Colorful Risograph Prints Made in Portland, Oregon
New Risograph Prints Available on Etsy TinyPinkShoe
I recently took a risograph printing workshop at Outlet PDX, a wonderful little print studio for artists in Portland. The risograph is a Japanese printing machine that gained popularity in the late 80s and 90s for how quickly and cheaply it could duplicate a page compared to a the photocopier, laser printer or inkjet printer in the late 80s and 90s.
Abandoned risograph printers have since been outperformed by cheap laser printers. But the lucky printer can find risographs tucked away in abandoned places that needed to print on the cheap: churches, schools, local political offices. I appreciate the risograph because it satisfies my wanting to work with my hands and uses a process similar to a screen print and a mimeograph.
Risograph print is coming back into vogue among print makers for several reasons, including because of its analog-ness of the printing process and depth of color with the soy-based inks. I’m personally hoping that riso printing is coming back into style because people are realizing that printed materials actually do matter.
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Since moving to Portland, I’ve been playing around with color separations at Outlet PDX and using different colors to print my collages that I made last year. Fun times.
