PRINT HOUSE

What is RISO?

Risography, a technology invented in Japan, is a cross between screen printing and digital photocopying. Using environmentally conscious technology, the machine mixes special rice and soybean oil-based inks onto equally unconventional art paper.

The Japanese Riso Kagaku Corporation developed its first printing machines in the 1980s. Since then, RISO has become a favourite of the ever-young graphic artist, combining the beauty of traditional graphic processes with state-of-the-art digital imaging. To print, our RISO machine first burns the image into a single - or two in the case of two colours - coir screen, or master film, which is then used to make direct-colour prints. The print is made on natural-looking uncoated paper, richly pigmented with RISO's soy oil-based inks, which have a special appeal.

The unique features of RISO can best be understood and adapted by the alternative, avant-garde art scene, who are passionate about the uniqueness of technology other than offset printing. Primarily numbered-signed prints, comics and fanzines are produced with RISO. Both the inks and the master films are made from natural materials. For printing, we use good absorbent, natural, uncoated A3 paper, 70-300 gr.

Színek

So in risograph printing, we use direct colours, similar to the way we use colours in wood and lino engraving or screen printing. Bright, highly pigmented colours include fluorescent pink and fluorescent orange. This is what the colours look like when used in full coverage.

BLACK
HEX: #000000
RGB: 0, 0, 0
CMYK: 0, 0, 0, 100

RED
HEX: #FF665E
RGB: 255, 102, 94
CMYK: 0, 60, 63, 0

BLUE
HEX: #0078BF
RGB: 0, 120, 191
CMYK: 99, 22, 0, 1

YELLOW
HEX: #00838A
RGB: 0, 131, 138
CMYK: 100, 1, 40, 7

GREEN
HEX:#00A95C
RGB: 0, 169, 92
CMYK: 73, 0, 81, 0

TEAL
HEX:#00838A
RGB: 0, 131, 138
CMYK: 100, 1, 40, 7

FLUO ORANGE
HEX: #FF7477
RGB: 255, 116, 119
CMYK: 0, 55, 53, 0

FLUO PINK
HEX: #FF48B0
RGB: 255, 72, 176
CMYK: 0, 72, 31, 0

ORANGE
HEX: #FF6C2F
RGB: 255, 108, 47
CMYK: 0, 58, 82, 0

LIGHT GREY
HEX: #88898A
RGB: 136, 137, 138
CMYK: 25, 17, 15, 44

The print, however, is different from the digital version, as the surface, texture and base colour of the paper also affect the final result. It is therefore always advisable to check the colours you want to achieve either live, with a printed palette or on the finished print.

Color Mixing

Rice oil riso paint is transparent, so the colours printed on top of each other blend together, making it easy to get thirds and transitions from two colours. Since opacity can be adjusted from 0 to 100% in computer preparation and colours can be printed on top of each other, there are many more colour variations to mix.

‍AMulti-layer printing can be tried using "multiply layer" in most drawing programs. You can also preview the printed, and therefore accurate, full RISO colour chart manual in our studio.

Premium RISO Papers