Inku Kumar

If you have an artistic flair for fine writing and penmanship, why not consider starting a calligraphy business? Working with your clients you’ll develop beautiful, handwritten works of art ranging from letterhead and stationary to paintings and sculptures. There are about as many Calligraphy styles (hands) as there are Calligraphers. Find existing styles you’re good at while developing some of your own. As is the case with most arts, practice is the key to this craft. With practice you’ll not only get better, you’ll also be able to complete your projects more quickly. Focus your sales efforts in areas where calligraphy is in high demand: weddings, graduations, festivals, etc. Differentiate yourself by expanding your works to include techniques such as gold leaf, embossing and engraving. When prospecting for new clients, send a letter of introduction, with a sample of an invitation or addressed envelope you have done. Your price list should include: Prices for hand-lettering the items which will be reproduced by the printer or engraver The invitation The response card The reply envelope Any directions-to card Any other component to be included with the invitation The dinner menu for the event Prices for hand-addressing The outer envelope to the recipient The inner envelope with the parties’ names which contains the entire invitation package Place cards Prices for assembling, applying postage, and mailing (be sure to take into consideration you may have to lay tissue between the various components of the invitation, and this can be very time consuming)

Before there were computers to do our writing for us, people depended on writing text by hand. For formal texts and meaningful pieces, many people relied on calligraphy, which was a form of beautiful and ornamental handwriting. Calligraphy has been used since ancient times, and many civilizations incorporated it into their texts, including ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese. In fact, the word calligraphy is derived from two Greek words: kalli, which means beautiful and graphia, which means writing.