GUI DE T O

RISOGRAPHY
CO N T ENT
WHAT IS RISOGRAPHY?
06 MACHINE
07 ORIGIN

PRINT PREPARATION
08 MASTER
10 PRINTING
14 INK & COLOUR
16 PHOTOGRAPHS

TIME TO PRINT
20 DIGITAL
24 HARDCOPY
26 MARKS

COLLATE & FINISH

28 CROP MARKS
30 PRINT LAYOUT
32 BINDING

TROUBLE-SHOOTING 34
RISO IN A NUTSHELL

0 1 . T a ke you r t i me.

0 2 . m a x. p a p er si ze = A3

0 3 . m i n . d ryi n g t i me 1hr

0 4 . m a x. p a p er w ei g h t 300g/ m 2

0 5 . mi n . p a p er w ei g h t 90g/ m 2

0 6 . O n l y u se UN C OA T ED paper .

0 7 . ima g e resol u t i on 300dpi

0 8 . m i n . t yp e p oi n t si ze 6pt

0 9 . Cl ea n rol l ers → w h ite s pir it

1 0 . Cl ea n screen → WD 40

1 1 . Ch eck you r p a p er s ettings !

1 2 . Nea t p a p er st a ck, les s jams

OUR
CO LOURS

A QUA FLAT GOLD

MEDIUM BLUE RED

TEAL GREEN

METALLIC
YE LLOW
GOLD

FLUORO
ORANGE
PINK

FLUORO
BLACK
ORANGE

PURPLE
6

W H A T IS
R I S O GRAP HY?

MACHINE

A risograph is a stencil
duplicator and works like a
scr e e n-p rin tin g /p h o to co pie r
fusion.

Depending on your machine, you Risography is a cold printing

will be able to print up to two process, the ink will need to
spot colours and two designs at settle and dry before you can
a time. You can achieve similar add more layers of colour or
print textures like you would print onto the flip-side of your
with screen-printing but at a sheets. Allow one to four hours.
fraction of the time and cost.
RISO inks are soy oil based,
non-toxic, and non-archivable.
Careful, they will stain your
clothes :) .

The paper runs flat through the

machine which allows you to use
paper weights between 80 - 300g.
Always use uncoated paper stock.

PRINT LINGO - Spot colour:

a single, pure colour which
is not created by overlaying
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
and Black). Spot on!
 7

ORIGIN

Riso means ideal in Japanese. The

Risograph was invented in 1986 by
the Japanese company RISO Kagaku
Corporation.

Due to its eco-friendliness it has

been popular with schools, offices
and non-profit organisations
alike. In the zero years more and
more illustrators and graphic
designers discovered the Riso as
a tool to create beautiful artist
books, flyers and posters.
8

PRI NT
PRE PAR ATI ON

MASTER

The risograph will transfer your The master will stay the same
artwork - either from a scan of for the entirety of our print
your hard copy or a digital file run. It takes between 30 - 90
- onto a stencil or as we call seconds until the drum is print
it in RISO lingo: master. ready.

The risograph burns tiny holes When you send a new file to the
into a very thin paper made from drum, the master currently sitting
banana fibre to replicate your on the drum will be peeled of by
artwork. This sheet, our master, the RISO and discarded in the
is then stuck onto the drum. master disposal box. You cannot
Where the laser has perforated reuse your master.
the master, ink can exit the
drum onto our paper.

PRINT LINGO - Spot colour:

a single, pure colour which
is not created by overlaying
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
and Black). Spot on!
 9

MASTER ROLL

PAPER INPUT

PAPER OUTPUT

1 INK DRUM
2 PAPER

2
10

PRI NT
PRE PAR ATI ON

PRINTING

Stack your paper neatly and make The ink drum rotates at a great
sure you have set up your feed speed while printing (up to 150
rollers right. Stiff card is prints per minute!) the paper is
printed at 6 o’clock, thin paper fed flat beneath the drum. This
at 12 o’clock. makes printing on heavy stock
possible as the paper will not
Make sure you also adjust the be bent.
output paper tray to your paper
size. The ink then gets pushed
through the voids in the
master and onto the paper.
If you want to add more colours,
allow some drying time (1-4
hours) and switch the drum for
another. Create your new master
TIP: Paper and pass the same paper through
the machine again.
Always neaten up your
paper stack before putting
it in the tray.

If your paper is slightly

curled make sure the curl
is a mountain rather than
a valley. This will avoid
paper jams.
 11
MASTER
DISPOSAL BOX:
EMPTY WHEN
RISO TELLS YOU

1 FEED
ROLLER
PRESSURE

PRESS TO
LOWER
PAPER FEED
TRAY

PAPER SIZE SENSORS

2 FEED ANGLE

1 FEED ROLLER PRESSURE

Switch LEFT = PAPER
Switch RIGHT = CARD
12 o’clock
300 G (CARD)
FLAT

PAPER SETTING
80 G - 150 G 2

6 o’clock
80 G (PAPER)
CARD SETTING STEEP
150 G - 300 G
12

IMPERFECTIONS

With a Riso you can imitate The risograph bridges the gap
Pantone colours and CYMK colour between screen-printing and off-
printing, but you will not set print, cheap and expensive
achieve hi-resolution. What you print methods. It is best suited
see on your computer screen will for moderate to high amount
look different from your print. of prints. The Riso can print
Each print will be unique and thousands of copies easily. The
slightly different from the absolute minimum we advise to
others. Overlaying multiple print is 25 copies.
colours will increase the chance
of imperfection and make it more
difficult to align your designs.

The feed rollers are more likely

to pick up ink from the printed TIP: Print Marks
paper and leave marks on your
design. You can avoid or minimise If smudges do appear, most
this side-effect by laying out of them can be easily rubbed
your design cleverly. out with an eraser!
 13

PRINT TRAPPING

Left (No Trapping): The blue Right (With Trapping): The

circle is exactly the right blue circle is scaled 2%
size to fill the red ring’s larger than it needs to be to
white inner void. fill the red ring’s void.

The RISO won’t be able to Now the RISO has some space
align your design perfectly for movement. No unwanted
all the time and you’ll end paper will show even if your
up with some paper flashing alignment is a bit off.
out.

FEED ROLLER AREA

QUIET SPACE

The RISO can’t print right up

to the edge of your A3 sheet.
There will be a »no print« 4mm
white margin on the long sides
and a 6mm margin on the short
sides all the way around your
sheets.
4MM

MAX. SHEET SIZE The maximum print area is

SRA3 therefore 408 mm x 289 mm.

(450 X 320 MM)

Avoid large areas of ink in
the paper feed roller area
to avoid tracking marks and
6MM
imprints on the reverse side.
14

TIP: Ink Density PRINT LINGO

Large areas of solid ink CMYK: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow,

don’t print well as they blacK. Inks/toners used for
might look patchy. It often digital and offset printing.
makes the paper stick to the
internal drum. RGB:
Short for Red, Green, Blue.
(only use this scheme for
digital displays.)

INK & COLOUR

All Riso inks are semi- It’s best to save your design
transparent which will allow you as separate PDF files. To make
to mix colours when overprinting sure you print them in the right
your designs. colour simply give them a clear
title, such as ARTWORK_RED.PDF;
If your artwork features more ARTWORK_BLUE.PDF.
than one colour, you will have to
save each of them as a separate To print solid colours your
layer in Photoshop or a similar artwork should be set to 100%
application. Black. To achieve paler shades
of your chosen colour simply
Your layers - no matter what save your design with a lower
colour you want them to be percentage.
printed as in the end - need to
be saved as greyscale images. Even though the Riso was not
designed to reproduce complex
CMYK images it is still quite
achievable. To do so you will
have to separate each channel of
your image into a different file.
CMYK becomes RISO Blue for Cyan,
Fluorescent Pink for Magenta,
Yellow for Yellow, and Black for
Black. You are totally free to
exchange the colours and see how
your image transforms.
 15

ARTWORK_RED.PDF ARTWORK_BLUE.PDF

35%
BLACK

100%
BLACK

80%
BLACK
HOW IT
LOOKS ON
YOUR SCREEN

35%
RED
100%
BLUE

80%
RED
HOW IT
LOOKS
RINTED

THE FINAL
TWO COLOUR
PRINT
16

PHOTOGRAPHS

There are a couple of ways in channel separation. Repeat with

which you can recreate your another channel you like and see
photographic image using a how your photograph will change
risograph. after overprinting both layers.

MONO-COLOUR For GREYSCALE IMAGES, adjust

contrast, brightness or levels in
If your image is a colour order to achieve two slightly or
photograph we recommend drastically different versions
converting it into greyscale with of your image and, again, save
your image editing program. This these versions separately with
gives you more control over the specific titles.
outcome.
TRI/QUATRO-TONE
DUO-TONE
Follow the same instructions
This works with both colour and given for DUO-TONE but create
greyscale images: three or four versions of your
photograph. You don’t have to
For CMYK/RGB COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS stick with RGB (Red Green Blue)
simply delete all channels or CMYK (Blue Pink Yellow Black),
but one, turn your image try swapping colours round or
into greyscale and save your use totally different colours to
photograph. Remember to give create a unique version of your
your file a specific name so you photograph.
don’t get confused about your
 17

MONO-TONE FROM GREYSCALE

DUO-TONE FROM GREYSCALE

RED BLUE
SEPARATION SEPARATION
LAYER LAYER
18

CMYK IMITATION
SEPARATION OF 4 CHANNELS

YELLOW MAGENTA/FLUORO PINK

CYAN/AQUA BLACK
 19

CMYK IMITATION
COMBINATION OF PRINT LAYERS

YELLOW/ PINK YELLOW/PINK/AQUA

BLACK/AQUA YELLOW/PINK/AQUA/BLACK
20

TI M E TO
PRI NT!

DIGITAL

Once you’ve set up your print Adjust the paper tray to fit your
files as separate PDF documents, paper size. Make sure you always
you’re ready to go. have some scrap paper in the
paper feed tray.
Place the colour drum you would
like to use in the risograph. If The risograph will run two test
you’re using a dual drum machine sheets first in order to ink
use position No.1. through your master stencil
properly.

INFO: Master Disposal

Your master/stencil will stay on the drum

until it is used to print another image.
The risograph will peel it off and discard
it automatically in the designated MASTER
DISPOSAL BOX. You cannot resuse the masters,
so consider twice before making a new stencil.
The risograph will tell you when the master
box is full. Simply pull it out and discard
the master sheets in your general waste bin.
 21

HOW TO
PUT A RISO DRUM
IN PLACE

TOUCH THE
1 GREEN BITS

1 TOUCH THE
GREEN BITS

LOWER
2 STRAIGHT
AND
SLOWLY

ALIGN THE
3 ARROWS OF
DRUM AND TRAY

PUSH IN
4 CAREFULLY
22

TIP: George Michael

Listening to Georgios
Kyriacos Panayiotou’s album
Faith (1986) will drastically
improve your mood during
printing and chime very well
with the risograph idling
beat.

DIGITAL

Simply send the first file to But see yourself, there’s an

print. But before pressing the example on the right page.
button you want to adjust/check You can achieve the best possible
your print properties: definition for your line-art by
selecting solid look style.
Make sure you select the right
paper size and orientation If you’re printing fine or very
(landscape or portrait) via the fat typography you might want
Basic/Layout tab in your print to change the text style from
settings. OFF to SLIM or BOLD in order to
balance the bleed.
In the Colouring section select
Mono Colour Black printing. The last tab you will want to
Now is the time to rotate your have a look at is Advanced
design by 180 degrees if you where you can adjust print speed
think this might be beneficial to and density. Don’t go to fast,
avoid print marks. Just tick the otherwise your paper might jam.
little box. A medium setting like 2 or 3 is
a safe shot. That’s it, you’re
Go to the next tab called Image and ready to go!
choose your preferred screening
type. The screen-covered style
is slightly rougher, grain-touch
allows finer details.
 23

SCREEN-COVERED

GRAIN TOUCH
24

TIP: Alignment

You can still change the

position of your design
slightly. Use the arrows and
paper tray dials to achieve
better alignment.

HARDCOPY

You don’t necessarily need a Adjust Line, Contrast and Size

digital file in order to use the to your liking. Press the master
risograph. make button, push number 1 on
the dial pad and finally the green
You can also use the inbuilt button to start the master making
scanner to create a master for process.
printing.
Make sure you’ve loaded some
Make sure you’ve loaded the paper in your paper tray in
risograph with the colour drum order to allow the Riso to make
you’d like to create the stencil two test prints.
for.

Place your original face down,

centre aligned with the little
arrow on the scanner bed. Close
the cover.
 25

BUTTONS EXPLAINED

M
MASTER MAKE PRINT

START SCREEN

YELLOW
=
CANCEL

LIGHT
BULB RED
=
GREEN PAUSE/STOP
WAKE UP RISO =
START/PRINT

ALIGNMENT

PRINT SPEED

RESET ALIGNMENT
CONTRAST
26

MARKS

Marks might occur because your Another reason for ink marks on
paper feed roller has picked up the flip side of your paper might
ink from grabbing your sheets in be (again) the pressure roller.
order to feed tham back through
the machine. This time it will work like a
stamp pressing ink from the
In this case, take out the feeder already printed side onto the
in order to get to the feed sheet below on the stack.
rollers. Soak a piece of cloth
with white spirit and rub off the Give your prints some more time
excess ink from both rollers. to dry and try again.
 27

TIP: DRYING TIME

Leave your prints to dry The drying time will depend

before you apply additional on the amount of ink
colours or print on the applied to the paper and the
flipside of your paper in absorbtion quality of your
order to avoid roller feed paper stock. We recommend
marks and paper jams. 60 - 180 minutes minimum.

Sometimes your prints will be A dark ink mark on the paper edge
very saturated. The thick layer which is ejected first from the
of ink will leave marks on the machine might originate from the
flipside of the next sheet falling orange paper picker inside the
on top of it in the exit tray. machine.

If you can’t erase the marks This little plastic piece gets
afterwards with an eraser, try really inky from time to time.
to catch every second sheet when Simply, grab a piece of cloth
it comes out of the printer and and give it a good rub with some
put it on a separate pile next to white spirit.
the risograph.
28

COLL ATE
& TRI M
CORRECT
CROP MARKS

Crop marks are useful if you

print flyers or posters with a
bleed. They indicate where you
want to make your cuts, either by
hand or a guillotine.

Printing with multiple colours

they are also a reliable helper
when you align your layers.

You can create your crop marks

manually with your computer
programme. Set the paint brush to
3px weight and use ruler guides
to draw your lines.

WRONG
 29

Poster Poster
Design Design

Flyer
Design
Flyer
Design

Design

Design
Flyer

Flyer

Flyer
Design
Flyer
Design
Design

Design
Flyer

Flyer
30

PRINT LAYOUT

When printing a booklet or zine book you want to make the total
you want to arrange your pages page number of your booklet
on sheets double the size of dividable by four. If you print
your end format. It’s called an A5 zine on A3 sheets of paper
imposition. to make the most of your master
the total amount of pages needs
We want to fold our sheets in to be dividable by eight.
half in order to staple or thread
bind them throught their spine. Follow the layout sample on
the right so to get your pages
In order to not end up with arranged in the correct order.
blank pages in the end of your

8 PAGE FOLD
A4 BOOKLET CUT

8 1 6 3 FRONTS

2 7 4 5 BACKS
 31

TIP: Amount of Pages

Your booklet needs at

least 4 pages. It is not
recommmended to include
more than 40 pages,
otherwise you might cut
some of your content off
when giving the right edge
a final trim.

16 PAGE
A5 BOOKLET

16 1 12 5
FRONTS

14 3 10 7

2 15 6 11
BACKS

4 13 8 9
32

BINDING

If you have a long arm stapler

you can simply hold your sheets
together by adding a couple of
staples along the spine of your
folded pages.

You can also use a piece of strong

thread to sew your booklet along
the spine. Your thread length
should be 2.5X the lenght of your
booklet’s spine.

Mark your holes on the centre

fold with pencil dots. One in the
centre, the other two about 2 cm
inwards from the edge of your
sheet.
 33

HOW TO PREPARE Use a cutting mat or something

YOUR BOOKLET FOR similar to protect your work
SEWING surface.
Hold your complete booklet at a
90° angle, then pierce through
the marked dots holding your
puncture device at a 45° angle.

90°

45°

HOW TO SEW Start in the centre hole and pull

YOUR BOOKLET the thread all the way through
leaving enough of a tail in order
to tie a knot in the end.

Next go through the hole to your

right. Skip the middle hole and
go to through the one on the
opposite side of your sheet.

3 4 2 Finally come through the same

hole we started with, now from
1 the opposite side.

Pull out your needle. You

should now have both loose ends
dangeling from the centre.
Tie them around the wiggely long
thread with a double know.
Et voila!
34

TROU BLE
SHOOTI NG
How do I turn RISO on? What if there’s a paper jam?

There’s an ON/OFF switch on the RISO will tell you what’s wrong
right lower half of the machine. with it. Watch any flashing lights
Just flick it. or your digital display. Pull out
any paper from the feed and/or
How do I connect my computer? exit trays. RISO likes attention:
you often have to simply open
Some RISO machines can be the drum door, pull out the drum
connected with a USB cable. and push it back in.
You can download the required
software online via www.riso.com Now double check your paper
Mind though, RISO does not like feed settings and make sure all
apples, it won’t hook up with is set up right for your paper
your Mac. weight and size.

My pages come out blank! Still jammin’?

Don’t worry. When you’ve not used Curly paper might be the reason!
your colour drum for a while Take your stack and bend it in
the colour needs up to 10 - 15 the opposite direction to make
prints to come through properly. it flatter. It’s always better
Always have lots of scrap paper for your paper to be a mountain
to hand! rather than a valley if you can’t
get rid of the curl completely.
Still nothing? Try open your file
via Photoshop and make sure its I get jams when I send my paper
layers are flattened. Save it as through again to apply another
a greyscale image and check the layer!
dpi size is not higher than 300.
Maximum dimensions (you know it) Sometimes your paper will start
420mm x 297mm. curling if your prints are ink-
heavy.
 35

Try flattening it out by putting RISO is dirty, I get lots of ink marks!
it in a press before you send it
through the risograph again. Use some white spirit and a piece
of cloth to clean your rubber
Make your custom press with rollers at the paper feed tray.
two A3 size flat and smooth
wooden/plastic/card boards. In order to give it a better
Just put something heavy on clean, you can take out the feed
top for about an hour (cans of spring just below the rollers.
beans, encyclopediae, your dog, Snip the green switch, left and
microwave.) below the rollers, down in order
to unlock it first.
What if I run out of ink?
Give your machine a good clean
Open the drum door, leave the every once in a while to keep it
drum in place, simply unlock the in shape ☺
ink cartridge by twisting it in
the recommended direction. Pull RISO leaves smudges on my paper!
out the old tube and save it for
recycling. Grab your new tube Print marks on your paper can be
unscrew the black top, push it erased with a regular rubber.
in the drum and twist it locked.
In order to avoid residue on the
My master roll has come to an end, feed rollers allow a generous
how do I put in a new one? drying time before you send
paper through the risograph
You’re such a lucky one! RISO again.
have thought of us and left
little explanatory stickers on The risograph feeds multiple sheets
both master roll and the machine of paper at a time.
itself. Unlock the master unit
by opening its separate little Double check your paper settings
hatch. Press the green release at the feed tray again. Is it set
button and pull it out. For some to card or paper? Paper weights
machines the master roll and over 120g/m2 work better on the
master make unit live next to card setting. Fine tune the paper
the ink drum. In this case you feed dial until the printer runs
can find it by opening the front smoothly.
door. Make sure you put your
roll in the rigth way round. The
paper wrap will guide you.
36

NOTE S
37
38

CHECK OUT
THESE RISO EXPERTS:
W W W.ST EN C IL.WIKI ♥

R I S OT T O, Gl a sg ow
r i s ott o s t u d i o .c o m

R I S OGRA D, Gra z
I ns ta : @ r i s o g r a d

D I TTO Press, Lon d on

d r uk .l o n d o n

R I S OLVE, Ph i l a d el p h i a
r i s ol v e .c o m

R I S O SQUA D
I ns ta : @ r i s o s q u a d

R I S OT RIP, Ri o
I ns ta : @ r i s o t r i p

R I S O C LUB, Lei p zi g
r i s oc l u b .d e

R I S O PREST O, Pa ri s
r i s o- p r e s t o .c o m

D R UCKEN 3000, Berl i n

d r uc k e n 3 0 0 0 .d e
Second Ed i ti on
© 2019