In this episode, we chat with James Tucker who, in 2013, founded the Aesthetic Union. James has an amazing background (including time spent on the presses at the infamous Hatch Printing!), and a love for exploring the art of printmaking beyond the surface of traditional techniques. He's also heavily inspired by the beauty in nature and landscapes. To hear more about mixing ink from soils, combining watercolor and letterpress, and a really exciting announcement for the Aesthetic Union, give this episode a listen!

Follow and support The Aesthetic Union:

www.theaestheticunion.com

Instagram: @theaestheticunion

Tik Tok: @theeastheticunion

Follow James: @jameslewistucker

Sometimes being a one-woman shop feels really limiting when it comes to how much you can "earn." However, more often than not, there's a way to expand your earnings with assets you have already worked on, acquired or built. 

While together in Minnesota, Jillian and Moriah sit down to brainstorm ways they can each leverage their own assets to create either passive income or additional offerings. 

The goal was to not reinvent the wheel, but take a look around at the things we've done and ask ourselves "is this there more I can get out of this?" 

We hope you enjoy a peek behind the curtain of how we're growing our businesses in real time, and hopefully this inspires you to take a look around and see if there are any opportunities to make a little more out of things you already own or do! 

Have an idea you'd like to share? Come join in on the convo over on Instagram! 

While on a field trip in Minnesota, we had the absolute pleasure of visiting Bruno Press and interviewing the kickass woman behind it, Mary Bruno. Mary came into letterpress thanks to her late father, Don, who was a college professor and printing enthusiast. He turned their modest-sized home garage into a printer's dreamland, and it's the same space Mary occupies today. Covered from top to bottom in posters, prints and photographs, the Bruno Press studio screams personality.

We're stoked to bring you this episode, so that you can learn a little more about Mary, all the cool things she's done, and inspire you to maybe consider a trip to the midwest where there is no shortage of phenomenal printers!

Support / follow Mary via her website www.mcbrunopress.com  or on instagram @brunopress

You can also support Hot Off the Press by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or subscribing wherever you listen! Follow us on instagram or check out our shop! 

Listen... we all need a little getaway sometimes, but that can feel really hard, or even scary, when the only person keeping your business going is you. As two fully solo entrepreneurs, we walk you through the steps we've learned to take to prepare our studios for planned (and unplanned) getaways. 

This episode was inspired by a question from one of our listeners. Do you have a question about letterpress or running a studio? Feel free to email it to [email protected] and we'll feature it on the pod! 

As always, we would love for you to leave us a review, or come on over to instagram and give us a follow! 

If you operate a platen press, knowing how to properly test and level your platen is a really handy skill to have! We're here to share the advice passed on to us from some of the kind souls we met at the LA Printers Fair, and walk you through the process of leveling that platen. 

Trust us... you can do it! Just be careful, and take your time! 

Resources:

A huge thank you to THANK YOU to Troy from Type High Groves (AMA #911) 

We firmly believe that if you're not on Etsy, you're leaving money on the table. However, if you're not paying attention to your real costs and the fees.. things can go wrong quickly! In this episode we cover the basics of setting up an Etsy shop, and how to make sure you don't fall victim to undercharging (Hint: Don't be looking at other shops!!). 

We mention it at the top of the episode, but we're not Etsy experts; just two gals who learned some things the hard way! If you're interested in solid Etsy education, here are a few resources we recommend: 

Free Etsy Workshop - Twocan (Carley Zuercher)

Thanks for tuning in, and as always, we would LOVE IT if you could leave us a 5 star review on apple podcasts, or come show us some love over on instagram

This is a conversation that we see, hear, and take part in A LOT: What kind of impression do you get on non-cotton cardstocks? Let's face it... in the world of cotton papers, the color selections are SLIM, and bright pops of pink or soothing shades of sage are an ever growing trend. So what options do we have? In this episode, we discuss our own experiments with colored cardstock and report back on what tips helped us the most to achieve the best impressions we could get. 

Do you have a favorite colored cardstock to print on? Did we miss it in our list? Join in on the convo via Instagram! 

 And if you're loving Hot Off the Press it would mean the WORLD to us if you can leave a 5 star review on apple, or share this episode with a friend/fellow printer! 

Happy Printing! 

It's easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of your business, and put boring, routine maintenance items to the back-burner. Scheduling some time to take care of your studio, machines, and electronic files will go a long way in supporting your success throughout the new year. In this episode we take 3 main areas of your paper business and discuss 3 things you can do to freshen them up for 2023! 

Tune in and let us know what you're doing to start the new year off on the right foot. We'll be discussing over on instagram! 

Resources: 

In this episode we discussed some inventory tracking systems, as well as taxes, and we have a few sources for both if you want to get started:

TAXES: 

We'd like to end this season with a little reflection back on our first full year as a podcast, as well as sharing our plans and process for preparing for the year that lies ahead. We're determined to make the most out of 2023, so if you need some inspiration for getting into the goal setting mood... look no further. 

Want to close out your year with some Hot Off the Press swag? Comment, DM or email us your big 2023 goals and we'll enter you into the last Printmas drawing! 

To all of our listeners, we cannot thank you enough. You have made this inaugural year better than we could have ever imagined. We love the community that we're joining and building simultaneously.

From your two letterpress buds... Have a happy holiday, and a fantastic new year! 

-Jillian and Moriah