Contemporary Dyecraft

The journey of this book began on 2001, when I began writing the first draft. It took me five months to lay down the first copy. I did my research in the stores. I walked into the craft section of every bookstore I went into and picked up all the books by local publishers. The Metz Press books all had a certain look and feel in my hands and I decided that this was the publisher for me.

I then spent some years trying to get hold of the publisher. I sent volleys of e-mails and heard nothing back from Metz.

On a level I gave up and moved on to other focusses. After all, you cannot kill all of your time on one thing.

Then, in 2007 I went to Cape Town to teach at Keen On Crafts with Craftwise Magazine. I had a free session where I could choose to do any craft that I wanted to and I decided to do embroidery. The teacher was a wonderful lady called Fransie Snyman. She asked me if I was not interested in writing a book, since I knew so much about my medium. I told her about my dream to publish. She told me that she had written a book and could put me in touch with her publisher, Metz Press.

I sent a volley of e-mails to the address she gave me, and heard nothing.

Six months later I went to the Keen On Crafts with Craftwise Magazine event in Pretoria. A friendly blonde lady walked up to me, and introduced herself as Wilsia Metz. Her sister Fransie, had told her all about me. She had signed up for my class.

From there things have flowed and Contemporary Dyecraft is almost a reality. It will be available in stores from January 2010!

My advice to aspiring writers : Never give up.