Making: risography notes & tips

Riso Inks

The scan bed is fully functional
On off switch is to the right
Paper bed/load tray is to the left
Make sure the register marks are reset - bars need to be on the baseline
- If you are registering/using register stuff make sure you take a pic
There are two blue levers on the side of the paper tray - lift up to move the trays in and out (this basically is the paper tray sizer). This will reset/lock it in place
Take the paper output tray to the right
- long piece goes down first when putting it back
Anything that is blue - youre meant to fiddle with it
Open front to access ink, ink drum and ink tube
Master is sitting on the ink tube. There will always be a master around the drum. NEVER remove it manually unless there is an error
The button will be on when the ink drum is unlocked/not secure
To access the master role, click button on the right
Fees for masters - $3 per master, good up to 100 prints
Make sure you track your master/material usage to pay at the end of your slot

Select “interfacing” and “master making” on the riso
Select your files (assuming color channels are separated) and open it up in Preview. Hit CMD + print
- Making a note of any settings you change/etc so you can reference later
- Select paper size here
- Gray touch
Once you hit print, dont think about it too hard. It takes a minute to warm up and do it’s thing. Then it will shoot out 2 proofs.

Use settings panel on the left of panel
Sensitivity is self explanatory
“Photo” is what you want to use most of the time
Course and fine button - not lit up is grainy texture
Fine is a half tone pattern
Using fancy settings will print at 100% density
Ink saving doesnt do anything
✨Interface button needs to be on if youre printing from a computer
✨ master making must be selected after you prep your scan bed and settings. That will make the master when youre ready
You can use print position and density to adjust your image after master is made
- Print position can move your print

give your prints some time to settle without shuffling the stack too much
15-20 minutes. Test - take dry finger and push a bit to check smudging
- There are some rubber rollers when you load in paper. If heavy coverage in the center and not fully settled it will fuck up your prints
✨ You should check the rubber rollers before printing and wipe with a paper towel
- take a paper towel and spray simple green on it to wipe the rollers; clean one at a time but make sure you get both
- Just need to be sure it’s not super saturated with ink; doesn’t need to be super clean tbh kinda impossible to get it all
To take paper out, hold blue button above rubber rollers for a few seconds. This will lower the paper tray so you can remove paper
- It will automatically raise the paper tray when you load paper

1/4 (quarter of an inch) bleed
To get your files on computer, use USB drive. If you dont have one, there is a friendly thumb drive and a computer around the wall
Thinking ahead where you want colors
- Blending the two
- You can use the light table here
You may have to mess with density, opacity, and sensitivity of the scan
Cmyk approximation is also an option
You can download spectrolight (mac only) to do color separation, and preview from riso
Print lightest to heaviest coverage, or light to dark
Use “Levels” in photoshop or similar to make sure not to use 100% black

Never use coated papers!!
Lightest is 28lb comp paper
Heaviest is 80lb cover paper or else it will jam
Texture is actually a little better - surface area is better
- But not like…watercolor paper

First 5 prints are always the darkest! If your proofs are too light, it will be lighter etc.
- if youre trying to do registration, first print will always be off. So hit the “print” button on riso to get another to be sure. Print 2, look at the second one
- Always keep first 5 prints on top of your pile for reference
Always have extra prints/copies by 10% for margin of error
It does not like multiple papers in paper feed tray.
- Print all of one type of paper, then another