Print With Us!

We are currently offering full Risograph print services, below is an informal guide to Risograph printing and what services we offer here at Pet Riso.

RISO 101

Risograph printing is a stencil based process similar to screenprinting! Original images are copied on the machine’s flatbed scanner, or sent directly to the printer from a computer. These images are then “burned” onto a master sheet which is wrapped on one of the color drums in the printer. During printing, the drums spin at high speeds, pushing ink through the master, transferring the image onto paper, et voila! A Riso print is born. 

In general, Risograph is best suited for high-volume, high-contrast printing utilizing bright saturated inks. Risograph is not ideal for small runs or individual prints. Additionally, the machine has inherent quirks and imperfections when printing. This can include smudging, misregistration, roller marks, spotty ink coverage, and image skewing. While we do our best to prevent these from occurring, we find that they add to the charm and intrigue of Riso printing!

Our Ink Colors

A very important factor to the final look of your Risograph print is your choice of ink color. The inks used in Riso are semi-transparent and made from rice bran oil. Their transparency allows for intricate color mixing, and experimentation with overprinting on colored paper.

Currently, we are offering printing with seven ink colors - Black, Fluorescent Pink, Bright Red, Blue, Yellow, Kelly Green, and Cornflower Blue . While we hope to expand our offerings in the future, we chose these colors because we believe they offer a great base for experimenting with color mixing, faux-CMYK printing, and eye-popping graphic color combinations!

We’ve listed our colors below with their hexadecimal and Pantone color codes:

Types of Projects

Using a Risograph is great for a wide variety of printed projects. From a stack of concert flyers to a chapbook of your newest collection of writing and photography, the Riso does it all! Because the Risograph is a duplicator by nature, our minimum for all single-page prints is an edition of 50. For books and other bound projects, our minimum is an edition of 25.

Projects we’ve worked on in the past:

  • Fine Art Prints

  • Protest Posters

  • Books

  • Calendars

  • Post Cards

  • Zines

  • Stationery Sets

  • Wedding Invitations and Save-the-Date Cards

Paper Guide

As with all printing processes, paper is extremely important to Riso printing! Changes in color, texture, and weight can all affect how your prints look and feel. Here’s a quick guide to get you started on picking the right paper for your project. 

  • The largest size paper we can print with our Riso is 11x17 inches (tabloid size), and the smallest we recommend printing at is 8.5x11 inches (letter size). Sourcing custom paper sizes can be difficult and we recommend printing any designs between these sizes on tabloid or letter paper and trimming them down to size. Please refer to our Binding & Finishing Services page for more information.

  • When choosing paper for Riso, always select an uncoated paper! Papers that are coated or glossy are incompatible with the printer and will not be accepted to print with. Some of our favorite uncoated and absorbent papers can be sourced from French Paper Co., Domtar, Mohawk, Neenah, and Sylvamo. These producers offer a variety of paper finishes, colors, transparencies, and weights, giving you a wide range of options!

    Finally, you should consider the weight of your paper that you’ll be printing with. Our machine can handle anywhere between 13lb bond and 100lb index (46 to 210 GSM for all of you metric folks), and we will not print anything outside of that range. Paper that is too thick or too thin can cause printing issues and damage the machine.

    We can always supply the paper for your projects, and we have a selection of in-house papers that we’ve specifically chosen for the shop. You are also welcome to supply your own paper, however we will NOT print on newsprint, fine art cotton rag paper, or coated stock. If you have any questions about your paper choice or compatibility feel free to contact us before submitting a quote request!

File Setup

When creating a file for Riso printing, there are several key things to keep in mind. The first thing you’ll want to keep in mind is image size. The Riso cannot print full bleed images. The printer has a “dead zone” where it will crop your image if it isn’t properly sized. At minimum, we recommend making your image .25 inches smaller on all sides than your paper. For example, if you’re printing on 8.5x11 inch paper, then your image size would be 8x10.5 inches. If you’d like a full bleed image, we recommend getting them trimmed to size after printing has been completed.

Your files should be in grayscale between 300-600 DPI. The printer recognizes different shades of grays and blacks, and will output the master accordingly. Essentially, 100% opacity = full ink coverage, 50% opacity = less ink coverage, 10% opacity = even less ink coverage, and 0% opacity = no ink coverage. When printing large flats of color, please reduce opacity to 65% at maximum. Large color flats are prone to smudging and uneven inking, so a lower opacity color flat has a better chance of printing evenly. 

When sending us a file, please have all of your layers labeled and separated as their own PDF. For example, if you’re printing a 3 color print using blue, yellow, and pink, your files will be named “title_blue.pdf”, “title_yellow.pdf”, and “title_pink.pdf.” If you need any assistance with creating files for Riso, please let us know and we can help!

Our File Prep Guide is in the works and will be posted in the near future!

Binding & Finishing

For projects like full bleed prints, folded stationery, zines, or calendars, you may require binding and finishing services. We offer a small selection of services, including:

  • Spiral or Coil Binding

  • Folding and Creasing

  • Trimming

  • Saddle Stitch Binding

Please refer to our Binding & Finishing Services page for a more complete guide.