About to Set Off

My goodness where has the last two months flown??? I haven't stopped, but little work has come our of my hands- the book and the parcelling and meeting Pozible pledges has taken quite some time.
If you are in Australia and you would like  the book you need to order it this morning because at an ungodly hour tomorrow  I fly to India to spend some time at a Indian Creative Camp- looking forward to it and playing with my woodblock and embroidery threads and maybe some other things!

There has been some really positive feedback about my book and about the fact that it is a good read, so it has been a really good experience so far!  In Australia it retails for $49.95 plus $15 postage- for  those outside Australia I will let you know postage rates once I get to Europe after the 19th of March. Email me if you would like to buy a copy!

I will be teaching quite a bit once I get to Europe.

• Creating a linocut at Au fil d'Emma on 24 March
•  In Amstelveen at the Lapjesgaard on 27 or 28 March- you can do both days or do only one it is up to you!
• 7 and 8 April  at Mons with Centre de Broderie du Hainaut
• 22-25 April  at Pour L'Amour du Fil in Nantes

The whole month of May I will be in Italy- I am available to teach if anyone in Italy is interested. But I am mainly going to research for the next book- anyone care to join me?
There is a hint of some of the things I will be exploring in the newest issue of Through Our Hands which is available free to read on-line

Meanwhile if anyone in Melbourne is interested in  sharing my studio at Appleton Street Studios Richmond please please email me- I am away a lot of the time so you would have to space to yourself a lot, but it would also help me with the rent and who knows might lead to collaboration?

The Book is Now Available for Sale

We have been very busy parcelling up books- gift wrapping them and ensuring the rewards that were pledged for in our Pozible campaign have been met. It has been a big job but tomorrow the last of   books will be air shipped to France and then posted out to the recipients ( including the United Kingdom and th eUSA) from France so we hope the wait won't be too long.

 One of the rewards for the pledges has been a hand made book- and this has also taken time to make because hand made books take time in the making and the binding which is all done by hand.We had to make 10 books in all as 10 hand made books were pledged for. My daughter  hand sewed and bound the books and I made many of the  fabric and lutradur printed inserts as well as stitched and hand painted inserts. I can now show you some of what we made:

 The cover and  stitched  binding made by Celeste Galtry.

One of the pages from the book
with a hand painted and printed lutradur page.

Languedocian  landscape with a facing hand painted and printed lutradur page.

Olive tree variation with a cloth hand printed panel of grapevine and olive tree.

Cocteau's cat, a page in the book and a hand painted and printed lutradur page

And the view from Le Mont St Michel with a colour stitch study on khadi paper and insert in the hand made book.

However we can now promote the book as for sale.We have had really positive reviews on Facebook with people saying it is a beautiful book and enjoying the fact that we have been able to show how the inspiration and the stories behind the inspiration has lead to the work.

This is one review printed with permission from Jane Monk from Tasmanisa- and Jane does some inspiring work herself- take a look at her blog and website:
If you only buy one book this year, make it this one. If you love textiles, art, anything French. If you have had the pleasure of spending time in France, you will be whisked away with each page of this wonderful book. I can recall the smell of the autumn air while walking down parts of the Seine River on the outskirts of Paris, the magic of the Louvre, the cheese, the coffee, the busy sound of a city at midnight and the early sounds of provincial mornings. This book has brought back so many memories, wonderful sights, sounds, architecture, people and more. I know this may seem far fetched but this book is like a trip to France with textiles and art thrown in. Dijanne Cevaal ... I can't say enough about this most wonderful book you have created and brought to life with such wonderful insightfulness and tactility ... I can almost feel those fabrics and designs ... Thank you for such a beautiful creation, I will treasure this book. x

 The retail price for the book is $49.95 and postage in Australia is $15 p&p- however to elsewhere it is much more expensive ( thank you so much Australia Post) I will also be sea shipping books to France so that hopefully I will have them available for sale late May early June when I am still there.

At the end of next week I will be joining Creative Arts Safaris Indian Creative Camp, so those wishing to order the book please give me time to post them out to you if you are in Australia. Simply email me and I shall give you payment details.

Medieval Project

I have been so busy ( and it's still ongoing) with the book and our  meeting our Pozible commitments that the Medieval project went on the back burner for a little.

These are some of the lovely pieces I already have to hand- by Anne Sushames, Robina Summers, Lesley Goddard,  Susan Mathews, myself and one  whose envelope is in my studio  and as I am not in my studio I cannot tell you the name of the maker of the lovely yellow piece ( as there is no lable on the back)

So it is time to update what is happening with  the Medieval  Project- because  we need to start seeing finished pieces please.

Robina Summers' lovely "nature" ethereal piece

There has been a bit of a change in plan in that I am going to India at the end of February to finally attend one of Fiona Wright's Creative Camps in India. This has been on the wish list for awhile, as Fiona was always saying come to India , but whilst my youngest daughter was still at school I could not justify it, and now that I  don't actually have a home as such I thought why the heck not- as it is on the way to Europe where Iam teaching and exhibiting in late March. ( does anyone in Italy want me to come and teach in May?)

So this means I would rather not carry all the pieces with me as my route is not direct and ask that you send your pieces to France direct.As the pieces are not large I don't think postage will be too onerous. If you are in Europe then the postage will be cheaper for you anyway! They will need to be in France by 14 April and if you email me  and if that does not work then on dcevaalatgmail.com I will give you the address to send them to. I would also like to know if you are sending a piece for exhibition because I have to work out the logistics of hanging the pieces as I am going to device a back cloth on which the pieces will be attached ( as soon as possible and approx size)- I hope there will be as many pieces as with the Sentinelle project.I hope that they will come from all over the world because I have sent and sold prints around the world.

 There is a participation fee and again if you email me I will give details of how that can be paid- but as I am asking you to send the pieces directly to France I have decided to reduce the fee to $20 rather than $25.The fee is to cover the expense of travel for the pieces and their travel case and administration and labelling etc and return to you the maker.Also all pieces entered will be exhibited. I was so delighted with the quality and charm of  the sentinelle pieces that i will not jury.

 I can tell you the first exhibition event will be Pour l'Amour du Fil in Nantes from 22-25 April- an event organised by Quilt Mania and which is growing every year. Then the pieces will return to Australia for their Australian launch at the Berry Retreat on 29-30 August 2015 and then  Expertise events will tour them around- we are just  discussing venues and timing at present- but I anticipate it will travel as widely as the Sentinelles have and hopefully more!

So please please please let me know whether you are sending a piece!

All pieces will need a label with contact details . A hanging sleeve is not needed but if you could perhaps attach velcro dots or  strip this would be very helpful.

Book Launch

Have been so flat out with posting all the books( Australia and New Zealand) and parcelling all the books for Europe completely forgot to mention  BOOK LAUNCH tomorrow evening from 5-8 pm at 53 Appleton Street Studios Richmond Victoria on the 10th of Februrary ( and also a quiet birthday
celebration!) So if you are Melbournian you are most welcome- but just  message me so I know!

Thank You Thank You Thank You! Musing in Textile:France

Well we are finally at the business end of the Musing in Textile:France project. Yes we are finally sending out the books for which you have all so patiently waited. All the Australian supporters and New Zealand supporters will have received or will very shortly receive their books. Those who supported the hand made books reward- in Australia- your books will be sent tomorrow (we apologise it has taken a bit longer- we never thought we would have 10 people subscribe to the reward so it has involved quite some making and has taken us a bit longer than anticipated). Europe (UK and US) books will be bulk shipped later this coming week to France, and then posted within France to their various destinations (so unfortunately yours will take a bit longer and our apologies for that). 

         

But most of all-we want to thank each and every one of you who supported our project ( some of you pledged for more than one reward so to you a double thank you!) Without you this project would never have happened- we feel both humbled and incredibly chuffed that you saw fit to support our project and we hope that you will not be disappointed. I especially am grateful, as there is no publishing industry as such in Australia for quilt or textile  books and in particular a book that is more about the inspiration and the journey than the how to. So the only way to achieve a book of this kind was through a platform such as Pozible and your very generous support.The list of thank yous is in the order the pledges came in. I have also put a summery at the end about things we learnt and some considerations if you are considering the crowd fund raising path.

Shirley Goodwin
Hendrika Priemis
Marie-Thérèse Persoon-Klingelhefer
Mevr Truus Bakker
Linda Robertus
Jan C
Wil Opio Oguta
Carole Kokinis
Susan de Vanny
Donna Rowan
Herma de Ruiter
Linda Stokes
Judy Murdoch
Jill Sparks
Nic Bridges
Elizabeth Dubbelde
Jill Dearing
Lisa Walton
Denise Fordyce
Felicity Griffin Clark
Sherry Boram
Sue Krekorian
Barbara Currey
merkusje
Fiona Wright
Alexis Ward
Alison Downey
Lee Mills
Emma Coutancier
Alexandra Halsey
Anne Linage
Lyn Duhig
Susanne Biso
Debra Chapman
 Ginette Bellan
Lynette Weeks
Patricia Hutchinson
Sally Ann Westcott
Margaret Gilbert
Nicole Peeters
Debclarke
Esther Elizabeth Matthews
Sarah Louise Ricketts
Chantal Baquin
Patrise Dowling
Susan Dawe
Mathea Daunheimer
Chris Beardsley
Sandy Marcoux
Sue and Angus Martin
Diana Stover
Meg Owen
victoria gordon
Melanie Bartlett
Barbara Hilford
Jeana Blackert
Sophie Lanham
Margaret Denman
Kathryn Robertson
Christine Moulin
Clare Smith
Barbara McIlvain
Rae Poon
Gerda Jackson
Lajla Nystad
Richard nadine
Marilyn Bielski
Kelly Hamlyn-Harris
Kerrie Rodgers
Fiona Dunn
Eileen Orchard
duverge chantal
Sheila Kelly
raffaella lingua
Odile l'Huillier
Linda Forey
Catherine Roy
Buchoud
Cristina Robbiani
Annick
Francoise Courteil
Danielle Coste
Sylvie Chevillard
Monique Martin Charpentier
Michèle Jacquot
Thelma Scudi
neycensas
Christiane Menesson
 Agnes Besle
Susan McRae
Chevreul Martine
Joelle Lerouvillois
Lyn McCormick
Alicia Merrett
Linda Seward
Vauvrecy Véronique
Margo Bimler
Dini Zweegers
 Regine Peroni
Rae Hopkinson
Marilyn Wilson
Nadine Bond
Carole Smollan
Isa dulhoste
Sylviane Caradec
Eli and May Broekhuis-Ronday
Alison Holt
Sandra van Velzen
Katie Alford
Severine Allais
Anna Buesink
Lisa Guthrie
Anne Ferguson
Dale Rollerson
Rebecca Clarke
Penelope Crompton
Annie Labruyere
Emmy Schoonbeek
isabelle debat
Katell Renon
Brigitte Galdemar
Toufflet Christine
Marie Christine Chasseraud
 marie Jose Oustau
Michele Picard
Frances Murphy
 Anne-Valerie Berthe
Poncinet Michelle
Els gauchotte
Marie France Gougnard
 Evelyne Riff
 Brigitte Dider
Susannah Heath
June O. Underwood
Jane Howie
Debra Lukeis
Catherine  Andrieu
 Henriette Quintard
Huber Monique
Cheryl billing smith
Jessica Wheelahan
Tracey Browning
Cherry Jackson
Jennifer Manefield
Marian Magee
Cäcilia Arnold
Bismuth Florence
Frédérique Jøjäl Crétal
Pam Kelly
Marlene McPherson
Elisabeth Nacenta de la Croix
Kathryn Thompson
Claire Lynch
Petra Kooij
Henny Herting
Susan Hunt
Lizzi Drake
kathy williams
Carol Veillon QUILTMANIA
Christelle Kupferle
Jane Monk
V Spiegel
Mandie Chandler
Elizabeth Smith
Paulene Cattle
Eileen Vlatko
Claude allard
Catherine Grangeat
Frieda Oxenham
Jeanne Gerthoffer
Milena Crea
Susan Duffield
Helen Baker
Louise Taylor
Denise Griffiths
Jo-Anne Britt
Kate Hansen
Sandy Askill
Margery Goodall
Bergen Rose
Jane Coad
Marie Claude Haurat
Margaret Ramsay
Jodie-Ann Marree Arklay
Ali George
Chrissy Sheed
Lea
Shirley Jacobs
Fraser Clayton
Cathy Hensman
Lynette Julie Morgan-Tait
Leonie Gittins
Joy Harvey
Dianne Firth
Danielle Bouvet
Jan mullen
Susan Mathews
Peter Sylvie
Julie Oates
Maya Jansen-Beijn
Arlette Cousin
Eva Abbinga
Jenny Brooks
Robina Summers
Bronwyn Cooling
Delaney Nguyen Xuan
Yvonne Wright
Lyn Dennis
 Chantal Guillermet
Josée Plantier
Dominique Houles
 Nelly Cavagnaro
Rahima Macdonald
Gloria Bowen
Christina Free
Trisha James
Vivien Lynette Balchin
Penny Sheaffe
Cathie Griffiths

Many people I know personally and some go a long way back to even high  school days ( Lyn and Lyn if Mrs Donaldson could see us now lol)- the whole project has over all been and incredibly positive experience and one for which I am incredibly grateful.

 I want to thank my daughter Celeste for travelling this journey with me- through all the ups and downs, through all the parcelling, but most of all for your beautiful design of my  book, all your hard work in talking specifications with the printer, and in helping my dream come true.And she has just landed an internship with a firm she had been wanting to work for!

 I also want to thank my friend Christine Moulin for her super job in translating my words into french and for trying  to  give them the sense I had intended.

It has  also been a huge learning curve for my daughter Celeste Galtry and myself and I do want to mention some things for any future aspirants for crowd funding.

• Give your self more time than you think necessary- best laid plans and all that, but mostly allow at least one month in your plans for life itself- our life intervention took a month or even more- the neighbour where my daughter used to live  became so obnoxious that she feared for her life ( he had threatened her with  a small axe, wire snapping in his hands threatening to cut her,  playing loud music all night long, and a torrent of swear words that made us suspect he had tourette syndrome and with the police stating that he was "harmless enough" and if we were so worried then we should take out a restraining order, which we tried to do but it was going to be two weeks to get an interview for said order- we knew not what kind of drugs he was on or whether he would turn violent as there were definitely little men running around in his fried brain, we knew there was drug and alcohol abuse happening - so the only solution was to move house. I had just returned form overseas and many of my things were stored at my daughters house and she had also just started a full time barrista job from which she could not take days off to  pack house etc. Then youngest daughter also moved- when it's all said and done it took a month to move - fortunately where my daughter now lives is much much quieter. It also interrupted our video plans as days we had set aside to film had to be abandoned because he was having one of his tourette fits which went for 3 days running.
• have a contingency plan- expect the unexpected to happen and allow time for it- ours involved where we were going to send things in Europe( delivery) and a printing mishap ( which caused delay, but was nobody's fault as such, just a machinery malfunction- we were glad to pick it up before the shipment had been sent- so make sure you check everything very carefully)
• make sure you cost everything very carefully- we thought we had done all our research very carefully only to discover that the postage costs for each reward were part of the pledge and not a separate additional cost to the pledge- some other people discovered similar things in their crowd funding campaigns- so make sure you double check everything!
• when dealing with postage allow at least a 15% inflation factor ( sounds in credible doesn't it) but in this age of internet purchasing,  postal services and other delivery services can charge a premium and regularly increase their costs and I believe Australia must have the most expensive postage service in the world- it would cost more to send the book  to Europe or the US than to actually purchase the book- that is sure great for micro-business! The cost  of posting to New Zealand was equally outrageous.

• the Pozible platform have their charge, which we knew about and was well worth the service we received ( and the platform was easy to use and worked efficiently, we were also assigned a mentor who was helpful and made regular contact so I would use this platform again for sure) , but we forgot about the fact that if people paid with Paypal- which many people did, Paypal of course take their percentage
• customs charges and taxes are confusing- nobody was able to give us an accurate estimate of what our customs clearance charges would be- we checked several different sources including customs itself but did not get an intelligible answer to the question how much will it cost?
• if you print offshore remember to factor in Gst or Vat to the place of shipment- we had taken account of it- but still have no clear answer whether vat will be payable on top of the gst that has already been paid?
• factor in unspecified courier costs- you will need them at some stage and likewise factor in  bank transfer costs
• time- it is a most precious commodity for a micro business and be prepared for things to take longer than planned
• when we did our research it was noticeable that the projects which got funded offered valuable rewards and  effectivediscounts- we tried to keep that in mind when creating our rewards
• Social media is incredibly important- and Instagram is a must use- I did not use it enough overall ( I am still learning it)
• who knew parcelling up packages took so long?
• it's a rollercoaster- no two ways about it

I am happy to talk anyone through the process. We researched Pozible for about a year and looked and tracked how some projects not dissimilar to our own fared and what had worked. We thought we had prepared well for the journey, but whilst we had in many ways, the fact that it was such a rollercoaster was something no amount of preparation would have prepared us for- every morning and night our hearts were in our mouths- sometimes thinking it would not happen and other times with just sheer excitement.

The night we passed our target was like winning a medal- I felt empowered -not quite the reaction i was expecting but we had just achieved a long held dream- and the overwhelming emotion was one of "Yes!! We (meaning my daughter and I) did it!" . But in all reality the catch cry should be "Yes We  did it !" All of you who supported the  campaign- you did it! And if you have an idea that you feel worth pursuing- follow your dream!

Would we do it again- you bet- we are already planning our next book Musing in Textile:Italy!