What Is Riso?
Risograph is a stencil-based printing method famous for its tactile feel, bold bright colored inks, and affordability over larger print runs. The inks used are soy-based and create a print texture that is unmistakeably risograph, making them uniquely popular prints amongst artists and zine-makers.
The process is similar to screen printing – each color is printed one at a time meaning that the sheet will be passed through the printer as many times as there are colors in the print. Registration is never perfect using riso, but this tends to be one of the many charms of the method! The inks layer over top one another so there are infinite possibilities using relatively limited color palettes.
Riso can take two different types of inputs – scanned or digital. Whatever is scanned or sent to print will be printed in the color that is loaded into the machine. This means that to print a 2 color image, you will need to scan your two separate layers, or separate the two layers digitally. This requires some level of planning beforehand, and we are happy to help with that!
Ink / Riso Colours
At Print Hole we offer 5 colors for riso printing. The color swatches can be seen below.
Printing Area
We use a RISO SF9450 single-drum printer at Print Hole. The maximum print area for this machine is just under 11” x 17”. It is not possible to print full-bleed using riso so it is crucial to add bleed and trim marks if you require full bleed printing.
Printable Paper Sizes: 3.5” x 5.5” to 11” x 17”
Printable area aprox.: 10.75" x 16.75"
File Set-Up
To prepare your artwork for printing, you need to save each color layer as a separate grayscale file. All solid shapes, type and images should be set to Black (from 5% to 100% opacity).
If your project is full-bleed, include at least an 1/4 inch bleed area.
Please send us your work in PDF (High-res - 300-600 DPI), or Illustrator (package), PSD, Indesign (Package). Images in PDF must be JPEG, grayscale and 300dpi; no effects and no transparency.
Fonts cannot be smaller than 7pt and lines .5pt minimum.
Due to the quirks of Riso, avoid large areas of solid color (they should be at max 50% opacity). Be sure to send us a full color JPEG or PDF as a reference. If attempting to print large blocks for solid ink, coverage might vary slightly, and there may be differences in gradation.
Test Print
Running a test print or a proof is difficult because masters can’t be reused. For smaller scale projects, we can do a test print for an additional fee, and for larger projects like books, we can run a interior page and a cover test print if necessary for an additional fee.
Paper
60lb-100lb - 80lb Preferred.
Text Stock: must be between 60lb-100lb Text weight
Finish: Uncoated paper - Vellum or "Offset" finish preferred.
Riso can’t print glossy or coated paper.
Riso inks work on most uncoated papers, and do not work on any coated papers or tracing papers.
Printing Imperfections
Riso is prone to imperfections such as smudging, roller marks, misregistration and ink transfer. Many of these can be easily mitigated using proper planning and this can be discussed during your project!