How To Make Money With Calligraphy: 41 Ideas (+ Examples)
We've heard it a million times: "Calligraphy's a dying art!" This is actually not true at all. Not only is there more INTEREST in calligraphy than ever... People pay for calligraphy all the time.
Calligraphy services (like handwritten wedding invitations) and products (like handmade cards) are common. You can even run a calligraphy business online and generate passive income by selling digital products (like print-at-home workbooks and custom fonts).
If you're interested in starting a side calligraphy business, this guide will give you 41 ideas of products to sell. The photos included are from us (Jillian and Jordan, Loveleigh Loops founders - welcome!!) or other talented calligraphers within our community.
We count ourselves lucky to be surrounded by so much creativity and talent! Let's dive in.
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Table of Contents
41 Ways To Make Money With Calligraphy
What kind of paid calligraphy gigs are at your disposal? Try one of these ideas! Here are 41 different ways to make money with calligraphy.
1. Custom Fonts
Turn your calligraphy or hand lettering into a font for others to use by creating custom fonts. Fonts are digital products, which makes them easy to scale into passive income. After you set up the product in your digital store, Etsy shop (here's ours for inspiration) or on Creative Market, you can automate the whole sales process. Plus, you can sell to a wide range of cusotmers, from individuals to companies.
You can try a free font generator like FontStruct or follow a course that teaches you this process. The BEST resource (by far) for creating fonts that we have found is the Learn Font Making Course by Every Tuesday. It's the exact course Jillian used to create the Twindigo font and she loved the process.
2. Live Engraving Events
With live engraving calligraphy gigs, you don't have any inventory to keep (since you're using the brand's products). Working with brands means you share the burden of marketing, and you can also get repeat customers. The example below is from the talented Telisa Roessein. She shared this about her experience:
"I collaborate with beauty and fragrance companies to elevate their product promotions by offering on-site engraving of customer purchases, primarily their names in calligraphy. The ability to personalize items in real-time is a valuable service for brands. Additionally, this service generates a substantial income, typically earning 4-figure per event. I charge $200 - $250/hr depending on the type of event with minimum of $1,000 booking."
3. Envelope Addressing
Envelope calligraphy is a fun and historic way of making money (the first envelope goes back 4,000 years to Babylonian times!). It's a service-based business, meaning: customers place orders, pay upfront and then you write the envelopes within the pre-determined time frame. This guarantees you'll make money before producing any work! It’s repetitive in nature but a very in-demand service.
The product below is by the talented Kristina Riley from her Etsy shop.
Beautiful watercolor envelope calligraphy
4. Wedding Invitations
Weddings are where elegant writing truly shines. Wedding anything is profitable because people are prepared to spend money (you'll see many more wedding ideas as you read!). Invitations are great for calligraphers who like composition and layout as well as the writing itself.
Here's a wedding invitation example from the talented Robyn Love Steele:
Custom wedding invitations
5. Print-On-Demand Goods
Print-on-demand goods are one of the most modern calligraphy gigs in this round-up. Instead of buying supplies at your local craft store and making products in bulk, you create digital designs and let a separate company create the product itself once an order is placed.
This system means that there's no unpurchased inventory sitting around. You can create a wide range of products easily using a print-on-demand service, but you're responsible for the marketing and you don't start making sales as soon as the listing is live.
We sell print-on-demand items (like our "calligrapher" design below) through the service Printful.
6. Handwritten Letters
Handwritten letters are always unique which means that you can treat each commission as its own creative project. It can be time-consuming, but it's a very personal product that clients will cherish.
The example below is from Tanisha Chhabra. She shared this about her experience: "I wrote a letter from a girlfriend in India to her boyfriend in Canada as I live in Canada. It was a really sweet sentiment for me."
Tanisha charged 40 Canadian dollars (about $30 US).
Handwritten letter
7. Handwritten Bookmarks
Handwritten bookmarks are easy to sell in bulk and can be either custom-made for individual clients or made for the public. Louise Halpin made the below watercolor bookmarks for each member of a close family for a baby dedication celebration.
She charged €7 (about $7.80) per bookmark, which she said was a special price.
Custom bookmarks
8. Procreate Brushes
The Procreate App is an app that's used by most digital artists, including calligraphers! Rather than writing in black ink (like a normal pen), you can write in any color, texture, etc. with different Procreate brushes.
Digital artists often customize brushes to fit their style, and those can be sold to anyone online. We sell our own Procreate brushes, in addition to giving away our Loveleigh Brush for free.
We also teach a course on how to make custom Procreate brushes for yourself.
Here's one of our Procreate brushes:
9. Procreate Stamps
Another type of Procreate product you can start selling is stamp brushes. You can think of stamp brushes like physical stamps: you create the stamp once and then it saves you time instead of writing the same thing over and over again manually.
Our below stamp brush pack was made to make flourishing on your iPad faster:
10. Clamshell Books
Clamshell books are an intricate form of paper art. They unfold to reveal art, and in this case, beautiful calligraphy, inside. It takes a skillful artist to create this type of art, but it's less competitive than other products like custom envelopes.
The below clamshell book was made by the talented Jennifer Legate, and she calls it a "gratitude book." She charges $100-$150 depending on the size, detail, customization, etc.
Handmade clamshell book
11. Handmade Christmas Cards
There's still a market for handmade cards: in a world of generic well-wishes, handmade items make someone feel truly special. It takes experimentation to find the design you want (traditional/modern, layout design, watercolor backgrounds, etc). This is potentially time-consuming, but it's creatively very rewarding.
The example below is from Andrea Shorey and she shared this about her experience: "My kids made block-printed Christmas cards that I calligraphed Merry Christmouse, Meowy Christmas, Merry KissMoose and other things. Then people asked me to customize greetings inside blank ones or inside the ones that already said Merry Christmouse."
Andrea charges $1 per card plus $1 per line of calligraphy.
Handmade Christmas cards
12. Decorative Marriage Certificate
Do you still hear wedding bells?? Weddings are elegant and momentous affairs, which means that there are endless calligraphy products that can be purchased. People also get married year-round, which presents a longer order window than seasonal products.
The talented Yvonne Novak has sold calligraphed marriage certifications. She shared this about her experience: "A gentleman contacted me from a posting from a friend wanting a calligrapher to fill out a certificate for his sister and her wife."
Yvonne wrote, framed and matted the finished piece, and charged $50.
13. Framed Eulogy
A framed handwritten eulogy is a unique type of product that you create for individual clients. A product that's personal like this will mean the finished product is always different, which offers you a creative challenge.
Any type of custom calligraphy order comes with higher stakes: the client needs to love the finished product, so it's important to get it just right (and be open to making revisions if someone isn't happy).
Here's a framed calligraphy eulogy that we sold from our early days of business:
Handwritten eulogy
14. Birth Announcements
Across the spectrum from death announcements are birth announcements. Like weddings, birth is a profitable niche that people are prepared to spend money on.
Unlike weddings, you can get repeat customers and referrals are easier to come by. This product works with digital calligraphy as well as pen and paper.
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15. Brush Pen Kits
Selling your own calligraphy kits is quite specialized, but we're including it to showcase the diverse ways that you can make money with calligraphy. Below you can see one of our custom calligraphy kits. We don't sell these ourselves, but instead, Paper & Ink Arts sells them for us and we market them to our students and viewers.
This works well because we already recommend these products to students regularly, and these kits are more cost-effective for your audience than buying everything individually. This type of product is best for people who have an audience.
16. Personalized Gift Box
Who wouldn't want to receive this one-of-a-kind gift box with personalized items and greeting card?! The example below is from the talented Angenise Rawls. She shared this about her experience:
"I was commissioned to create a gift box for someone who was retiring. Included in the gift box was a hand-engraved water bottle, a tote bag, a marble coaster, a luggage tag, a bookmark along with a handmade greeting card."
Angenise charged $75.
Personalized gift box
17. Handwritten Event Cards
Remember idea #2, live engraving events? This way to make money is in the same vein. These are handwritten PR cards ordered by a company for an event. The example below is from Haley Yeo. She shared this about her experience:
"I was referred by a friend working in a PR firm to help out for this project. It was for a PR note for Gucci Beauty to go with the release of a new fragrance. I enjoyed playing with the flourishes and knowing that my calligraphy accompanied a beautiful product that was received by people."
Haley charged about $20 per card.
Handwritten cards
18. Custom Birthday Cards
Birthday cards have gotten a bad reputation over the years for being impersonal and generic, but handwritten birthday cards are ANYTHING but that. The example below is from the talented Kunnatee Vechasilp. She shared this about her experience:
"These are personalized birthday cards for a shop’s VIP customers. I chose offhand flourishing with flower elements and a bird to express feminine delicacy moods and tone."
Kunnatee charged 500 Baht per card (roughly $15).
Custom birthday cards
19. Wedding Vows
Yes, more wedding products! For some couples, every element of their wedding day is tailored and Pinterest-worthy. The vows are no exception: instead of pulling out a piece of printer paper, couples can pull out beautiful "his vows" and "her vows" notebooks.
This is a product inspired by our own weddings, which we sold in our early days of business.
20. Coffee Mugs/Glasses
Sell coffee mugs or wine glasses with your writing on them. These can be created in a couple of different ways:
Print-on-demand using a service like Printful
Writing in wash-proof markers like these
Making digital designs and then printing with a Cricut machine
Here's an example of a coffee mug and wine glass that we sold back in the early days of our business:
Calligraphed cups
21. Framed Holiday Quotes
The next two product ideas touch on a pattern that you may have already seen: holidays, seasons and celebrations. Events like weddings and births are big shopping moments for individuals, and seasons have the same effect on a larger scale.
This is a hand-lettered wall print that Carlee Zale created using her iPad, Apple Pencil and the Procreate App. She sold it for $3.99.
Framed Christmas quote
22. Framed Seasonal Quotes
Cover the entire year by selling sets of seasonal framed calligraphy quotes. The example below is from Elsa Kellaway and she shared this about her experience: "The client wanted bespoke descriptions of each season along with a little illustration. They then framed these and put them on display according to season."
She sold the collection for £40 (about $53).
Framed seasonal quotes
23. Chalkboard Signage
A quick search for "chalkboard signage" on Pinterest will show you how popular this trend is! Small chalkboard signs are popular for kids' decor as well as in professional establishments. Businesses opt for chalkboard signage because of its versatility. The example below is from the talented Burcin Karagemicioglu. She shared this about her experience:
"Here's the chalkboard signages of the world’s biggest olive oil museum in Turkiye. I offered the museum to make tailor-made signs according to their needs. information desk, shop, taste bars, etc."
Here Burcin is with her work:
24. Wooden Sign Decor
The example below is from Ashley Schafer, who shared this about her experience: "I had to research the process of finishing the wood and using acrylic pens to letter on the wood. We came up with an agreed-upon price and I took about 1 month to design, prep the wood, and letter on 3, double-sided signs. This was for a good friend and she was not in a hurry for the product - I appreciated that she thought of me and my calligraphy skills, and it was fun to be paid to learn a new skill!"
She charged $25 each.
Ashley highlighted something really valuable here: the opportunity to get paid to learn a new skill. This is one of the great things about trying to sell your original art or taking custom orders for clients! As long as you're honest with clients and set realistic expectations (timeline, final product, etc.) then taking on new projects is a great way to explore your craft.
Wooden calligraphy wall art
25. Bridal Shower Signage
Yep, there are still more ways to make money with wedding calligraphy! This idea is specifically targeting the bridal shower. Many brides will order custom signage to make celebrations unique. Below you can see a sign that we created for a client back in our early days of business.
While lots of money is generated by the wedding industry, it's worth mentioning that you won't get repeat clients if you exclusively offer wedding services. Diversifying is key to having a sustainable income.
Custom bridal party signage
26. Wedding Mirrors
Wedding mirrors are a creative twist on normal wedding signage. Mirrors are fragile, so it takes a lot of care to ship them (or you can cater exclusively to local clients). The example below is from the talented Cari Andersen.
She charges between $50-$100 per mirror.
Wedding mirror
27. Custom Ornaments
Ornaments are popular Christmas calligraphy products, and they can be either bulk-produced and sold to the public or personalized gifts. The example below is from Jill Riggins and she shared this about her experience:
"I live in the Philippines; I used native round Capiz shell ornaments and lettered family names (as requested by clients) using faux calligraphy and an oil-based pen, with some minimal additional acrylic paint embellishments."
Using local shells is not only beautiful and personal to the region, but it also creates a more unique product that can help you differentiate yourself from other sellers.
Custom Christmas ornaments
28. Wedding Book
Many of these wedding-related products have been for the reception, but this product is a great example of a calligraphy wedding gift.
This is a handwritten book with a leather cover and beautiful, delicate flourishes. The couple that received this will cherish it forever! The book below was made by the talented Mariette Sangers and cost €350 (about $390).
Wedding book
29. Custom Gift Engraving
Calligraphy practice usually takes places place on paper (or an iPad), but we love seeing all of the different mediums that the calligraphers in our community use for their products.
This product is an example of free hand engraving, done on perfume and cologne bottles. The engraving is by the talented John Keleel, made for the L'Oreal Co. at their holiday parties.
Calligraphy engraving
30. In-Person Workshops
Have friends or coworkers ever asked if you could teach them calligraphy? If yes (and you like the idea of teaching), teaching in-person workshops might be right for you!
Not every professional calligrapher will make a great calligraphy teacher; writing and teaching are very different skills. However, it can be a relatively easy product to test.
See if you can collaborate with your local library or community center and offer a free or low-cost class. They'll help advertise, you'll develop the materials and you can test out if you like teaching.
We started teaching classes in 2017 and loved it so much that we transitioned into the online world.
Jillian teaching
Jordan teaching
31. Online Calligraphy Courses
There are many benefits to teaching online calligraphy courses: students can see your writing up close and you can market to a global audience. We've had more than 40,000 students join our online classes from 150 countries.
Online courses are also a form of passive income - you create the course up front and then students can purchase 24/7. Don't let the term "passive income" fool you though; there's still a lot of active work to create, market, and update your courses.
32. Seating Charts
This is another (say it with us!) WEDDING product, created with a beautiful mix of modern calligraphy and sans serif lettering. This is a great example of a product that works for two industries: you can create seating charts for weddings as well as corporate events.
If you can connect with businesses that host events, you can generate recurring income and long-term client relationships. This product below was made by the talented Michelle Wright. She created a reception table seating chart, as well as a matching wooden welcome entrance.
Seating chart
33. Framed Gift Art
This is a commissioned piece of wall art that was a romantic gift for someone in a long-distance relationship. A product like this could be marketed for any romantic event: Valentine's Day, weddings, engagements and anniversaries.
The product below is by the talented Alfiya V. She charged ₹500 (about $6).
Framed wall art
34. Engraved Glass Vases
We've already seen a glass etching service (#29), and here's another twist on the same concept: for this product the calligrapher doesn't engrave the glass themselves, they just provide the writing.
The example below is from the talented Katie Cox. She shared this about her experience: "My church’s ladies’ group needed lettering for a glass flower vase for a special event. I did the lettering and someone with access to a laser engraver etched into it about 15 vases. Since I did only the lettering and not the etching, I charged $75 for the project."
35. Handwritten Calligraphy Notebooks
Notebooks are for sale in practically every store; create a one-of-a-kind product by adding your handwriting to the cover. To start selling these for yourself, you can purchase blank notebooks at your local craft store and then write popular words on the covers.
This is a product that we sold in our early days in business, and we embossed the lettering with an embossing tool.
Handwritten notebooks
36. Creating Custom Logos
You know the fonts for Lord Of The Rings, Disney or Harry Potter? They're so synonymous with the brand that they're identifiable a mile away. Those are custom fonts made by calligraphers or professional designers that reflect those brands in their logos. Custom fonts are still something that graphic novelists, professional artists and businesses commission.
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37. Printable Practice Workbooks
A printable workbook is a product that you create once and sell repeatedly to customers. Upon purchasing, customers get a PDF that they instantly download and can start practicing immediately.
This is very cost-effective for you, but requires the skill level of a professional calligrapher to be prepared to create your own proprietary teaching style. If you teach workshops, this is a great accompanying product!
38. Handlettered Vases
Here's an example of a calligraphy product that's both a personalized gift and a custom event favor. These handwritten vases are for an event and have guests' names written in modern calligraphy. The example below is from the talented Sophie Taylor. She shared this about her experience:
"For this project, the client requested custom name lettering on matte flower vases that would double as a place card. I had never lettered on a rounded, textured surface prior to this booking, so I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. But the Posca paint pen handled this project like a dream and the client loved the final project!"
Sophie said that the pricing is based on many different factors, but today she would charge $50/each for pieces this size.
Personalized vases
39. Party Place Cards
Here's a great example of an event product by Tomoko Dawtrey: party place cards. made using handmade paper and pressed flowers. Tomoko charged 2.30 AUD (about $1.50) per card.
Party place cards
40. Wedding Place Cards
Are wedding place cards different from general ones? Technically no, but when it comes to running a calligraphy business, they're two separate products. People who are planning weddings search for "wedding [BLANK]" when they're looking for decor, services, etc.
This means that a calligrapher who wants to target the wedding niche will need to have a dedicated "wedding place card" in their shop in order to show up in these searches. This touches on the basics of search optimization - you can learn more in this free SEO course from HubSpot.
These are the wedding place cards from Jordan's wedding:
Wedding place cards
41. Art Licensing
Next time you go to the store, look at the greeting cards, kids' clothes or wrapping paper. You'll see calligraphy EVERYWHERE. Some of this is created in-house by the companies producing these products, and sometimes they license artists.
Licensed art is literally everywhere, but it's a bit of a process to land deals and go through the legal process correctly. We recommend and endorse the Art Licensing Blueprint course by Goodtype for anyone who's interested in learning about the right legal steps:
How To Monetize Your Calligraphy Skills
Are you ready to sell personalized gifts or start teaching classes as a side hustle? If you want to turn your calligraphy skills into a side income, you don't have to overcomplicate the process. You can start today by following these steps:
Pick your product. Which of these 41 ideas excites you most?
Start promoting. Tell your friends and family what you're offering.
Make your first dollar. Get your first sale and then decide if you want to tweak your offer.
Get another customer or client and repeat until you find what you love.
This process is simple but it may take time before you find the products that fit your skills and interests best. You can start making money within your first month, but it takes time to scale a single sale into a side hustle and into a calligraphy business.
A look behind the scences of our calligraphy business
Start A Calligraphy Business
There's a lot of clickbait online about how to make money quickly; most of it's misleading. Let us be upfront by saying that a calligraphy business requires you to first learn calligraphy and then invest time in promoting and learning marketing.
Starting a full-time calligraphy or hand lettering business requires a unique selling point, realistic expectations and a lot of experimentation. This is a long process, but it covers these bases:
Develop your calligraphy style
Price your work
Sell your work
Market your products or services
Experiment
Write a business plan
Learn, reflect and improve
Establish your business legally
We explain each of these 8 steps in our in-depth guide to starting a calligraphy business:
Next Steps
Are you excited to start writing?! This list of still just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to calligraphy products: there are still countless ideas, like escort cards, custom baby onesies, Mother's Day letters and more.
Whether you want to offer services or create products, you can start making extra income with your skills. Which product here excites you the most? We'd love to hear in the comments!
We have countless free resources on our website and social media accounts to help you learn new styles and improve your lettering. We hope that you'll join us here at Loveleigh Loops in creating the calligraphy hobby (and business!) of your dreams.
