An illuminated edition of the Anglo-Saxon epic tale "Beowulf" in Old English and modern English translation.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Over Halfway
1 day ago
– Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 09:57:31 AM
We have mailed out over 400 pledges so far, and we have another 150 packaged up to mail out this week. Moving right along! I also got the goatskins in and started on the first leatherbound editions this week as well.
As we've been working through those pledges, we also started our school year at the beginning of September. This year I'm helping out with my wife's forest school for the 3-6 year-olds. Right before our fall season started, Hurricane Debby blew up the Shenandoah River and we got hit by a massive flood that washed away all the hand built shelters we had made last year for the forest school. She's putting together a Kickstarter campaign that's launching next week to raise some money to rebuild a shelter for a covered space and outdoor classroom, but this time more elevated and with better foundation anchoring. I'm partnering with her on this project to write and illuminate a children's book based on some of the Celtic stories we're telling in our fall season sessions. A lot of folks have also asked about the Celtic Gospel book project I did a couple of years ago; some of those books will be available through this fundraiser as well. Please check out her project and share it around!
Fulfillment Continues
11 days ago
– Thu, Sep 05, 2024 at 04:58:41 PM
We're coming up on the halfway mark with the fulfillments:
We're packing up and mailing 20-25 a day, so we still have a few weeks to go before everyone gets their copies. Thanks everyone for your patience! This last weekend we got to show the Beowulf project and some other work at the Appaloosa Music Festival in Front Royal. That was a lot of fun, and a lot of folks were amazed to see old illumination forms being used with modern books - a delightful anachronism! I really appreciate everyone who pitched in to make it happen.
In the meantime, it's onward to the final reward level work - handbinding the goatskin editions. I'm also partnering with Tamburn Woods LLC (the Forest School my wife started last year) helping them with a Kickstarter project starting in a week or so to publish a hand-lettered and illuminated children's book - The Book of Blessed Beasts! This came about after a 100 year flood came through two weeks ago and wiped out all the hand-built structures we had made for the Forest School last year - now we need to rebuild and restructure our ground plan so the kids have the covered work spaces they need this school year. Please check it out and give it a follow if you'd be interested in something like that!
Final Stage Underway
27 days ago
– Tue, Aug 20, 2024 at 08:51:58 AM
At long last, after one final delay from the freight company, we got all the Beowulf books in yesterday. Now we're rolling into the main fulfillment stage; the first batch of pledged books mailed out this morning. It will take us a few weeks to package and mail out the nearly 800 orders, but we worked out a pretty good system with our little rural post office for sending out large-ish daily batches, so most of y'all should be receiving your copies between now and the middle of September. I'll also be starting on the hand bound leather editions shortly, so those will be going out after the main bulk of the mailings are complete.
Thanks for going with us and supporting us on this journey and bringing a project that is very special to me to life!
Rolling On
about 1 month ago
– Wed, Aug 07, 2024 at 07:24:05 PM
We got the update from the freight company handling delivery from the printers; the Beowulf books are scheduled to be delivered on the 12th! We got all the pledges up through the Huscarl level mailed out, so we'll be rolling on mailing those books out to everyone else starting next week. In the meantime, I'm finishing up the videos for the Beowulf course at the moment, and am hoping to send the course access link out to the Aetheling backers in the next 10 days.
If you're in the Thane and above pledge brackets, please make sure you sent me any shipping address updates if you've moved since filling out the survey.
Onward!
First Look!
3 months ago
– Thu, Jun 20, 2024 at 02:56:36 PM
I got the proof copies of the illuminated Beowulf this week. I'm very pleased; they are looking just how I hoped!
