My most popular service so far this year is for people who have written their own very special poems. I've had two wonderful commissions for wedding poems illustrated with delicate floral borders, with lettering in calligraphy. 

The first - still a secret so I won't share all the details here! - is for a spring wedding. 

The second is for my customer's mum's 80th birthday, and I'm excited to start writing the calligraphy this afternoon.

My role as a calligrapher in this process is small - when my customers email me their poems I'm always blown away by their creativity, and by the time and effort it must take to write something so thoughtful for a loved one.

Close up of a floral illustration on a modern calligraphy commission on green paper, by Claire at By Moon and Tide

I do understand why the calligraphy is so important. It would be easy to print a personalised poem and pop it in a frame - after all, it's your words which are the most meaningful. 

But to have a calligrapher write out your words, to have the design illustrated by hand, and to be able to choose your flowers and colours for your poem - that's really special. 

My January customer chose little yellow flowers for her border illustration. As this was the second calligraphy poem she had commissioned from me, I took inspiration from some delicate floral illustration on her previous piece, which had small bouquets painted. These flowers are a similar size, but arranged in a more modern style. 

modern calligraphy poem with white ink on natural green paper with delicate flower pattern

This time I painted spring flowers as a border element, finishing the look with 'moon gold' metallic lines and dots, which worked really well. 

It's simple and cost effective for me to write a calligraphy poem commission and send it carefully rolled, in a sturdy postal tube. This allows you to have your poem professionally framed, where you can choose your own style of border and mount to suit both the calligraphy design and your home decor. 

See more of my calligraphy poems and commissioned work here.

To make an enquiry about a personalised poem you've written, email is best. All my contact details are here.

If all you're looking for is calligraphy on a white background, I offer a simple calligraphy service for poems in my online shop here.