triple melon press
i run a small risograph printing project based in houston called triple melon press with my SF5130 EII U! after a some time of getting to know my machine and all her quirks, i am starting to offer printing services to other artist’s curious about risography. riso can feel scary at first, especially when you’ve never seen exactly how a riso duplicator works! i aim to de-mystify this medium for small artists as it’s a lovely way of sharing one’s artwork in an affordable, eco-friendly, charmingly analog way.
how does printing with a riso work?
i like to say to people that risograph printing is kinda like if screen printing and inkject printing had a baby! each color is printed separately as the inks for a riso are loaded in one-by-one (there are machines with capabilities of printing 2 colors at once). the way that the machine “reads” what needs to be printed is in greyscale, no matter what color is being used. for example, if an area of my artwork is completely black while I have my fluorescent pink drum loaded in the machine, when said artwork is printed, this black area will be printed with 100% saturation of fluorescent pink. this is why it is recommended to have riso test sheets on hand so you can gauge what your prints will look like as you’re prepping your file!
some quirks to know about risograph printing:
due to the way Riso printing works—printing 1-2 colors at a time—multicolor Riso prints can have quirks that make each run unique. some small quirks that can occur when using a Riso include:
roller marks: roller marks are caused by the pick-up roller feeding paper with fresh ink into the machine. this is especially common with heavy saturation of ink.
misaligned registration: when using more than one color, there may be areas of your project that are not perfectly aligned. this naturally occurs because of the repeated process of reloading paper for each color. while it can be minimized, it is inherent to the art of riso.
smudging: while rare, there is a possibility that handling, cutting, or polishing your project could cause slight smudging of the ink, as riso ink takes a few days to fully dry.
we will always do my best to minimize “flaws” and quirks when printing, however there are print anomalies that are simply inherent to risography!
below is how we price our quotes for print jobs. we will calculate this for you to confirm before starting your prints!
masters
$3.50 per master
Paper quantity
1-15 50¢
16-35 40¢
36-75 35¢
76-150 30¢
151+ 25¢
Paper
8.5x11” copy paper 20¢
8.5x11” cardstock 30¢
8.5x14” copy paper 25¢
8.5x14” cardstock 35¢
Trimming & binding
your riso project may include trimming or binding if you’re thinking of making smaller prints, wanting full bleed, or need help assembling zines.
for trimming:
project is > 400 sheets of paper = $10.00 fee
project is < 400 sheets of paper = $20.00 fee
staple binding flat fee:
1-15 pcs $10.00
16-35 pcs $15.00
36-75 pcs $30.00
76+ pcs $45.00
spiral binding (includes hole punching and spirals):
1-15 pcs $10.00
16-35 pcs $15.00
36-75 pcs $30.00
76+ pcs $45.00
zine assembly disclaimer: zines are susceptible to misalignment and creep
Labor fee
our labor fee is a 50% rate of the total cost of your project pre-file set up fee.
file set up
you may send us your files ready to be printed to avoid a set up fee!
if you’d like us to set up your files for you it is a flat fee of $20 per project.
example quote:
“i want 30 pieces of a 2 color print on 8.5x11” cardstock. i do not need trimming but i don’t have my files set up.”
materials: $3.50x2 + 30x.40x.25= $10
labor: $10x50%+$25= total price of $40
shipping costs additionally depending on weight of package, but on average expect shipping to cost an extra $7.00-$20.00.
we only ship riso orders within the USA
how to prep your files for us to print
RISO machines read files in grey scale to determine where and how much color to deposit. therefore, your final file must be converted to grey scale before printing.
all colors must be seperated into their own layers.
ex: layer 1 for all flo pink elements, layer 2 for all yellow elements.
we can accept either a PSD file to keep the layers separate, or you can send labeled individual PNGs or JPEGs of your color files. they must be labeled with your name or business name and the color ink each file is for.
we use a software called spectrolite that can separate and prep files for riso printing. spectrolite is completely free to use and available for mac only, if you have access to a mac computer we highly recommend playing with it to prep files for riso artwork! check out spectrolite here: https://spectrolite.app/
we are able to do file prep for you, but this will incur an extra $20 fee to your project.
colors we currently print with:
black
blue
mint
yellow
fluorescent orange
fluorescent pink
we do not recommend printing with more than 4 colors! usually more than 4 is not needed, and it can cause your work to get muddy and smudgy. for most accurate photography printing, we recommend a 3 color palette of fluorescent pink, yellow and blue.