***About the Risograph***
Risograph is a print process which combines the best of digital and traditional print: a hand-made look and feel with the speed, low-cost and efficiency of a modern printer. Though it looks on the outside like a copy machine, the Risograph is not a copier. It is a duplicator with a process like screen printing. The Riso duplicator internally burns a wax paper stencil (a master) that is laid onto a drum filled with soy-based ink. The drum then spins at high speed, forcing the ink through the stencil onto the paper, where it is absorbed creating a unique look and texture.
How it works:
The Risograph SF 5130 has a single drum. We manually switch the colors to create color layers, therefore your image must be color separated. This can be done in separate Photoshop files, all set to grayscale. (The machine will deposit the most colored ink on the areas with the heaviest “black” information.) Or images can be printed directly from the scan bed, in solid colors with the opportunity for multiple color overlays.
Please provide high resolution (300-600 dpi) grayscale PDFs – one for each color of your project. The Riso will convert the gray values to halftones, so no need to do that ahead of time. If your project is full-bleed, include at least an 1/8 inch bleed area either embedded in the file or otherwise indicated. For books and booklets, provide your project in reading order.
We are capable of replicating full-color images using a faux-CMYK process using 3 or 4 inks to reproduce a more complete spectrum of color.
Risograph Printing always contains slight imperfections. These include:
- Smudging. Risograph ink is made from a combination of environmentally friendly soy oil, water and pigment, the prints are reminiscent of newspaper ink and it is possible to smudge the ink.
- Uneven coverage. Large flat areas of solid ink coverage are likely to show some slight variations, which can include pinholes and flooding.
- Registration. Riso is like screen printing in that each ink color is layered on separately. A single piece of paper will run through our machines several times for multi-color projects and the overlap of colors can be irregular.
- Tire marks. When a paper is fed through the machine multiple times and it is heavily inked, the paper feeder rollers may leave tire marks on the pages face or end sheets.
Much of this valuable information was written by Risolve Studio in southeastern Pennsylvania! Find more of their resources at risolvestudio.com.
Printing at Looky Here:
Paper size:
The smallest paper the Riso can print on is 4″ x 6″, and the largest paper it can print on is 11″ x 17″. However the print coverage maxes out at 8.5x
Paper Weight:
The thickness of the paper should be between 12 and 116 lbs.
Print Coverage: Though the printer can take paper up to 11×17″, the print coverage maxes out at 8 1/4″ x 14 1/16″ (about legal size).
*Note* At the moment, Looky Here does not keep paper in stock.
Paper can be bought locally at Baker Office Supply on Main Street, Greenfield
Or online at various sources. We like to use the beautful colored paper of The French Paper Company, a recycled paper manufacturer in Michigan
To order prints:
Looky Here is volunteer run, and those trained to use our Risograph Printer are members of the Looky Here Risograph Club. If you are not a club member, you can hire a club member to make your print for you!
Cost:
$3 per master (The wax paper screen that your image is burned onto. A 4 color print will use 4 masters= $12)
.02 Cents per color per page
$40 an hour for set up and print labor. (Even if you set up your own files on Photoshop, a Looky Here member will have to send each of your pages through the machine multiple times, manually switch color drums and trouble shoot.)
$60 an hour for Printing Lessons. To become a Looky Here Riso Club member, you must be trained to operate the machine. These lessons can be individual or group lessons, and can be tailored to your project needs.
$15 an hour Riso Club Printing. Members of the Looky Here Riso club can schedule blocks of time to use the Risograph.
If you are interested in ordering Riso prints, or joining the Riso Club please email lookyheregreenfield@gmail.com
Looky Here currently has 4 colors of ink:
Black, Teal, Yellow and Fluorescent Pink.
Though not 100% acurate, these ink colors can be translated to these HEX#s for creating a Photoshop proof.
yellow- ffe800 teal- 00838a pink- ff48b0
To see how these colors will blend on paper, be sure to set each channel to “multiply”
You will want to make a separate layer for each of the ink colors. You can do this by copy and pasting the “color channels” from CMYK into new layers in grayscale. *Note that you may need to darken these images once they are converted so that your darkest yellows are the blackest black.
Teal Layer (grayscale)
