Thanks to our friends @sarastreet, @9day2dream5, and @pocketpeter_, we’ve had a number of people ask about how the RISO workshops go. So here’s a little breakdown!

Learning about RISO

First things first, what is RISO? It’s actually a very old way of printing, akin to silkscreen printing. I always think of it as an automated silkscreen printing.

It uses a proprietary soy based oil ink, and it never really dries. That said, we do have hair dryers on site, for you to dry your prints if you would want to do a two or three color print. We do have some recommendations on this, but more on that later.

Our RISO machines are single color A3 duplicators. You can do your relevant research on them ;D

Through The Roof RISO Workshops

We’re not printers. We’ve brought this up a couple of times, but we really won’t print for you. Instead, you’ll be learning how to use a RISO machine to print.

This means we will walk you through the entire process, and teach you what we know, but at the end of the session, the aim is for you to feel a little bit more confident to print RISO and to use our printers to print your work as a creative student.

That being said, we will counsel you our best to avoid mistakes!! But if you want to still go ahead and it might get a little wonky, it’s on you, and it’ll still be charged as per any other print. We will tell you about it being wonky, and also tell you that it will be charged. So don’t worry about it! Lol!

Pricing

We charge per master, and you can use the copier paper we provided. But we also have an assortment of RJ paper onsite, and you can purchase them.

Charging per master means, one color has one cost. Two colors has two costs. This cost depends on whether you’re a student or a working adult.

This means the final price of the workshop will vary from person to person, or it might be free if you didn’t print anything and just turned up to learn stuff.

On the average, most participants have paid $20-$60 for a session. So if you’re not too sure how much cash to prep for, that should be enough to cover you.

File Prep

At the minimum, please bring a black and white, A3 sized image, in PDF format.

If you are not sure, please bring your working file in Photoshop OR Illustrator OR equivalent softwares.

Our RISO machines only read the files in greyscale, so do make sure it’s the correct color output settings.

If you are not sure, check the color on your color picker for Procreate, Illustrator, Photoshop etc,. The CMYK numbers should be:

C:0%
M:0%
Y:0%
K:100% (or adjusting to 90% will get you printing quite nicely)

If this still doesn’t make sense, we’ll do a little bit of file adjustments on the spot, but it might not be what you want it to be.

Some Video Help:

Anything else?

We do provide some really simple plastic bags for you to take your prints home. But we do recommend for you to have a bag of some sort, that can fit a number of A3 prints.

Also, do bring an umbrella, as getting to our studio takes a short walk. Our studio details will be shared via email after you’ve signed up for the workshop. This helps to protect your prints too, when you’re leaving.

For any cancellations, please let us know a day before, so that we can cater each class accordingly. If you’ve missed the date, we will email to check in with you. If there’s still no reply, we will assume you do not want to print your items with us, indefinitely. (This has happened already lol)

Printing RISO in Singapore

Again, we are not printers.

But RISO printing in Singapore is really championed by Knuckles and Notch. https://knucklesandnotch.com/ They do awesome work, and are really excellent printers. Their quality of work and prints are truly amazing. They booth often, and also have a huge repertoire of inks. In comparison, we only have 4 inks, which is enough for most students to print with. (note again, we are not printers.) Knuckles and Notch also conduct their own RISO workshops, so you can definitely join them for their workshops too.

SHRUB also does some RISO printing. https://www.shrub0128.com/ They have a 1 color black machine, and you can contact them for more info!

The RISO machines are same same but not, so please do respect the printers and their studio specific approaches. They have spent countless hours, days, months, years, honing their printing skills, and their experiences count for a lot!

If you do see a note on any zines that say “Printed by Through The Roof”, it’s really more printed together with us. The creatives themselves will be managing their prints, and our main work is really consulting with creatives, for them to produce good work on their own. We’re there to give advice and to chit chat 😛

Anyway, the best way to find out what exactly happens at a workshop is to sign up for one!! Our February slots are all taken up now, but do stay tuned for the next slot openings in April.

See you soon!

How to Prepare for a TTR RISO Workshop?