When calligraphers Julie Mancini and Meg Chaloner first met at a wedding expo, they found that they shared a passion for the art that went above and beyond the weddings they were working. Although they were hesitant about branching out from the bridal business and taking a swing at entrepreneurship, they organized a class...and when 60 women signed up for a one-off holiday envelope calligraphy session, it was on.
“After that class, it was people asking when Valentine’s Day class was, so it happened by accident,” Mancini told Dailybreak. “It wasn’t really until a year later that we found that ‘something special,’ and we had to actually phase out of weddings and brides and put more focus on Sip & Script.”
Thus Sip & Script was born. Mancini, Chaloner and their three instructors post up at local venues -- I visited Albertine Press in Cambridge, Mass. -- and teach beginner calligraphy classes, complete with tracing paper, guides, an inkwell and pens with two nibs (the metal ends that go on calligrapher pens) for attendees to keep.
“We want people to take it home with them and practice,” Mancini said. “We want people doing this as a side hustle, we encourage it. We have a PDF [on our site] of how to set up your own business because we think it’s awesome.”
But before Sip & Script, Mancini said she started calligraphy like anyone else: She picked up a pen and practiced.
“I taught myself on YouTube late at night when my babies were sleeping, because I needed a creative outlet,” she said. “That year, I did 50 weddings.”
Mancini credits word of mouth and social media for turning her hobby into a career, since she really had to let people know about her talent in order to book jobs.
“Just putting yourself out there was the biggest thing, because you could keep this beautiful hobby to yourself and write every night, [but] if I didn’t tell anyone about it, I definitely wouldn’t be here,” she said.
Likewise, instructor Jess Glazier said that social media is big for creative careers like calligraphy. After seeing a friend’s work on Instagram, she decided to go for it and teach herself the art.
“Social media has really helped to bring it back. Calligraphy is considered a lost art, a dead art, but I think that people are starting to see the beauty in it,” she said.
Just from an hour of practicing script letters at a Sip & Script intro class, I can definitely get on board with that. It’s an art that may not be at the top of everyone’s mind, but the draw is there, and Mancini and Glazier assured me that there’s much more a career in calligraphy can yield than just wedding invitations -- there’s actually a lot of corporate work involved.
“Julie and I both worked with Tiffany and Co., going in and doing custom greeting cards and custom tags, and you can do a lot of lettering, like chalk lettering, so you can switch up your medium,” Glazier said.
“Fresh Cosmetics wanted me to do the windows for some of their displays,” Mancini added. “It’s such a nice art form; you can do anything with it.”
The next step for Mancini and Chaloner is expansion, and not only does that mean more classes (they’re hoping to spread outside of New England) but also the introduction of a class for children.
“Right now we have three teachers, and it’s turning into a little empire,” Julie said. “It looks like we’re going to be starting a kids program, Inkbop -- because you can’t call it Sip & Script.”
Interested in taking up calligraphy yourself? Take it from the experts and just do it.
“Everybody’s so stuck in their phones or their iPads or what’s going on in the world, which is great, but at the same time it’s also nice to have that time where you’re just by yourself or with a few people, whether it’s in a class or at your own house, to just create something really pretty that you did,” Glazier said. “That personal touch makes it so special. It’s like your quiet time.”
I know that I, armed with my new calligraphy pen, will be Pinterest-ing tons of stuff for the upcoming holidays.
Mancini added that the noncommittal aspect of calligraphy is a draw for a lot of people.
“It’s not an investment. All you need is a nib, a little bit of ink and you can make such pretty stuff,” she explained. “It’s nice because you don’t need a lot of stuff -- you don’t need to throw away your life savings to think that maybe I can be a calligrapher. You just try it.”