Making Affordable Art - Calligraphers, Letterers and Artists

I had to be brave and follow my heart when I gave up my teaching to dedicate my time to earning an income from my passion. It was time to move on. The system got ridiculously crazy with paper work and a need to justify every students learning and achievements. Then they wanted us to teach examination level…. No problem there, except many of y students had either a full time job or were retired and exams were the last things they wanted to do. I learnt the History of Lettering as part of my Diploma, but only because I had to, to pass, not because I had a particular interest in it. Anyway, I had set myself a year to see how it went….. And I’m still doing it, 10 years later!

Producing Calligraphy for sale is quite different to producing work for clients. To attract customers to buy your work, you have to think in a completely different way. Many people cannot afford or are unwilling to pay £80 - £100 and sometimes more for an individual framed piece of work. Wherever possible I have had to think of an alternative that would at least appeal to ‘anyone’ and within everyone’s budget range and at least give people the option of either a unique one off, or a print, which although not one off can also have a small added element of hand finishing that can make it unique. Last week I managed to squeeze in this idea for a print for a baby boy and today I’ve finished the one for a baby girl. The print is large, 28,7cm x 42cm, A3 and the main part is printed, but with a gap for the babies name, date of birth and weight to be added. The difference in cost to the customer is huge. The print will retail at £7.50 with an extra £2 for the mount. We’re looking here at about a 10th of the price. But I can sell 10 of these as opposed to one individual piece.
So my advice to any calligrapher out there who wants to earn an income from their work is to think of ways to market your work and think quantity. The advantage of producing prints is that they can be sold in frames in shops and in whatever quantities are required.

The photo below shows how something

produced and printed on demand,

can still have the personal touch

and at £7.50 each.... at a fraction of the cost of a one off.