It’s a deeply personal task, says Rosemary, who works from her home in Mitchelstown. “I honestly cry when people send me photos of illustrations hung up in the house,” she says, laughing. “It’s wonderful to see.”

Rosemary, who is trained in fashion illustration, started the business last year, with a tentative post on the Facebook page of her shop Off the Rails.

“The biggest step was to put my business on Facebook and see if it would be received well. In less than a year, the reaction has been outstanding,” she says. “I get daily messages on Facebook looking for price ranges and availability, I could get four to five commissions per week.

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“Even though I have a clothes shop, fashion illustration is what I’ve always wanted to do. I’m putting myself out there to make that happen. I didn’t before because I was scared and wasn’t sure if people would get it or like what I do.”

As it happens, people seemed to like what Rosemary was doing and quite a bit, too. Within weeks, the orders began flooding in and she has been working on two to three illustrations per week – including images for Angela Scanlon, Jennifer Maguire and Glenda Gilson. Her method of drawing, using a blade and ink, is unique and takes time to get right.

Many of her orders are for wedding anniversaries – the first year is paper, making an illustration a fitting gift to mark one year in matrimony – or as a present for friends and parents.

“The biggest compliment is when someone comes back for a second illustration, so if someone has been gifted one and then decides to buy one for a sister or friend. It’s great when someone likes your work so much that they come back,” she says.

Given the nature of her artistry, it could take days to complete one illustration. However, Rosemary feels that it’s important to put time into each project.

“I don’t ever want to rush what I’m doing and be a conveyor belt. I give each illustration the time and make it special,” she says. “I fall into every one, and I’m consumed until I’m finished. It doesn’t matter if it takes 30 hours or 50 hours.”

And Rosemary asks her clients to do some investigating of their own.

“For instance, a husband might private message me on Facebook with a blast of photos from the wedding day. Then I might ask them to do some sneaky detective work and make these poor men go into the attic and take photos of the lace details in the dress. The romance of it!

“You can’t buy it off the peg,” she continues. “I’m offering something that’s a little bit different, which is the fine details from the flow of the dress down to the bridal bouquet. My mum taught me how to use the blade and ink.”

Her late mother, Mary Walsh, is a huge inspiration to Rosemary and helped develop her entrepreneurial spirit.

“My mam was my idol and she gave me the confidence to do this. If you have a strong woman in your life, that means you’re strong. She was inspirational, a lady and hardworking,” says Rosemary. “She studied fashion and art in Crawford, so basically I had my own private tutor when I was a little girl.

“My mother helped me open my shop at 19. I had to get a small business loan, and any bank manager would have laughed at a 19-year-old. She was my guarantor, but told me I had to make it work myself. She taught me that I had to invest in any business to make it work.”

Now Rosemary finds herself working alongside her toddler Grace, in the same way she did as a child with her own mother.

“It’s history repeating itself – we’re both working together at the kitchen table. It’s all I’ve wanted,” she smiles.