Friday, December 19th
5:00-7:30pm
Ever wish you could be in the driver's seat when printing on a Risograph Digital Duplicator? This hands-on class is for you!
This introductory class will familiarize students with the process of printing with a Riso machine. Students will work together to practice the core functionality of a Risograph, including making a scannable collage, changing ink drums, and scanning their image to make a “master” stencil to print. After these practice exercises, students will create designs with pens, markers, cut paper, and collage to play with the values and textures that are unique to Riso. After one student prints multiple copies of their design in one color, another participant will scan their image and print over top in a complementary color. This exercise will demonstrate the unique transparencies of Risograph ink. Each student will leave with a stack of collaborative, 2-color prints to trade and an understanding of the medium.
All workshop materials are provided.
What’s Riso Printing? For those not familiar with “Riso,” it refers to prints made with a Risograph digital duplicator machine. A Risograph is like a cross between screen printing and using a photocopier. Like screen printing, colors are printed through a stencil, one at a time. Each color has its own drum, which is loaded into the machine before printing. An image can either be scanned or sent digitally to a Riso, which processes it into a “master.” This means that the design is burned into the thin, waxy paper that wraps around the drum, creating a stencil that ink is pushed out of. When it’s time to print, the Riso pulls paper out of the feeding tray and into the machine, where the drum rolls over it, transferring the ink through the stencil and onto the paper.
Erin Moore is a printmaker and book artist from Conshohocken, PA. Their artistic practice is research-based, working with found typography and images from queer archives. Their Risograph publications focus on the intersection between queer history, typography, and printed matter.
Moore has worked with Women’s Studio Workshop, Mullowney Printing Company, and Globe Collection and Press. Their work has been featured by Print Center New York, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum. They are currently based in Philadelphia, where they are the Education Coordinator with Second State Press.
