RISO printing @ Topo Copy

“Topo Copy is open for business. Get your designs together and print your own RISO – Selling prints is a great way to make some easy money as an artist in times of crisis.”

Back in 2011 we stumbled upon … fell in love with … and bought a RISO RP 3700. A single drum machine, which means for each pass through the printer a single color is printed. With this machine we still print red, blue, medium blue, green, fluo pink,  yellow and black up to A3-format, on uncoated paper (max. 250 gsm.)

In the beginning of 2021 we were able to buy a RISO MF9350, thanks to the support of our fans in a crowdfunding campaign. With this machine — a double drum machine, which means for each pass through the printer two colors are printed — we print red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, fluo pink and black up to A3-format, on uncoated paper (max. 250 gsm.)

We’ve been riso printing a lot in the past years and like to see how artists interact and deal with the characteristics and limitations of RISO printing. We seek to meet and print a variety of styles and interesting designs & artists! We prefer printing with you on the spot, to make fast decisions, see how you like it, experiment and maybe you’re eager to learn more about the machine, …  We like making zines, books and other creative paperwork. Inform us about your project, and we’ll try to get things done! Make an appointment >> info@topocopy.org

  About Riso Printing

‘Risograph duplicators were originally created for office & commercial use to produce large volume one or two colour documents at high speed. But the rich spot colours are also ideal for creative graphic arts applications and the prints have a wonderful look and feel which is quite unique.

The machine works by transferring artwork from a digital file onto a thin plastic master sheet. This is then wrapped around a single colour drum which rotates whilst pushing ink through the master onto the paper below. Multi-colour images are  achieved by switching the colour drums and running the paper through again to print multiple layers as you would when screen printing.’ (manymono.com)

♺ Riso inks are soy based and the screens (masters) are made from banana paper. The machine is highly energy efficient and almost all house papers are recycled.

Printing Prices

We try to be as cheap as possible for artists! In exchange we ask some printed artwork (artist prints/books) we can sell to help Topo Copy expanding. We’ll print some extra copies for the Topo Copy shop and will sell them at the same price you do. Printing for organizations (events, flyers, posters, … ) will cost more. Admit it, you guys have more money 🙂

Get in touch to get a quote that fits your project. For artist prints, posters, flyers, … we have a system that works with a startupcost. For books and other bigger projects we work with a fixed price/day.

Artist Startup 2 color print * — 45,0€ / design
One side printed — 0,45€ / print
(* for more colors we charge an extra 10€/layer)

Organisation Startup 2 color print * — 55,0€ / design
One side printed — 0,55€ / print
(* for more colors we charge an extra 10€/layer)

Why RISO Colors are fun

The RISO colors are not 100% opaque so they are easily blended to make new colours. As well as blending the 100% tones of the colors, it is also possible to blend any combination of tints together to produce color variants. A third color can be easily made out of combining two colors. Photographic reproductions are possible by printing with a variation of CMYK.