ABOUT

Corner Riso is a small home studio risograph press in Provo, UT. We use a Riso SF5130 single drum risograph that can print up to 8.25x14 inches. We currently have four ink colors- black, aqua, bubblegum, and sunflower. We make art prints, zines, and books under the Corner Riso label and also offer riso printing services for other artists and designers.

What is Riso/risography?

Risograph duplicators, made by the Riso Kagaku Corporation in Japan, are similar to copy machines and are intended for small to medium quantity print duplication. Unlike normal copy machines which print onto paper by fusing plastic toner using heat. Riso creates a ‘master’ stencil made of a thin film that is wrapped around a print drum. Ink is pushed through the master stencil to make the print. Because a new master has to be made each time a new design is sent to print, riso is best suited for doing multiples rather than single prints.

The other unique thing about riso printing is that although only one color of ink can be used at a time (although so machines accept two) there are many ink colors available, and a print can be run through multiple times to build up layers of different colors. Although risographs were originally intended for schools and churches to print worksheets, programs, and fliers, artists discovered it as a fun and interesting medium for art prints. In some ways, it mimics the printmaking process of screenprinting, but comes with aesthetic quirks that are uniquely riso!

PRINT SERVICES

Corner Riso is available for printing services for new clients for custom projects, and we also offer a couple of on demand specials as well!

We print using a Riso SF5130 which is a single drum risograph duplicator which has a maximum image area of 8.25x14 inches. We normally print on either 8.5x11 letter or 8.5x14 legal size papers. Although the maximum image area does not fill the page, the SF5130 can handle 11x17 paper as well.

We currently have four ink colors to choose from- black, aqua, bubblegum, and sunflower. We will be adding a fifth color soon!

File Prep

There are many ways to go about designing for riso printing, so check out the tutorial section for ideas. There are many other great resources on YouTube and elsewhere on the web as well.

When you place an order for printing we can accept both PDFs as well as 300dpi JPG files. You can send files via email, or if your attachment is on the large side you can send it via WeTransfer. When

You must make a separate grayscale file for each color you want to print. If exporting a PDF from Photoshop make sure to flatten all layers before exporting or your file will not work. Photoshop and other raster based softwares are not the best for text as the riso won’t print rasterized type as clearly as vectorized type. Illustrator and InDesign are better for designs that have text, just be sure to convert text to vectors before exporting your PDF files.

The maximum printable area on 8.5x11 paper is 8.25x10.75 inches and for 8.5x14 8.25x13.75 inches.