Risograph

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    Hato Press is a print and publishing house which runs two Risograph MZ 770 and one RP 3700 stencil duplicators. The risograph covers a gap in the market that has been held by digital and lithograph printing. At current we have 16 colours.

    We apply this printing process to the production of artist publications, invites, flyers, posters, illustration prints and zines, though it was traditionally used for high volume printing and photocopying in schools, churches and small political parties.

    Many of the books we produce not only make use of risograph printing but also letterpress, screen printing and offset lithography.

    We’ve been running the press for over four years now and have learnt how to get the optimum results from the printer.

    We have also been running workshops at the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths and Central Saint Martins. So please feel free to ask for any advice, we are here to help.

    Environmentally friendly

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    The Risograph is an environmentally friendly and cost effective printer which uses soy based inks to produce unique quality outcomes. Each screen is made from banana paper and unlike litho printing only takes a single print for the screen to be fully inked and ready for printing. The Risograph is highly energy efficient and generates a minimum amount of waste.

    The majority of paper stocked at Hato is recycled and if not FSC certified.  Of course we can easily accommodate provided paper if required. In addition to this, we use all our test prints and off prints to produce hand finished notebooks, which are available in our shop to purchase.

    Printing process


    The underlying technology of a Risograph is very similar to screen printing or a mimeograph.

    The original image file is sent to the machine and a master is created, by means of a thermal head burning a negative of the corresponding image on a master sheet. This master is then wrapped around a print drum and ink is forced through the master. The paper runs flat through the machine while the drum rotates at high speed to create each image on the paper.

    We run two models, the RP machines is a single drum machine, which means for each pass through the printer a single colour is produced. MZ is a two colour machine, therefore two colours can be printed in one pass.

    Colours we keep


    Please feel free to email us at info@hatopress.net to request colour and paper samples. We will be sure to get them in the post to you as soon as possible.

    Unlike litho printing, screen printing and letterpress risographs don’t have a pantone stystem. However, we have done our best to match our current colours. Beware that colours do vary according to paper stock.

    Colour references on Cyclus
    Black – Neutral Black U
    Federal Blue – 294 U
    Medium Blue – 2738 U
    Light blue – 3005 U
    Purple – 275 U
    Teal – 328 U
    Green – 354 U
    Yellow – Yellow U
    Gold – 117 U
    Orange – 1505 U
    Red – Warm Red U
    Fluorescent Pink – 906 U
    Fluorescent Orange – 905 U
    Burgundy – 7419 U
    Hunter Green – 561 U
    Brown – 7581 U

    Papers we keep


    Our papers include Cyclus offset, Cocoon, Redeem, Colorset and Munken. All our papers are stocked in A3. Below are some more details on the individual paper stocks below. Please be aware of the grain of papers when producing books. If none of the below papers meet your requirements, you are more than welcome to supply your own stock, however please contact us in advance.

    Evercopy/Evercolor
    A recycled fibrous paper, which is are most cost effective stock. Evercopy comes in short grain and 80gsm.

    Cyclus
    Cyclus is an off white stock that is great for books, fold out posters, cards and flyers. We stock Cyclus at 115gsm and 250gsm both short grain.

    Olin recycled
    Olin is a smooth cream paper, with an ever slight texture it’s ideal for artist prints and books. Our stock of Olin recycled is 120gsm and short grain.

    Munken
    We stock Munken Lynx Rough 170gsm, this paper stock is ideal for artist and illustration prints and also for cover of small books and zines that need to be saddle stitched. As 170gsm is the heaviest weight we can saddle stitch books before having to crease the cover seperately. Our stock of Munken is long grain. Unfortunately Munken is not recycled but it is FSC certified, therefore for each ream we order we will be donating to Trees for Life (Hato Press grove coming soon!)

    Turn around time

    We have an average turnaround time of two days for simple prints, but can do same day by agreement. More complicated print jobs (those with multiple layers) will generally take longer as we need to allow for drying time between the layers.

    Books generally take longer, please email and we can give you an estimate.

    Disclaimer

    The Risograph is not perfect like an inkjet or laser printer.

    The prints will probably look different from what you see on your computer screen.

    The prints will differ very slightly from one another.

    There will be slight print marks, especially when printing more than two layers or double sided. But these can be minimised by following our artwork guide and can easily be rubbed off with a rubber.

    Registration will not be perfect when printing more than two layers, please beware of this when designing your artwork.

    We see all of the above as part of printing on the Risograph which can give unexpected and beautiful results. Happy Risoing!