RISO is a Japanese brand of duplicators and printers. When people talk about risographs, they usually refer to the duplicator series of printers. They are quick, easy and cheap to print from and perfect for mass printing.
The RISO machine itself looks kind of dull, almost like a big old copier. And that is, because in some ways, it is.
The RISO technology is actually a digital stencil machine. Stencil duplicators were the predecessor to modern copy machines.
The RISO was originally used in office environments, schools, churches, sporting clubs and political parties to quickly print multiple copies. Whether those were announcements, letters, pamphlets, or posters, the RISO did it all fast and at a low cost.
Later on, it was picked up by artists and creatives to print zines. To whom it was attractive due to its low cost and lo-fi charm and analogue look.
The ink in the RISO machine is made from the byproducts of rice farming. The machine itself doesn’t have a heating element to dry the ink, which makes it more energy efficient.
Both of these aspects make the RISO technique a more eco-friendly option for your print work, compared to most other conventional printing methods.
However, take this with a grain of salt and consider the ecological impact of your print jobs.
Because of the stencil-based nature of the RISO printing process, it is well suited to print multiples of the same print.
The cost of the Master sheets would not really make sense to print a single copy of anything.
SO-RI suggests printing posters, flyers, zines and artist editions for the RISO technique to be an affordable and charming way to present your work or advertise your company, organisation or event.
RISO printing is known for its lo-fi charm, so be sure to expect a lot of small and large imperfections.
Because we feed our paper through the machine multiple times for multi-colour prints, the paper tends to move a bit in between each colour. The drums aren’t accurate either and might be slightly off-kilt compared to another colour drum. Registration marks will not consistently line up.
Smudge marks from handling the paper quite often appear. Roller marks from the machine and ink residue from other inked paper might be visible. Most smudges and ink spots can simply be rubbed away with a rubber gum, just make sure not to rub over any inked areas. Try to avoid large inked areas in your design to avoid a lot of smudges.
If you are printing larger areas, that are fully, or almost fully inked, the ink might not cover the whole surface or the ink might show some weird textures (waves, smudges, etc.)
If you’re not willing to deal with imperfections, smudges and misalignments, RISO printing might not be the right thing for this print job.
SO-RI has 20 colour drums to choose from. Please note that these are not your typical CMYK colours and that RISO requires a completely different mindset to work with.
To figure out the workflow of prepping your files for graphical work, illustrations or photography, check out the “File preparation” page: LINK.
Use these hex codes in your favourite software to approximate the RISO ink colours. Don’t forget that screens can’t reproduce all colours accurately.
Colours which are crossed out, are colours which are currently not working, or are being transitioned into another colour.
Flat Gold | フラットゴールド
Brown | ブラウン
Burgundy | バーガンディーレッド
Bisque | ビスク
Fluorescent Pink | 蛍光ピンク
Red | レッド
Orange | オレンジ
Sunflower | ひまわりの黄色
Yellow | イエロー
Fluorescent Green | 蛍光グリーン
Green | グリーン
Hunter Green | ハンターグリーン
Teal | ティールグリーソ
Aqua | アクア
Blue | ブルー
Medium Blue | ミディアムブルー
Violet | ヴァイオレット
Purple | パープル
Light Grey | ライトグレー
Black | ブラック
To print a colour, you need an ink drum. Each colour is stored in its own drum, which is a piece of hardware, which holds an ink tube, a master stencil and eventually imprints an image onto your paper.
Because each drum holds only one colour, and our machine prints with only two drums at a time, printing more than two colours requires you to change out the drums and send the paper through the machine multiple times.
Because the master stencil is stuck to the drum, each additional colour will require a freshly burned stencil.
You can always bring your own paper stocks to me and check if it prints. There’s no guarantee that it will work and bringing your own paper is always at your own risk.
Most papers work that are:
- uncoated
- not too textured and not too smooth
- preferably between 90gsm and 210gsm, sometimes you can be lucky between 70gsm and 230gsm
While we are always open for suggestions we try to stock several types of paper. Not all paper types on our website are always in stock, feel free to ask us about what we have in stock right now.
You may find scans of some of our papers down below. [coming soon]
Currently we are not stocking many different types of paper, but our paper offerings will be expanded soon.
The RISO creates an image by burning small holes into a stencil. This creates a binary system in which a tiny burned hole let’s through ink, or no hole lets through no ink. The RISO has two main visual options in creating this binary system.
AM screening (LPI)
AM screening might be better known as a typical halftone. With this type of screening the RISO lays out the dots in a series of parallel lines. The size of the dot dictates how dark or light the image becomes.
With the RISO it’s possible to choose the LPI (lines per inch) and the angle in which these lines are set, per colour layer.
If you already integrated a halftone, or bitmap, in your design, it’s best not to go for AM screening, as it might create a Moiré-effect.
FM screening (grain-touch)
FM screening, also known as grain-touch within the RISO community, or as a stochastic halftone, makes the dots as small and fine as possible. The size of the dots stays consistent, but its placement (closer or further away from other dots) dictates how dark or light an image becomes.
There’s no variables to be changed with the RISO machine.
If you already integrated a halftone, or bitmap, in your design, it’s best to go for FM screening, as there is no risk of getting a Moiré-effect.