We were lucky to catch up with Karen Sanford recently and have shared our conversation below.

Karen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had started sooner?

I am just starting within the past two years to start my creative career. I have worked in the office environment for about 25 years. This has been my main employment for the duration but it has not truly been fulfilling my creative side. If I had started with calligraphy (particularly with special events) sooner, I would have found it to be truly satisfying. It is my passion. The biggest holdup was me making up my mind to take it seriously as an occupation. I did create special gifts for friends and family from time to time but mostly it was nonprofit.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a self taught calligrapher who started with this craft at age 11. I received my first calligraphy marker gift box as a gift from my favorite grandmother. I am unclear as to how she knew that I would take this craft seriously. I am eternally grateful to her for this gift and I know she would be proud of me. I have developed a true passion for it and never tire from constantly learning more about it.

I really enjoy providing unique elegant touches for special occasions, particularly weddings. This includes signage pieces such as welcome signs, seating charts, place cards, wedding vows, and table numbers. Envelope addressing or creating invitations are also services that I can provide. Recently, I took up personalized engraving services for custom requests for perfume bottles, framed works and wearable art.

Calligraphy adds that extra pizzazz that cannot be ignored when one is planning their celebration or even in daily life. I pride myself in carefully taking time to create a quality product by my own hand. In this world of digitization, it is a unique talent to create something handwritten that can be a keepsake for one’s memories that can last a lifetime.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I knew that there were fellow calligraphers who knew the ins and outs of networking to help take this from a craft into a full-time career. I am now connected with some professional calligraphers who are educating anyone who is serious about their craft and how to market themselves.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think that non-creatives do not understand how much “blood, sweat and tears” first go into learning this skill. There are so many hours and finances that are needed to invest in quality products such as the paper, writing tools, etc. I have observed that at times people think they can just request what they want and they have no concept on its worth. Often, they balk on what it should cost them financially but if the shoe was on the other foot – they would understand.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @madewriteforyou
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-sanford-b628b28b/

Image Credits

Julio Anthony Figueroa