Having your ketubah designed from scratch is exciting prospect for a couple to put their stamp on their special contract and make it as personal to them. 


Decisions need to be made about size, the writing surface (paper or parchment), styles of writing, whether there are illustrations or not and if so, what and how elaborate. The text itself does vary too, Orthodox (and there are different varieties/lengths of those too depending on country and affiliation) or progressive, or even your own text for some. Traditional Aramaic or Hebrew. Did you also want English? To a certain extent the ketubah can become a work of art in itself as well as a contract.
   
On this page we explore the journey of one such ketubah that I designed in 2021 for a very lovely couple.

The couple wanted a traditional Orthodox text written of k'laf (parchment) with a picture of Old Harry Rocks, a prominent geological feature in Poole that, by coincidence, I see a lot when I visit my parents in Bournemouth.


Clearly a special place for them I immediately hit the internet looking at photos of the rocks from various vantage points - not as many as I thought there might be.

The first task was to sketch the rock formation from various angles to plan the layout and see what was best and what the couple would like.

Alongside that, once the text was provided it needed to be turned into a layout on the computer to make sure everything fit and that there wouldn't be to much stretching of letters to justify the lines. Obviously every ketubah is unique so it needs its own plan - you can't rely on the tikkun that you have for a Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzah or Megillah.
 On the first layout I included a border (reminiscent of the grooms parents own ketubah which had also been written by a scribe). Also the couple decided they wanted to add some flowers and plants that were on their wedding invitations to link those elements together.

The text was laid out in draft on the computer (always a bit difficult as design programmes do not like Hebrew justification). This was then sent to the Rabbi for checking.

There were then a few more versions where some changes were made, such as adding in a monogram initials at the base, but these were removed as too busy. Also, having found a better photo of the rocks, I reversed the Old Harry Rocks image so that the think rock at the end was on the right hand side so that you were seeing it from a different vantage point.

I then did a first draft watercolour painting which was nice but not quite detailed enough and a bit too harsh on the edges with very defined lines.
I studied the photo a lot more and also experimented more with watercolour pencil and a light wash. That yielded a much more satisfactory image. I aslo added a small sailing boat for scale which I had seen on anotehr painting of the rocks. However, that's all very fine on some nice heavy watercolour paper but you can't really have water on k'laf, so it eventually became more an exercise in blending with a finger. The second painting was in my opinion better and set the style for the third and final painting on the ketubah itself. I framed the second painting and gave it to my parents!

Having cut the parchment to size, the next stage was to rule out with my sargel and then start the writing. This is always the most daunting thing, just making that start.

The writing complete, I then turned my attention to illustrations. Familiar with the subject I was starting to get a nice feel to the formation. 

It is important to cover over the writing area as art materials can interfere with the writing.

Finally after many hours planning, laying out, experimenting, cutting, ruling, writing, drawing and painting, the ketubah was complete and ready for the big day. My thanks to my clients for giving me permission to show the process and the images. Packed up in a protective artbag they collected it and took it away for the big day where it would be signed by their two edim (witnesses).

The couple's reaction was lovely - "WOW!!!!!! It is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much, we absolutely love it. It is everything we hoped for and more!!"


If you are interested in a personal ketubah designed to your specifications, please contact me.


AVIELAH'S KETUBAH GALLERY