Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any letterpress studio, community print workshop, printing museum, type foundry, press maker or brand, paper or ink supplier, arts centre, college, council, heritage body, heritage funder, sponsor, school or community organisation. Nothing here is legal, historical, conservation, machinery safety, tool safety, first aid, health and safety, safeguarding, bereavement, copyright, trade mark, photography permission or employment advice; check your own studio's guidance on gifts, photos, the presses, children and people's details.
It's a Thursday evening in a community letterpress studio in the back of an old stationer's shop, and a volunteer called Ines is standing at a tall wooden cabinet with one drawer pulled out. The drawer is a type case, divided into dozens of little compartments, each holding a different letter of the same typeface. In her left hand she holds a composing stick, and with her right she picks the letters one by one, upside down and back to front, setting the line "THANK YOU" for a group of beginners who are watching over her shoulder. "Mind your p's and q's," she says, and holds them up so everyone can see why the phrase exists. Across the room another volunteer, Malcolm, is inking the rollers of a small platen press, the ink spreading with a soft hiss, while a teenager feeds a card into the guides and pulls the handle. The print comes out crisp, the letters pressed slightly into the paper. Everyone in the room wants to touch it.
None of the people who keep the studio running are paid for that part. Ines was a graphic designer and found the studio when she wanted to work with her hands again. Malcolm was apprenticed as a compositor at sixteen, watched his trade disappear, and now teaches it every week. Someone else cleans the rollers, someone sorts the "pied" type that a beginner dropped, someone runs the bookings, and somebody spent two years raising money to rescue the presses from a closing print works.
If you want to say thank you to people like Ines and Malcolm, this is a guide to doing it well, with or without a puzzle.
Who we mean
Letterpress studios and community print workshops are kept going by many volunteers: the printers and tutors who run sessions, the compositors who set type and look after the cases, the press keepers who oil, adjust and repair the machines, the people who sort and distribute type, the archive volunteers who catalogue old specimen books and wood type, the education volunteers who host schools and youth groups, the event helpers at open studios and print fairs, the shop and front-desk volunteers, and the trustees and founders who found a home for the presses in the first place. Some studios sit inside printing museums or colleges; some are small independent co-ops. This guide is for all of them.
Words first
Before anything else, write what you want to say. The best thank-yous are specific: the first poster your son printed with his own name on it, the evening someone showed you how to lock up a forme, the time a tutor stayed late to help you finish wedding invitations. A gift is a way of carrying those words; it is not a substitute for them.
The presses, the type and the people come first
A letterpress studio has heavy machines with moving parts, solvents for cleaning, and lead type that should be handled with care and hands washed afterwards. If you take a photo, never lean into a press or reach near rollers, never distract someone who is printing, and follow what the volunteers tell you about where to stand, children and handling type. A good photo is never worth an accident.
A trade that shaped how we read
For about five hundred years, most of the words people read were set by hand or machine from metal or wooden type and printed on a press. Compositors, printers and binders worked in every town, producing newspapers, posters, tickets, timetables, books and wedding stationery. Phrases like "upper case", "lower case", "out of sorts" and "mind your p's and q's" come from the composing room. When offset printing and then computers arrived, the old trade shrank within a generation. Studios and their volunteers keep both the skill and the feeling of it alive.
An honest word about the past
Heritage is not only nostalgia, and good volunteers know it. Printing could be hard and unhealthy work, with long hours, lead dust and solvents, and apprentices who were often very young. Composing rooms were sometimes closed to women and to people from certain backgrounds, and the end of hot metal printing brought bitter disputes and lost livelihoods. Presses also printed propaganda and things meant to harm. A thank-you doesn't need to cover any of this, but it helps to know that the people you're thanking often carry these stories carefully.
When to send it
The end of a course or a term of workshops, after an open studio or a print fair, a school "how books are made" week, the anniversary of the studio opening, the day a restored press prints for the first time, or when a long-serving tutor sets their last line.
Why a jigsaw can fit
A photo jigsaw gives someone a picture of what they made possible, and a few quiet minutes to look at it piece by piece. A letterpress studio is full of good subjects: a type case with its rows of tiny compartments, big wooden poster letters in a tray, a freshly inked forme locked in the chase, a stack of printed cards drying, the iron curves of an old platen or cylinder press, a compositor's hands at the stick. The note appears when the last piece clicks in, so your words are the last thing they see.
For the printers and tutors
These are the volunteers beginners remember: the person who stands beside you while you pull your first print. A photo of something printed in their class, with permission from whoever printed it, can mean a lot. A note that names one thing you learned, such as "I finally understand what kerning is", tells them the lesson landed.
For the compositors and type sorters
Someone keeps every case in order and puts back the letters that end up in the wrong compartments. Someone patiently sorts a tray of "pie", the jumbled type that a dropped forme leaves behind. Visitors rarely see this work. A photo of a well-kept type case tells them that you noticed the care behind every session.
For the press keepers
Old presses need oiling, adjusting, new rollers and occasional rescue. The press keepers are often retired engineers or printers, and they know each machine's habits. A thank-you that names the press they brought back to life is the kind they remember.
For the archive volunteers
Somebody catalogues the specimen books, labels the drawers of wood type and records the stories of local printers. A puzzle of an old photograph or a specimen page from the archive, used with permission, can be a lovely way to thank them, as long as the image is theirs to share.
For the education volunteers
School and youth group visits to a print studio are hands-on, inky and memorable. A class thank-you, perhaps a child's own print turned into a small puzzle, or a group photo taken safely, can go back to the volunteers who hosted them. Check your school's photo rules first.
For the open studio and fair volunteers
Open studios and print fairs need people to set up tables, run demonstrations, look after the cash box and pack the stock away at the end. A photo of the busy room on the day, with permission from anyone recognisable, says thank you for the whole effort.
For the shop and front-desk volunteers
They welcome everyone, sell the cards and posters, answer the same questions about booking a course and make the tea. A short, specific note about how they made your visit easy goes a long way.
For the trustees and the founders
Somebody heard that the presses were going for scrap, found a van, a building and a grant, and spent years getting the studio open. A photo of the studio as it is now, presses inked and people printing, can be a moving thank-you for the people who made that happen.
When a long-serving volunteer steps down
For someone who has taught every Thursday for fifteen years, a larger puzzle with a meaningful photo, such as the press they kept running or a poster they printed, gives them something to spend time with. Ask others whether they'd like to add their names to the note.
In memory of a volunteer
If the studio has lost a much-loved printer or tutor, a puzzle for their family with a photo of them at the press, or of their favourite type case, can be a gentle gift. Ask the family first, keep the note simple, and understand if they would prefer something else.
Not just in one country
Letterpress lives on around the world. There are community studios and printing museums in Britain and Ireland, the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp and the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, wood type collections like the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Wisconsin, studios across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and small presses in Latin America, Japan and India where people still set type by hand. Wherever you are, "thank you for teaching me to print" needs no translation.
Photo ideas and consent
- a type case drawer with its rows of compartments
- large wooden poster letters in a tray
- a freshly inked forme locked in the chase
- a compositor's hands setting a line in the stick
- a stack of printed cards or posters drying
- the curves of an old platen or cylinder press
- the studio from the door, lamps on and people printing
- a child's first print with their name in it
Ask the people in the photo before you use it, and ask the studio before using photos of their presses, collection or archive. Keep visitors, children, records and anyone's details out of the frame, and remember that some prints, such as wedding invitations, may be private to the people they belong to.
Getting the JPG right
Use a JPG, sharp and well lit. Studios can be dim and metal type is reflective, so move to a window or under a work lamp, avoid flash glare on the type, and hold the phone steady. A single wooden letter makes an easier puzzle; a busy type case makes a harder but satisfying one. Crop to the part that matters.
Privacy and an optional PIN
Puzzlify puzzles are private links. You can add an optional PIN so only the person you send it to can open it. Photos aren't used to train AI and aren't shared with third parties.
Say it's from you
Put your name, or your family's, in the note at the end so they know who sent it. A puzzle that ends with "from the Year 6 class who can now spell backwards" is a thank-you, not a mystery.
Piece counts
| Pieces | Photo idea | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | a child's first print | a quick solve, or a child's thank-you |
| 48 | one big wooden letter | one clear subject, a relaxed solve |
| 80 | hands setting type in the stick | a busier image with lots of detail |
| 130 | a full type case drawer | a detailed photo for a keen puzzler |
| 252 | the whole studio with presses running | a long, slow solve for a long-serving volunteer |
| 48 or 80 | the rescued press | a warm thank-you for the founders and the trustees |
How to send it
Make the puzzle, write the note, publish the link, and send it by email or message, or print the link as a QR code inside a card, perhaps one you printed yourself at the studio. The recipient doesn't need an account or an app; it plays in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer.
Note examples
- "Thank you for every Thursday at the press, and for your patience with my pie."
- "Dad hadn't touched a composing stick in forty years. Thank you for giving him that evening."
- "You made the old presses sing again. From all of us, thank you."
- "We'll never look at a capital letter the same way. Thank you for showing us why."
Honest pricing
The preview is free, so you can see how it looks before deciding anything. Publishing the link costs one credit (€3.99), or less per puzzle with a bundle. It's a digital puzzle, not a printed one, so nothing arrives in the post. If a hand-printed card and a few sentences feel like enough, they are.
Ideas that are not a puzzle
- a handwritten card, or better still one you printed at the studio
- a short message to the studio's coordinator naming the volunteer, so it reaches them
- a donation to the studio in their name, perhaps towards new rollers or a type case
- an offer of your own time: sorting type, the front desk, an open studio or the archive
- an old printed item or a family memory of a local printer, offered to the archive if they'd like it
If a photo puzzle feels right as well, choose the type, the press, the hands or the studio, take it safely with permission, keep children, visitors and anyone's details out of the frame, pick a piece count that suits them, and write the note in your own words. You can make a free preview here and decide later whether to send it.
Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you, written to the person who sets the line, who keeps the old press turning, and who lets a beginner feel what printing once meant, one letter, one piece at a time.
Written by the small team behind Puzzlify (info@puzzlify.app). Not legal, historical, conservation, machinery safety, tool safety, first aid, health and safety, safeguarding, bereavement, copyright, trade mark, photography permission or employment advice. Check your own studio's guidance on gifts, photos, the presses, children and people's details.