Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Bloom. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Letterpress is such an interesting line of work because, while there is so much history behind the craft, it can often be very difficult to find any clear written instructions. Typically one would learn through an apprenticeship. Now-a-days, those are much harder to come by, so many printers, myself included, have relied on other methods to bring ourselves up to speed on what some consider to be a “dying art.”

My education in letterpress has been a bit all over the place. For the past 7 or so years, I’ve scoured forums and facebook groups, had in-person lessons (workshops and private lessons at Spudnik Press in Chicago), and tinkered my way through understanding the inner workings of my presses.

The single most beneficial aspect of my education in letterpress printing has been the generosity of fellow printers. There is, unfortunately, no letterpress printing textbook. Sure, there are manuals, but you’ll be lucky to find a scan of one online that has all the information you need. Instead, you can find a breadth of knowledge on just about any aspect of letterpress printing on several corners of the internet. I spent many years quietly studying forums, bookmarking answers to questions I had myself, and internalizing every tip I came across on a letterpress facebook group. It wasn’t until I purchased my first floor model press (a Chandler & Price oldstyle platen press circa 1901) in 2021 that I finally worked up the courage to ask my own questions and seek out help for my own specific queries. With the exception of a few curmudgeons, I was completely shocked to discover the kindness and generosity of my peers; how quickly others jumped at the opportunity to share what they have learned through their years of experience.

Sometimes my questions would be totally naive. “What the heck is this mechanism attached to the body of my press?” Other times, I could approach with a bit more nuance. “When you’re setting up your plate for a die-cut job do you add in guidelines or use a template to help with registration?” Either way, I gain so much knowledge from the letterpress community any time I ask for it.

I’ve benefited so greatly from my fellow printers, and now I am so pleased to be able to pass along my knowledge to others. I’m chuffed anytime someone pops in my DMs with a question. It means I come off as someone who knows what they’re doing. With a craft that is so long-standing, but also a bit elusive, I think there is a pretty valid concern that these skills will die out as experienced printers close their shops. As long as we continue to share our knowledge with each other, I feel confident that the letterpress craft will be around for a very long time.

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?

When I first moved to Chicago after graduating with my BFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design, I didn’t really have much direction. I knew I had a deep desire to create images, and I bopped around with a few different printmaking methods all through college. A few months after moving, I took a one-day workshop in letterpress printing at Spudnik Press, a local printmaking cooperative. Finally, something clicked.

From there it was a steady journey with one big goal in mind: open my own letterpress studio. I started with a tabletop press that I printed on out of our tiny spare bedroom in Chicago. I also started renting time on the presses at Spudnik for larger format designs. In 2021, right as I was deciding to leave my full time graphic design job, I found a post on facebook for a platen press available in my home state of Wisconsin. It felt like fate, so after a few weeks of coordinating with the sellers, I moved my brand new (to me) press Betty into a studio space in my hometown of Racine, WI. For the next two years, I spent my Fridays making the hour-and-change commute up from Chicago to print. I started my first greeting card line, began printing business stationery for fellow creatives, and worked on learning new skills and processes.

In the fall of 2022, my fiancé and I moved from Chicago to South Bend, Indiana, where he is currently studying to get his PhD. My press and the rest of my studio contents came with. Since moving into my new studio space, I’ve started to prioritize my eye for design in my letterpress work. I know that my illustrative skills set me apart from many printers, and I realized I missed working those muscles with a lot of the text-based projects I was churning out. I still offer printing for businesses (things like business cards and thank you notes), but these days I am focusing my energy more towards custom design work. I’ve recently started offering wedding stationery, and I am so excited to have more opportunities to use my illustration skills in a process with so many possibilities.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Something I always seem to come back to is an Ira Glass monologue called “The Gap.” You can find audio of it on Youtube. I think as a creative professional, you are worrying about so much more than just keeping your business functioning. You also need to worry about protecting your creative energy. Nothing is more discouraging than feeling like your work isn’t up to your own standards. For me, this essay is an absolutely vital reminder every time I start to feel frustrated with my creative abilities.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I’ve heard a few iterations of the same notion across a lot of design communities, and it’s basically to just make the work you want to make. “If you build it, they will come” as Britt from Swell Press says. The idea is that if you create and show off the type of work you are interested in, that will attract the clients who are interested in that type of work. I think being able to enthusiastically share something you have created that you are proud of and that you believe in is the best way to get other people equally excited about your work.

Contact Info:

• Website: sarahbloomstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahbloomstudio/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahebloom/
• Other: TikTok: @sarahbloomstudio

Image Credits
Studio photography by Jacob Titus