What made you choose Risograph printing?
I elected to use Risograph printing for the Mis.Steps trading cards for a very specific reason. An internet image search will yield thousands of photographs of Pittsburgh’s city steps. If you’re looking for data-rich, highly-precise literal representations of public stairs, you’ll find many to choose from! With Mis.Steps I wanted Pittsburgh’s stairways to have a different look – murky, uncertain, lossy – like a Rorschach inkblot test that would let the viewer create personal associations and narratives. Some prints appear almost painterly while with others the three-color layering process has almost completely obscured the original image. If the look and feel of Risograph prints don’t tickle your fancy, head over to the Mis.Steps Flickr account and look through the selection of scanned Polaroids and iPhone photos. All works are in the Public Domain, so save, print, and share to your heart’s content.
All issues of Mis.Steps are printed on a 1980s-era GR 1700 Risograph using a two-color process (the only exception is the first issue which used three colors). The paper used for the cards is 65# Cover / Cardstock, with the folder being printed on 80# Cover / Cardstock.
How does the Risograph print?
“If silkscreen and a photocopier had a baby, it would be a Risograph. Risograph printing functions like a photocopier, but instead of burning toner to a sheet of paper, the machine burns an image into a sheet of material called a master and stretches it around a cylindrical screen called a drum. The paper moves through the machine at high speeds, passing under the drum (see gif below). A squeegee/roller system on the inside of the drum pushes the ink through the screen and master, which operates like a stencil. The result is that whatever was black on your original design prints in whatever color of soy-based ink is in the drum. To print multiple colors, the paper has to go through the machine multiple times.” ~ Jimmy Riordan
All Mis.Steps cards and books are printed in collaboration with former Pittsburger Jimmy Riordan on ancient risograph machines in a decommissioned Pittsburgh Public Library bookmobile traveling through the heart of the Alaskan wilderness (all truth, no lies).