Hand Lettering Services to Provide to Clients

So you’ve spent all this time learning, and practicing, and doing lettering drills. You finally feel confident in your abilities. But now what? What sorts of hand lettering services can you offer to clients to start making a profit?

Here’s a list of ideas to get the ball rolling!

If you’re ready to start selling your hand lettering services to clients this is the perfect place to start. Hand lettering and calligraphy services are in such high demand these days it shouldn’t be long before you start getting opportunities to hare your talent with paying clients.

Wedding Hand Lettering Services!

Hand lettering for weddings is not only in high demand but it’s also one of the most lucrative ways to sell your lettering. Brides LOVE the charm and elegance beautifully drawn letters add to their weddings! Not only that but there are TONS of different jobs you can do for a wedding so if you book one bride you might get more than one job out of it!

Envelope Calligraphy

Addressing wedding invitation envelopes is probably one of the most popular hand lettering services brides are looking for.

• Make sure you’re comfortable using a dip pen to create elegant calligraphy
• Have your client send you a spreadsheet that has the name of every guest, address, etc. – tell them to double check to make sure everything is spelled correctly
• Agree on a layout with your client – Do they want each address to be 3 lines? 4 lines? What sort of layout do they want? Centered? Diagonal? Something totally unique?
• Practice getting the envelopes done quickly! The faster you get them done the more money/hour you make!
• Sketch out the calligraphy lightly with a pencil first so you can figure out the spacing of the letters and words – when the ink dries erase it with a good eraser!

What you need: 

• Envelopes – Make sure you know if your client will be providing you with envelopes or if they expect you to get them yourself. If they do be sure to include that in your price per envelope. Agree on an envelope size & color!
• Ink – I would offer black ink as a standard. If the client wants another color or another type of ink (i.e. something with shimmer) make sure they know that it will be an additional cost.
• Nib – This is my go-to nib and it’s really great for beginners. It’s not as flexible as some other nibs so its easier to control!
• Holder – I recommend doing some research before purchasing a holder. Make sure you know if a straight holder or an oblique holder would be better for you! Also, make sure if your holder doesn’t have universal insertion that it can hold the nib you’re using!

How to price:

• Always do some research and make sure not to underprice your time! This is also why it’s important to practice working quickly.
• From what I’ve seen envelopes usually range from $2-$6 depending on your experience!

Place Cards

Place cards are a must for most weddings! This hand lettering service is especially great if you’re a total newbie and don’t feel quite ready to do envelopes. This is also a job you can do with a brush pen since you can sometimes afford to have thicker strokes.

• Again, make sure you talk to your client about the format of the place cards. Do they want a first AND last name? Just first name? Table number? – Knowing what information they want to be included will affect they stylization of your letters.

What you Need: 

• Place cards – Again, make sure you agree with your client on the type of card, the size, and the color. If you’re using watercolor make sure that the paper is suitable!!!!
• Brush Marker – I personally think that using a brush marker is the easiest way to go for this job but you can use whatever medium you want!

Price: Again, always do your research and make sure your price accordingly to your specific needs but these usually go for around $1 per card.

Welcome Sign

Having a custom welcome sign for your wedding is SO memorable and makes a really awesome keepsake. This makes them VERY popular hand lettering services but also a job I’d recommend for people with more experience under their belts.

• What kind of sign does the client want? – Some popular options are mirror signs and wood signs!
• What do they want it to say? – Make sure the canvas you’re using will be able to fit what they want it to say!

What you need: This is really gonna depend on the type of sign they want but you’ll most likely need paint markers to start!

Price: Again this is really gonna vary depending on what your client wants!

Chalkboard Lettering

Loads and loads of businesses use chalkboard signs to prop up outside their business and draw customers in! More often than not these signs are pretty bland. This is where you come in!

• If you ever see a shop or a restaurant with a chalkboard sign reach out to them and ask if you can redesign it!
• Make sure you ask what they want each side to say so that you can start thinking about the layout of your letters!

What you need: Chalk markers – these are the ones I use! I highly recommend you buy your own because otherwise you risk having to use the businesses very old and frayed and streaky markers……it’s as bad as it sounds!

Price: $35-75 depending on the job and size of the board.

Fonts

If you’re a hand letterer fonts are an awesome way to make money! Try to design a font using your go-to style and set up a passive income stream!

What you need: Adobe Illustrator

Price: $11-$20

Personalized Gifts & Custom Orders

People love giving custom gifts! There are loads of different types of artistic things you can do on a custom basis!

• personalized greeting cards
• gift tags
• favorite quotes
• handwritten letters
• family trees
• address stamps
• logos

Always look for opportunities where you can put your talents to the test! You’ll start realizing that hand lettering is way more relevant and useful than you thought! Now go make money!!!!

Looking for where to start?: Learn how to make DIY greeting cards

Need hand lettering services?: Click here!