Get-To-Know: Fran Shea of Zeichen Press

PHOTO: Jen Shea (L) and Fran Shea (R) of Zeichen Press

Zeichen Press, Established in 2006
Minneapolis, MN USA

When people ask you what you do, how do you describe yourself?
Designer & letterpress printer

Tell us about your shop. What is your setup? What equipment do you have? Is it just you?
My sister-in-law, Jen Shea is my partner. We also have had various interns over the years but have settled on one, affectionately called #oldestintern. We have a C&P NS, a Reprex Proof Press, a Heidelberg Windmill, double type cabinet, various other type cabinets of lead and wood type. My converted two-car garage is Zeichen Press HQ.

What originally drew you to letterpress? Who were your mentors along the way?
I saw presses at the Minnesota Center For Book Arts in 1995 - that stuck with me. The (long-dead) Polk brothers wrote a textbook entitled The Practice of Printing, I give it four stars.

Tell us about your current business. Who are your main clientele and what are they asking you to design/print?
We have just stuck to our line of greeting cards for the last several years.

How has your business changed over the last few years? How do you expect it to change moving forward?
After years of working on custom projects for clients, we have settled into just working on our own line. Our goal is world domination.

Tell us about your creative process. What is it like for you to take an idea from concept to production?
The greeting cards all start with an image - usually a vintage advertising cut/block. I write a line and design from that, lock it up, pull a proof, scan the proof, and send as a PDF to Owosso to make a copper plate that Jen uses to print.

Who and/or what inspires you? Where do you look for inspiration when you're stuck?
For our custom work, just good design and vintage advertising posters.

What is your most frequent challenge when printing a job? (eg. registration, impression, coverage, etc)
Getting even ink coverage on large solid areas.

Tell us about one of your more challenging print jobs.
We printed a CMYK photo for a Tanek Christmas card. (See it on our portfolio page: https://zeichenpress.com/portfolio/)

Tell us about one of your favorite print jobs.
Prints for Room & Board. FANCY. (See them on our portfolio page: https://zeichenpress.com/portfolio/)

What's one thing you wished you learned faster when you were just getting started?
All the fine tuning adjutants available on the C&P.

What other advice do you have for aspiring printers?
Love printing and learning and don't be afraid to get oily and inky.

If you could add anything to your shop today, what would it be? Why?
It would be a paper folder for heavy stock...

What is your letterpress superpower?
There is only one way to find out! https://zeichenpress.com/product-category/greeting-cards/

Favorite Press: We love our Chandler & Price NS. Total workhorse.
Favorite Typeface: I love a condensed bold Futura, but a lot of sans serif is usually nice.
Favorite Paper: We *do* love Crane's cotton Lettra... a heavy weight.

Visit Fran and Jen and see more of their work at: zeichenpress.com