Tuesday 26 February 2013

risograph lions & crocs

 'jungle lion'  - A3 risograph print (£12.50 unframed)
'crocodile' - A3 risograph print (£12.50 unframed)
We've just taken delivery of these rather lovely risograph animal prints from Lisa & Edward at the Lisa Jones Studio. You might remember we had matching bone china mugs last year (if you were in the shop).
I have to admit I wasn't entirely sure what a risograph was until a few weeks ago (or rather I was sort of familiar with the outcome but a bit woolly with the process & the name for it). 

After a little bit of searching it would appear it works something like this: a thermographic master is created for each colour before the master is wrapped around a drum which is filled with ink. Whilst the paper remains flat the drum rotates at high speed, forcing the ink through the stencil (or master) and onto the paper. 
It's an attractive choice for artists & designers wanting a more affordable option to screen-printing as it achieves similiar spot colours (each colour is printed seperately) but with very fast duplication. 

And from Lisa & Edward themselves...."The paper needs to pass through the machine to receive each colour, which makes a mockery of precise registration, while the colours themselves are limited and can't be mixed (although, in truth, subtleties could be achieved through overlays or halftones). Despite these clunky limitations and inbuilt imperfections, they have a wonderful quality that's utterly matte and simultaneously somehow luminescent."
     

close-up of croc print
Whilst looking for imformation I came across this print studio in Glasgow that specialises in risograph printing. Worth taking a look at if you are interested.