4 Reasons for Calligraphers to Learn How to Engrave
There is no denying that over the past year or so, the art of calligraphy engraving has absolutely exploded. If you’re a calligrapher who hasn’t learned how to engrave yet, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about, and if it’s even worth learning this new skill. It can be pretty overwhelming out here for an artist, with so many different mediums to choose from and dabble in - especially when we see our peers and people across our social media channels trying it all.
As someone who is absolutely not a “pen hoarder”and likes to keep it really lean when it comes to artistic mediums that I specialize in, I completely get the overwhelm. I’m adamantly opposed to being a “Jack of all Trades; Master of None” unless you’re pursuing multiple interests for personal enjoyment. In that case, by all means, be a Tombow-wielding, ink-splatter covered watercolorist with a passion for wood-burning pet portraits. Live your best life. But when it comes to building a creative business, I’m a firm believer in narrowing your creative offerings instead of spreading yourself too thin. All of that being said, I’d like to make the case for why you might want to learn how to engrave. Here are 4 reasons why I think you should consider it:
It’s a new income stream
I talk a lot about the importance of diversifying your income as an artist, and this is how you do it. Not by splitting yourself in a million pieces by offering every service under the sun, but by choosing specific niche services & products (physical or digital) that compliment your unique skillset and round out your business. If you’ve ever wanted to work with brands on calligraphy personalization - handwritten notes to clients, personalized items in store, etc - you’re just making your calligraphy skills more marketable by being able to offer truly permanent personalization. While there are many opportunities to work with brands using paper & pen, engraving events are much more commonplace. So if you’ve been waiting for a way to enter the luxury brand calligraphy market, engraving could be your ticket in!
You can charge a higher price point
Listen it’s not all about money, but a really good chunk of it is, right? Even if you love what you do, that love won’t pay the bills. However, focusing your time, energy & talent on high-earning tasks will. Engraving is both physically and mentally demanding, and it should not be cheap. Your body will not thank you for engraving for 5 hours straight in a luxury boutique, trust me. You will also be mentally exhausted from hours of trying not to make a mistake on a $500 bottle of perfume (I find it better to not check the prices, honestly). If you’re engraving on-site and being paid an hourly rate, it should be somewhere in the $200 per hour range. When working in studio and customizing individual items, I generally recommend starting around $40 per unit (but there are so many factors that go into this, and each engraving commission is so unique). Make sure you have an elevated price for your engraving services, because it is more strenuous than most other forms of calligraphy!
FOMO
For those who don’t know, FOMO stands for “Fear of Missing Out”. Normally I would say FOMO isn’t a good reason to do anything, but hear me out. I don’t really mean it in the literal sense of like, you’ll be afraid you’re missing out - I mean it in the sense that you really could be missing out in a tangible way, and leaving money on the table. In our little social media bubbles, it often feels like everyone is already engraving - so why should you bother? But that perception is just because we tend to follow artists in our field, and our algorithms are tailored to us, so we end up seeing a lot of the same kind of accounts and content and that makes it seem sometimes like a million people are already engraving, but that’s not accurate. I can tell you from experience: One of my best, most loyal luxury clients asked me to refer them to an engraving artist in another city for a series of holiday events. When I tried to find someone for them, I could not find a single calligrapher in that city (and this is like - a pretty major city) who offered engraving. I knew calligraphers there, and very talented ones! But none of them offered engraving, so unfortunately - and without even knowing it - they missed out on a great opportunity.
It’s the next logical step
Like I said, I know it seems like everyone is engraving now, and that makes it look like the market is too saturated and there’s no room for you in it. But as my previous anecdote proves: that’s just not the case. You might even have an opportunity to be ahead of the game. It’s also important to consider that if so many other calligraphers are offering a particular new service, there may be a good reason you should too. Not to be a follower or to chase trends but because sometimes, that trend just happens to be the next logical step within your chosen career path. While that probably isn’t the case with something more niche like wood-burning or leather-foiling, it simply is the case with engraving. If a client has the choice between a calligrapher who can engrave a surface versus a calligraphy who will be using sharpie oil-based paint pens to customize it - they’re gonna choose the engraver, trust me. Partly because it’s more permanent, partly because it looks more elegant, but mostly because it’s just a higher end service, and their customers will understand it better, and therefore value it more.
So there you have it; 4 reasons you might want to add engraving services to your business! If this sounds like the right next step for you and your business (totally fine if it doesn’t, of course) then I will just casually point out that I have a pretty amazing, in-depth online course called Engraving Fast Track for Calligraphers that will have you engraving in no time. No pressure, just tossing in that little shameless plug because I think if you’re ready to learn engraving, you might as well hit the ground running now so you can reap the rewards in the very near future. (And while I’m doing shameless plugs, I also have a brand new course that will teach you how to engrave florals! Check it out here)
