The Birdhouse Calligraphy

Etsy is one of those websites that you can find anything created by a very talented person, be it stickers for your journals, cute illustrations or even notebooks and other stationery. I adore shopping around all these different stores, they even make for some great presents for your loved ones. Recently I came across the Birdhouse Calligraphy after Louise was on the search for bloggers who adored handmade items. I always love promoting new stores so I jumped at the chance to collaborate with Louise.

After checking out her Etsy store, I fell in love with her work, it’s all so beautiful and even better than that, it’s all handmade by Louise! None of her work is digitalised, it is all handmade when she receives the order, which in my eyes is amazing! You’ll always know that you are receiving something that has been hand created by her own hands. Calligraphy is something that I’ve always loved! I would love to know how to do it and do it well at that, so I am even more impressed by what she does.

I’ve done a few reviews in the past on Etsy stores created by very talented people including Dorkface and Juniper Daze Designs, I thought I would do something a little different with the Birdhouse Calligraphy and host a Q&A with her. I thought this would add a more personal touch to my post and I was really excited to hear what Louise had to say herself. So without further ado, let’s get into my questions for Louise, then I’ll chat about my favourites!

What motivated you to start the Birdhouse Calligraphy?

I had been doodling and drawing calligraphy quotes for a while and started sharing them on Facebook and Instagram and so many friends were asking for custom made pieces and told me I should start selling them, I work professionally as an actress so decided to give it a go in between acting jobs, it’s been quite successful so I now keep my shop open even when I’m working on an acting job. I’m in rehearsals for a show at the moment and I spend my time off drawing pieces for new orders.

How did you start doing Calligraphy?

I’ve loved stationery ever since I can remember. I love new pens and notebooks, everything to do with stationery. So I decided to try my hand at Calligraphy, as it was a new type of pen! I bought two books called Modern Calligraphy by Lucy Edmonds and Nib & Ink by Chiara Perano and they were really helpful for me to learn the basics. I always used a Nikko G Nib and Higgins Eternal Ink to start off with but now I’ve got my own style I’ve ventured out into other tools such as brush pens and different nib sizes and colours of ink.

What is your favourite thing to create?

I love an inspirational quote! I’m quite a positive person so I always find inspirational quotes wonderful to read! I just recently started a Christmas range and that was really fun to create as I love Christmas! I also love Harry Potter, so I’ve incorporated both those loves into some of my Christmas pieces.

Why do you prefer hand drawn over print?

I just think there is something so much more personal knowing that when an order has been placed, it will be hand drawn specifically for that person, so no two pieces will be the same, yes they may be very similar if someone has ordered the same quote but they won’t be identical like a photocopy. I don’t have anything against digitising, I think people that digitise their work are really talented and can probably accept more orders than me as the product is already done and the buyer receives a digital file to print at home.

I just think there’s something more special about hand-drawn. I’m quite old-fashioned in that I still use a notebook to write things down rather than my iPhone, I still have a diary to keep track of things rather than writing it on my phone. Maybe it’s to do with my love of stationery! It also helps me to keep learning my craft if I can hand draw every order.

What is your favourite quote?

I’m a huge Shakespeare fan and I’m only 5’3 so one of my favourites is “Though she be but little, she is fierce” which is from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream‘ I love this as it’s saying the will of a person and the greatness of their soul has no relation to their size or importance, which is so true. Everyone is important. And I’m fierce! Haha!

Where would you like your business to be in a year time?

I don’t want to run before I can walk, so I’d like to just see how it goes, my Etsy store has only been open just over a month and I’ve had about 33 sales in that time which isn’t bad going! Maybe I’d like to aim for 100 sales in a years time if there’s more that would be amazing! But I’d be happy with 100!

I think I’m going to be putting a couple of Louise’s prints on my Birthday/Christmas wishlist! I know my partner is currently asking me what I want, so maybe asking for a custom order. The one that stood out massively to me was ‘A Yawn is a Silent Scream for Coffee’ I love how Louise has included different fonts within the piece and even adding the feature of the coffee mug. Without these, it would make for a very boring piece! It adds some good character to it.

Not only does Louise create prints, she has also ventured into creating cards and gift tags, especially with the festive period fast approaching us! She also has a range that you can send to your friends and family for their birthdays as well as celebrating your anniversary. I also love that all her pieces are based on inspirational/motivational quotes, meaning these can be dotted around your home to keep you on your goals!

Even though I have been in Aylesbury for just over two months now, my room is still not me, shall I say. I’ve been really busy with work as well as just giving me that time to get settled in. Now with my full-time job, I am really looking forward to creating my room more me and these pieces would be perfect for that! When I went to Milton Keynes for the first time, I picked up a wire board from Primark so these would feel at home here.

With having the different categories on the left-hand side, you are able to find what you want straight away! We are all pretty busy people, so to have this is perfect as if you want something related to pets, you just click pets! Louise doesn’t currently have that many pieces in her store as she only started her little business in ________ 2017. I can see her business really starting to grow over the next couple of months, especially with Christmas just around the corner.

All her pieces are very affordable, with them ranging from £2.25 all the way up to £6.25 depending on what you order. For me, this is brilliant, as you know they are all handmade and Louise puts in a lot of work to make them all something special. With them being handmade, not one is the same because when your hand creating something, it won’t be exactly the same as your previously made one. Also when something is handmade, you don’t mind paying that little bit extra because the quality is there.

I would love for you to head over to the Birdhouse Calligraphy on Etsy and give Louise a lot of love! I’m more than positive you will find something that you fall in love with. Louise also has her own Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for her business, this is where you will be kept up to date with all her work. She has kindly given me a discount code for you guys that if you want to purchase anything on her website, you get 10% off by entering THANKS10.

I hope you have enjoyed this post! I would love to know your favourite quote from the Birdhouse Calligraphy. Are you planning on grabbing any pieces for your loved ones this festive period? Some of them are definitely on my wishlist!

*This post was in collaboration with The Birdhouse Calligraphy, nothing was exchanged for this post as I wanted to promote Louise’s business. The images featured within this post are all from her Etsy store, I give credit to her and they were used with her permission. All thoughts are my own, for more information please see my About Page.