Introduction
Basic Functions
Imperfections
Image on Riso
Print Strategies
Color Separation
File Delivery
Inks We Stock
Planning for Riso
Binding Styles
Paper Options
Printing With Us
Turnaround
Studio Tools
A collection of printing F.A.Q's and accomodations in TXTbooks' studio.
Updated Jan. 2020.
Introduction
What The Hell Is A Risograph?
A Risograph printer is more or less a cross between a copy machine and a silkscreen press. It uses liquid ink drums as spot colors to create 1-color duplications at high speeds.
The Risograph is a business machine that has been repurposed by the arts community. We use it in ways it was never intended to create printed material that the machine’s original target consumer would never seek out. Arguably, riso is the punkest form of printmaking.
What is Risograph Good At?
• It's good at making a lot of the same thing very fast.
• It's good at making beautiful and saturated colors you can't get in other accessible forms of printmaking.
• It's good at heavily aestheticizing your work. It's good at feeling inherently special.
What is Risograph Bad At?
• It's bad at perfect representation of image (though it always looks good). It's bad at perfectly precise color registration (though it's always charming).
• It's bad at 100% batch consistency (though it's always close).
• It's bad at small-batch and individual sheet printing (though if you really want to just print one, you can always do it).
How does a Risograph work?
1) We send a single page from your PDF to the printer.
2) The printer reads the file's greyscale values.
3) The printer creates a thermal "master," akin to a silk screen, and wraps it around the color drum.
4) The printer pulls a sheet of paper from the paper feed tray into the machine.
5) The color drum rotates as the paper is fed through the machine, leaving a color "impression" on the sheet of paper.
6) The paper exits the machine in a stack.
7) we repeat steps 1-6 for each color on each page of the entire project.
Not Laser?
Unlike a laser or inkjet printer, you can't just hit print, walk away, and come back to a fully printed and finished book. Everything is done by hand, one at a time. It's a process, to say the least.
What The Hell Is A Risograph?
A Risograph printer is more or less a cross between a copy machine and a silkscreen press. It uses liquid ink drums as spot colors to create 1-color duplications at high speeds.
The Risograph is a business machine that has been repurposed by the arts community. We use it in ways it was never intended to create printed material that the machine’s original target consumer would never seek out. Arguably, riso is the punkest form of printmaking.
What The Hell Is A Risograph?
A Risograph printer is more or less a cross between a copy machine and a silkscreen press. It uses liquid ink drums as spot colors to create 1-color duplications at high speeds.
The Risograph is a business machine that has been repurposed by the arts community. We use it in ways it was never intended to create printed material that the machine’s original target consumer would never seek out. Arguably, riso is the punkest form of printmaking.
Introduction
Riso: It's Not Perfect?
The Risograph is inherently imperfect and in our eyes it's part of its charm. Color can shift in approximation of an image [A]. Multiple colors will not align to each other perfectly[B]. Color coverage can vary across large patches of ink [C]. Paper can smudge on contact with rollers or other sheets (especially with higher ink densities) [D]. Images close to the edge of the sheet can have difficulty filling in [E]. The image can skew from front to back & ETC, ETC, ETC.
