I’m busy with a couple of custom designed lanterns and sun catchers at the moment, so thought I’d run through:
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The lantern I’m currently working on is a great example – it’s being specially painted for someone’s “special birthday” and has been designed with my customer to perfectly represent all the various loves and passions of his friend’s life. A “special” birthday (this one’s a fiftieth) is truly an event to be celebrated – and what better way than to receive a gift that contains so much love and care and thought? PLUS – it’s a gift that will always remain with the recipient, to be lit up as a happy reminder in the years to come. |
| So – my customer approached me after seeing another bespoke lantern, painted for a work colleague of his earlier this year (see below). He told me all about his friend and gave me the brief “Pre-Raphaelite, greyhounds, cooking & wine!” From this, I sent him the following sketches: |
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We made a couple of small additions (I added in a couple of blackbirds & also the distinctive glasses his friend wears) and he then approved the designs & chose the one he wanted for the front panel of the lantern. He also advised me that his friend has brilliant red hair (VERY Pre-Raphaelite) & also has a weakness for emerald green shawls! So painting has been carrying on along these lines: |
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And here are a couple of the panels from the custom lantern that sparked his order off – this one was painted to celebrate a new professorship! I was asked for designs to evoke: |
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1. the Double Helix (as this is what the professorship was in) |
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| and Liverpool football club (easy, as I have a lifelong devotion to them as well!) |
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Plus also -
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Of course, I do SO many customised cats and dogs for all my various pet memorials, pet portraits and other cat lanterns. Did you know that you can order any of my current designs and have your own cats (or dogs) painted in place of the black & white ones? I’ll need some photos & it costs just a little bit more – but the customisation is well worth it! Just click HERE to order your pet memorial |
| And this memorial was a particularly sad one, repeated 6 times over for the family of a motorbike riding firefighter |
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This customer wanted a fully customised lantern design to show off a gardening friend’s marmalade cat |
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Speaking of gardening…… another customer has a sister who is a garden designer. So a special lantern design for her involved LOTS of different flowers and her particular, long loved design notebook |
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Some of my most popular designs originally came from custom requests. Butterflies, anyone?- it seems that you customers always know best! |
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And final mention goes to King Richard III. I knew very little about this monarch, other than from school history and Shakespeare. But a request to paint a lantern for a Ricardian sister’s special birthday launched me on a fascinating voyage of discovery…… and a whole new category of products! If you don’t know about the movement to prove Richard’s innocence, then may I recommend that you follow it, as it’s SUCH an interesting historical thriller! |
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| Alex Marchant, I’m pleased to say, was delighted with her lantern. She’s actually a Ricardian author (find her books here) and has been kind enough to take her lantern with her on all her various book tours and talks – from which I’ve gained a great number of new customers! So thank you, Alex! |
And so, if you need a special present for a birthday, wedding, anniversary or any other special celebration – then please come to see what I can come up with for you! Just drop me a line at ornatelylanterns@gmail.com to tell me what you’re thinking of – or else go straight to the Completely Custom section on the website and have a browse:https://ornatelylanterns.com/collections/completely-custom-bespoke-designs |