My calligraphy journey - from hobby to business (Part 2)

I hope you took the time to read the first part as this post is the continued story of my calligraphy journey.

Here I was, moved to a new city on 22nd January 2018, with no full-time job, and with so much time in my hands. My fiance encouraged me to take some time and focus on calligraphy. This is a chapter I will never forget as I was given the 'luxury' to focus on my hobby. With a wedding planning on the go, I had so many ideas in my mind how I could incorporate some calligraphy into our wedding invitations. I practised calligraphy almost every day for about 4-5 hours. Plus, I was buying and testing lots of calligraphy supplies I could find online.

I started to search calligraphy workshops in Belfast and was lucky to find some modern calligraphy workshops for beginners and improvers with Ofe from Studio Oudizo. She held the beginners one in Belfast and the Improvers one in Dublin, which is a 2hr journey by bus. I took both classes in March 2018.

In April-May, I focused to finish designing our wedding invitations which in the end turned out to be a DIY project, the only calligraphy incorporated were the guest’s names added on the envelopes. I did not know how to digitise my calligraphy; back then I was so proud of them, but now I am a bit embarrassed by those flourishes I did. I was not happy at all how my calligraphy looked like and knew I was doing something wrong. At that time, I only had a personal Instagram account and knew very little how to use it or how to search for inspiration. The hashtag #calligraphy led me to Suzanne Cunningham account, and that was a WOW moment I will never forget. I could never have imagined that calligraphy can be so beautiful. And so, my research to find out what type of calligraphy is she doing has started. After scrolling through all her posts, I found out about Copperplate Calligraphy and Flourishing and lots of tools she was using. I started to replicate her flourishing, but I was horrible at that.

Then, I started to search some books on Copperplate online and found one called ‘Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy – a step-by-step approach’ by Eleanor Winters and bought it straight away. It was June when I received the book, and I started a thorough study and practice. I made a little weekly calendar intending to allocate 3-4 hours per day to study and practice from the book. I learned to write every stroke, letter, and word individually every day. I had dozens of practice pages, and I was so happy when I could see some improvements in my writing. Learning Copperplate was a game-changer in my learning study, as this helped improve my Modern calligraphy style.

In July, we went to our homes in Moldova and Romania to get ready for the wedding and I barely did any practice until September when we got back to Belfast, but we did not stay here much. My husband received a job offer in London which he accepted, and we decided to move in October.

Moving back to London

In September, I have also researched some online courses on Copperplate and flourishing. I found an interesting summit called Modern Calligraphy Summit 2.0, which I enrolled to and where Younghae from Logos calligraphy had a lesson on Copperplate. This way, I found out that she also teaches a Flourishing course online, which supposed to get started in October. Of course, I signed up to this one as well. Being enrolled in this course also made me decide to open a separate business account on Instagram, and I could share my practice. It has been a fascinating course and met some incredible calligraphy friends who we get in touch even now.

It took us some time to settle in London, and I continued to focus on my calligraphy practice. I had some ideas for some time that maybe I could turn this little hobby into a small business and earn some money. Nothing I knew how I could make this happen. It was just a dream in my head to do as a job what you love doing most… in my case was calligraphy.

The first job that I got paid as a calligrapher

And there comes a light, in mid-November I received an exciting email. I have been asked if I’ll be available to do event calligraphy on behalf of Paperblanks to personalise their journals in one of the biggest libraries in London for customers that purchased the journals. I screamed out loud because I wanted to do that. I was confident in my calligraphy skills but had no idea how I could charge for this type of job. I just trusted my gut and asked about £30/hour. Looking back, I know it was little, but I had no experience doing on-site events and the idea to get paid as a calligrapher made me the most excited in the world to go for it. It was an unforgettable experience, which also made me trust more that this hobby can be more than a hobby.

Calligraphy event: The first job as a calligrapher - live calligraphy personalising Paperblanks journals for customers at Waterstones Picadilly London (Nov, 2018)

Here comes 2019, and I was already thinking more seriously how I could make this happen. The beginning of the year kicked in with some painful experience for my husband and me, and I got lost for a few months. But this could not last forever, and I had to move on.

In March, a new email came into my inbox. I got asked again to do a similar calligraphy event I had in November for Paperblanks. What a happy moment when a client comes back to you. Of course, I accepted to do it again. In March 2019, I also enrolled in an online Copperplate Course with Nikolietta Calligraphy.

Officially becoming self-employed

At the beginning of April, I decided to register officially as a sole trader (self-employed) with the business name ‘PopnCo Creations’. I did not have any clear plans for what I wanted to achieve in the long term. I wanted to do almost everything from wedding invitations, commission artwork, to calligraphy events. I had some commissions, but most of the time, I would get ghosted after sending a quote to someone.

Apart from my Instagram account, I had no website, and in June, I decided to open an Etsy store where I had listed greeting cards, some prints, few place cards. As we lived in Greenwich, 5 minutes away from the famous Greenwich Market, I decided to give it a try and trade there. I went there 2-3 days a week, invested in a stand and did live personalisation right there in front of the customers, mostly on gift tags and cards. It was a pleasant experience as I made two amazing friends which I’ve been in contact until now, but quickly I realised this wouldn’t help me get new orders or make me grow.

My stand at Greenwich Market (July 2019)

More event calligraphy work

After the summer, I focused only on my Etsy store, attended more calligraphy courses, including an in-person one with Heather Victoria Held - a workshop organised by The European Pointed Pen Collective (EPPC) in London.

With Christmas approaching, few more event works came through, for Space NK and Manuscript Pen Company. Plus, another request from my contact at Paperblanks. This time, a different type of job, but equally exciting. I have been sent at home almost 200 Paperblanks diaries that I had to personalise with names on their cover and send back to them. The most exciting job I could ask for.

Event calligraphy: Christmas Gift tags calligraphy personalisation at Space NK (Dec, 2019)

Live demo: Calligraphy demo showcasing Manuscript products for curious customers (Dec, 2019)

Event calligraphy at Molton Brown Wesfield London personalising packaging around Valentine’s Day (Feb, 2020)

A new year - 2020

The start of the new year was busy for me with lots of workshops booked.

In January 2020, I decided to invest in a masterclass by Kirsten Burke aimed for enthusiastic amateurs and professional calligraphers that wish to be trained to do event work in the luxury market. Attending this masterclass, offered me the opportunity to do more event work on Valentine’s Day at Molton Brown on behalf of her company The Modern Calligraphy Co.

Also, I had few calligraphy workshops booked for the end of January and February and also started to learn a new skill - engraving. I enrolled in a new online course with Nikolietta Calligraphy, this time learning Spencerian. At the end of the month, I have also attended an in-person workshop with Paul Antonio learning Upright Italic. And in February, I attended an in-person workshop with Rachel Yallop, again organised by The European Pointed Pen Collective (EPPC) here in London, followed by an in-person gilding workshop with Toni Watts.

And then everything has stopped

I had more event work planned for Mother’s Day in March, but then COVID arrived in early March, and everything got cancelled once the lockdown has started. I took the time of isolation to reflect of my first year of business, and think of what I would do and change, plus I had some digital marketing courses already booked that I focused on completing. I did have moments when I felt like a failure, and thought that I should just give up, but I turned this mindset around and started to see my first year in business as a learning experience.

And here came another step I wanted to focus on – getting a website and showcasing the type of works that brings me the most joy. It took me a good few months to get my website ready but finally have launched it on August 25th. The website launch came with a business change as well - Uliana Popa Calligraphy Studio. And I have niched down on my offerings. Instead of trying to offer all the things for all the people, I am now aiming to do commission calligraphy artwork, some on the day wedding calligraphy, wedding vows, envelope addressing, calligraphy and engraving for events and personalised engraved gifts on various occasions.

Selling has been my main struggle, and I am aiming now to improving on this. I realised that my biggest mistake was that I focused too much on learning and improving my calligraphy skills by taking lots of courses, but didn’t pay enough attention to the marketing side. Being your boss is not easy at all; it comes with joys but also with fears and tears. But, this is a story for another day.

Thank you for reading this far, I hope you enjoy reading about my story, and if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below.