So my work is done, at least at the creative stage. Next steps for myself include working with my editors, ensuring your surveys are ready to go, and then finalizing and shipping out rewards. I'll also be updating the website so people can have open access to view my artworks and learn the runes from me! Keep an eye out for it, and maybe stop by if you haven't checked it out yet.

 Runes Fehu through Wunjo can be clicked on and read about here! 

Now, I need you folks! Thank you for all the support you have provided me. If you would be so kind as to share my campaign on social media if you have not already it would be super appreciated. I'm so very, very close to being funded that I can taste it! But close is not good enough so we have to pull through in the next 11 days. Please tell any of your friends that might have been putting off their pledges that their chance to get one of the first printed copies of the Illustrated Book of Runes is running out!

And again, thank you! I am confident in the success of this project. I am so excited for when I get to hold the real thing in my hands for the first time and start signing and shipping them off to their new homes. 

Many, many thanks,

-Dawn