Inside the Pressroom
A Conversation with Kseniya Thomas of Ladies of Letterpress & Thomas Printers
When we started Hot Off The Press, Kseniya Thomas was one of the very first names we scribbled onto our guest wishlist—right beside other icons we weren’t yet brave enough to contact. So when she joined us on the podcast, it felt a bit like a full-circle moment. And true to form, Kseniya came ready to share stories, wisdom, and plenty of candid real talk from her nearly two-decade journey as a commercial printer and co-founder of the beloved letterpress community, Ladies of Letterpress.
If you’ve ever wandered the digital aisles of the letterpress world, chances are you’ve stumbled upon Ladies of Letterpress. The website is part classifieds, part forum, part support group—and entirely built to uplift the printers who power our community, especially women. But behind the listings and message boards is a woman with a great story and a warm personality that represents the LOLP community as a whole: welcoming, friendly, and ‘all are welcome here’.
From English Major to Gutenberg Apprentice
After college, with an English degree in hand and no clear next steps, Kseniya threw darts at a wide array of opportunities—from dictionary companies to the Peace Corps. One of those darts landed her in Germany, where she participated in a cultural exchange program that placed her at the Gutenberg Museum's working print shop.
"It looked really pretty on the outside," she laughed, remembering her first glimpse of the type cases and presses. That curiosity soon snowballed into hands-on experience. Volunteers taught her how to set type and run presses. She returned home with a new passion—and practically no vocabulary for it. “I didn't even know what it was called in English,” she admitted.
Back stateside, she continued absorbing knowledge, including a stint in Austin, Texas, with Brad Hutchinson, making photopolymer plates and learning the ins and outs of Pantone matching and paper specs. Eventually, she landed in Pennsylvania, where she bought her first press—a 12x18 Chandler & Price—for just $150. It was, as she puts it, “kind of intense,” but it was the start of something big.
Building a Print Career—One Press at a Time
Over the years, Kseniya’s press lineup expanded. Today, she runs four presses out of her shop in Ogden, Utah: two Heidelbergs (one set up for foil), a 10x15 C&P, and a 8x12 C&P for classes and nostalgia. Like many of us, she found that letterpress printing slowly became not just a trade, but a way of life.
“I lived that way for 16 years,” she said of running a commercial print shop solo. “My goal was always to print a job a day.”
Kseniya’s daily driver is a windmill press she affectionately calls her “workhorse.” She bought it from Lead Graffiti in Delaware and, like many windmill owners, let it sit untouched for 18 months before finally being pushed into using it out of sheer necessity. “I always aimed to print a job a day,” she said. But it wasn’t until she truly embraced the capabilities of her windmill press that she realized how much time it could save. “It lets you be more human,” she told us, a sentiment echoed by so many of us solo printers, attempting to navigate the balance between making art and making dinner.
These days, she still runs custom jobs for clients and designs occasionally, but she’s also developing her own line of greeting cards and eyeing a foray into wholesale in 2025. “Having a kid really changes how you think about deadlines,” she said. The idea of selling from stocked inventory—rather than racing against the clock—is starting to look more appealing.
The Spark Behind Ladies of Letterpress
The origin of Ladies of Letterpress is as rooted in community as it is in craftsmanship. Back in the early 2000s, resources for printers—especially women—were hard to come by. Online forums existed, but many were gatekept or unfriendly to newcomers.
“There was a lot of newbie shaming,” Kseniya said. “I thought, ‘If we want the craft to grow, we need to be helping each other.’”
The spark for the organization truly ignited at a book arts festival, where she spotted a patch labeled “Ladies of Letterpress” at the University of Iowa’s table. That patch had been created by Jessica White, a fellow printmaker, and the two quickly connected. Together, they launched what would become a foundational resource and community space for letterpress printers.
While the name nods to its original intent—to support women in the industry—the group has always been inclusive. “It’s open to everyone,” Kseniya explained. “But we noticed that most new printers were women, and we wanted to create a place that supported them professionally and creatively.”
A Decade (and Then Some) of Conferences
One of the most impactful initiatives from Ladies of Letterpress has been its annual conference—a gathering of printers from across the country that began in 2010 in Asheville, North Carolina. The early events were lecture-based, with panels on copyright, community printshops, and digital setup. But as the years passed, the conference evolved into a more hands-on experience.
“We realized that people don’t just want to talk about printing. They want to do it,” Kseniya said. Workshops now include everything from file prep to advanced press maintenance, with a strong emphasis on peer-to-peer learning in a nonjudgmental environment.
The conference has bounced between locations over the years—from Asheville to rural Iowa’s Printer’s Hall, to St. Louis, Missouri. In 2025, it will return to Kseniya’s home turf in Salt Lake City. And for the first time in years, it will return to its roots with in-person, hands-on workshops.
“We’ve seen that letterpress printers love to expand into book arts, foil, even hand lettering,” she said. “So we’ll be offering workshops across the spectrum of print-related crafts.”
Taking the Pulse of the Industry
One of the more recent projects Kseniya and her team tackled was a major industry-wide survey—a follow-up to a similar effort they did a decade ago. With help from statistician Andy Luttrell, they analyzed more than 200 responses from printers across the country and presented their findings in a virtual event called the Letterpress Summit.
The results painted a complex picture. Most respondents reported having additional income sources, whether from a partner, a separate job, or another revenue stream like teaching or wholesale. Most also reported earning less than $25,000 a year solely from printing.
But among those earning more, there were three consistent factors: they owned windmill presses, accepted a wide variety of jobs, and had diversified their income through wholesale or product sales.
“You don’t get paid to email. You don’t get paid to order paper,” Kseniya reminded us. “You get paid per impression.”
The takeaway? Efficiency matters—but so does flexibility. The printers who build sustainable businesses are often those who invest in scalable equipment, stay nimble with the types of work they take on, and find ways to grow beyond custom client work.
No Gatekeeping Here
While printing might be Kseniya’s craft, mentorship is clearly her calling. Her approach is rooted in transparency, generosity, and a refusal to gatekeep.
That spirit of open sharing is exactly what sets Ladies of Letterpress apart—and what made Kseniya such a joy to have on the show. She’s not only an industry veteran but someone who’s still in the thick of it: troubleshooting foiling jobs on handmade paper, juggling parenting and print runs, and always willing to be “your gal” when things get messy.
In fact, years before this interview, Kseniya saved Moriah’s hide: a complicated foil job on handmade paper. “You had the gear. You had the experience. And you were just willing to figure it out,” we told her. That combination is what makes Kseniya not just a printer—but a pillar.
Looking Ahead
With the next Ladies of Letterpress conference on the horizon and a potential wholesale launch in the works, Kseniya shows no signs of slowing down. Whether she's wrenching on a windmill or posting in the forums, her commitment to the craft—and to the people who keep it alive—is unwavering.
We’re beyond grateful she joined us to share her story. If you’re new to letterpress, or even if you’ve been printing for decades, we can’t recommend Ladies of Letterpress enough as a go-to community. And if you’re the type who learns by doing, keep an eye out for the next conference—you can count on at least one of us being there!
Until then, keep inking, keep learning, and remember: there’s always time to be more human.
