Riso Printing Service

Here at Inky Fruit we love the vibrant colours and half-tone textures of Riso. The process of lining up the layers and blending the colours is something we could spend hours doing. Archie and Rhi have. They can’t be stopped.

We've decided to open up our Riso for outsource printing, meaning that you can experience the tasty textures in your own art!

Email: inkyfruitco@gmail.com

 

Our riso service is being finalised! Drop us an email expressing interest and we'll let you know when we've plugged it in! 

 

What is Risograph?

Risograph printers begin by creating a master of a colour layer onto master film, then uses a massive drum of ink to force the colour through that master. Think of the master like a template or stencil, and you’re telling the printer to put colour in the bits left exposed. Do this for every colour layer, and you’ve got a finished print!

Printing in this way, manipulating the opacity, ink colours, and half-tone dots allows for some fantastic blends of colour, gradient, and texture. The finished products are vibrant and tactile, giving your art an eye catching and satisfying finish.

Why outsource?

Riso printers are expensive, and that’s before you’ve bought the drums of ink. It’s also a fair amount of work, involving a good amount of setup. You’ve got to split your colour layers properly, plan the print order of those layers, change the heavy ink drums out, line up the next layer’s registration, and repeat until it’s done. You’ve got to be passionate about the medium to have your own set up.

Luckily, we at Inky Fruit have spent years saying that operating an inkjet isn't enough of a temperamental workout. Our Riso operators could do this in their sleep. I think they might have done. Archie and Rhi are some of the biggest Riso nerds in the country, and their love of the process is one of the things that made us want to offer our printer to the wider world.

 

Risograph vs regular printing.

Commonly, digital art will be printed using Inkjet or Laserjet printing. These methods are cheaper, and will print your art as accurately as the printer is able. Home printers are generally lower resolution and quality than commercial printers. Images are usually flat to the touch, with no texture. These print methods also lack the vibrancy of Riso. This is especially clear in the fluorescents, where Riso ink knocks these other methods out of the park. Noodles, our photographer, wishes there was a way for a screen to accurately display how good fluorescent pink Riso ink looks.

Riso is known for its half-tone dots. These are very fine matrices of dots that, at a distance, allow for gradient shifts and dithering. Up close they just look cool. Our MZ can print up to 200 Lines per Inch (LPI), giving a crisp image.

So what do we actually do?

Our service begins with a consultation, in which Archie or Rhi will chat to you in more detail about their process, and answer any questions you have. You’ll also receive one of our print samples in the post, so you can see how good the process looks in person. Once you’re happy with the look, we can quote the final price (see below for rough cost breakdowns).

Our Riso is currently capable of printing CMYK… ish. The colours of our ink drums match closely the colours present in CMYK, with some slight variance. Our drums are Black, Cyan, Flourescent Pink, and Yellow. See here for what those colours look like! Printing in this manner will make your colours look very slightly off if you’re just sending an existing digital file. We’ll chat about this in the consultation, and can give you a rough idea of what your art will look like printed!

Once you’re feeling confident about the outcome, we get to printing. We handle all the layer splitting and print planning, as well as the operation of the machine. Rhi and Archie have 10 years of experience between them, so we tend to just let them get on with it.

We print on a3 paper, which can then be cut to size (we can do that too, if you like!). For example: If you’re after 80 a5 prints, the print run is 20 sheets of a3. This streamlines the process on our end, and saves us having to change the paper size for each new print job. It’s also more economical in general. We also have a few different paper colours and finishes for you to choose from!

After the print run is completed, we send the art to you. We can cut it in house, or send you the uncut a3 sheets to trim yourself. We can also send any mis-prints, free of charge.

 

How much does it cost?

Prices vary slightly depending on the complexity of the job, but as a broad stroke, we structure our pricing based on the following:

£15 consultation fee (plus an additional £5 per additional print): This covers an in-depth conversation with our Riso operators, and a digital mock-up of your print using our Riso colours. The initial cost is £15 for the consult and one print job. If you’re printing multiple pieces with us, each additional mock-up costs £5. If you’re a repeat customer who doesn’t need the whole consult, we may waive the initial consult fee, leaving only the £5 per mock-up cost.

£3 per master: That’s the template/stencil we mentioned all the way at the top of the article. Each colour layer requires a new master, and these are single use only.

Printing at 80p per colour, per sheet of a3: If you’re printing 80 a5 prints with black line art only, that’s one colour and 20 sheets, giving you something in the region of £16 for the print run. If you’re putting flourescent pink under that line art, that’s two colours and a cost of around £32.

20p per sheet of a3 Trimming service: The 80 a5 prints print job would require trimming of 20 sheets, giving it a cost of around £4.

Shipping, calculated on a case-by case basis: We’re based in the UK, and are attempting to navigate the current international shipping landscape while remaining as calm as possible.

So to total up, the “80 a5 prints in black and flourescent pink” print run we’ve been using as a placeholder would cost somewhere in the region of £53, or £57 if you want us to trim them for you, plus shipping. This works out at roughly 67p per print! This will vary slightly depending on complexity, and will be discussed when we work out a quote in the consultation phase.

There is no obligation to print with us if you’re not feeling it! The only thing you’d pay for is the consultation.

 

That’s pretty much it!

If the idea of Riso excites but eludes you, we’re more than happy to help! Drop us an email expressing your interest and we’ll get back to you to set up the initial consult. We look forward to collaborating! Especially Archie and Rhi! They want to print!