A calligraphy poem commission gift for a baby

This was a wonderful calligraphy commission for me - a poem from a mum to her daughter. The really personal details included rainbow inks and tiny illustrations relating to the words of the poem. From our first conversation via email to delivery of the poem took three weeks - a lovely project for September.

A simple calligraphy script with rhythmic spacing and gently curved letters. The word ‘rainbow’ is written one letter at a time in different ink colours: red, orange, yellow, green, two blue shades and two purples.

My lovely customer Elizabeth and I discussed the illustrations for the border of the poem by email. Picking out the letters of the word ‘rainbow’ in rainbow coloured inks was her idea and I loved it! There were some illustrations Elizabeth suggested at first that I wasn’t able to do: baby feet, little hands and a moon in a dark sky, for example. These were all mentioned in the verse, but were either too complex or out of my skill set! Instead, we added delicate flowers inspired by this personalised calligraphy poem - a commission from the summer months.

The sunshine, rainbow, pink rabbit, world, heart and shooting star illustrations correspond to the verses in the calligraphy poem.

I offer a few optional extras with calligraphy poem commissions: real gold initial letters, illustrations - and a pencil proof for approval.

Elizabeth felt it would be useful to see a sketch of the layout of her poem before I set pen to paper. I’ll show you here:

As you can see from my pencil sketch, the lettering is very rough! It does help to show the overall layout of the commission though.

When you're ordering a piece of calligraphy artwork for a special gift or occasion, you’ll want it to be perfect. If seeing a proof of your calligraphy commission will help, there's a way I can do that.

If you ask when you make your initial enquiry, I can send you a proof. As you’ll see from the image above, it’s a very rough draft - and I used to think that seeing my sketches would put customers off ordering! However - about half of my calligraphy customers do ask for a proof now, and I think it’s helpful for both of us to include this stage.

Sending a pencil sketch for approval does add a couple of hours to the process, but it can be helpful if you have a very specific vision for your calligraphy commission. For some customers, seeing a pencil sketch of the layout and lettering is reassuring.

The final line of Elizabeth’s calligraphy poem commission, with a very subtle flourish on the g in daughter. The line running down the left hand side of the artwork is done in pale gold metallic calligraphy ink - it’s becoming a bit of a ‘signature’ touch on my commissions, and I love adding this last little element which lifts the final design.

I can only take credit for the handwritten calligraphy and little illustrations. The beautiful words of this poem are all Elizabeth’s, and I hope they’ll become a treasured heirloom for her daughter.

At 15 months old, Elizabeth’s little girl is still a little young to appreciate this beautiful gift from her mum!

It’s always a genuine pleasure to create really personal calligraphy pieces like this poem for a special child.

If you’ve written a poem and you’d like me to write it in calligraphy, please get in touch. Ask me anything!

My prices for calligraphy poem commissions are here, and you can see more customer reviews for calligraphy services here.