We often work with the Risography printing technique and we thought it would be a good idea to tell you why we are so in love with it. One of the main reasons is the beautiful, delicious ink.
Transparent colours
Riso ink is always transparent, there is no opaque ink. The special advantage of this is that if you print two or more colours on top of each other, you always get new colours. Because the colours mix with each other due to their transparency on the paper. We therefore do not determine the colours in advance by mixing them in advance, as you do on a painter’s palette, but we only see the colour mixing when both colours have been printed on the paper. So that is always a surprise, not controlled beforehand.
Koi Aurora Orange – detail
In this close-up you can see how the yellow layer and the neon-orange layer mix.
Ouroboros Artists’ Book – detail
This is yellow and neon-pink ink on dark grey paper.
Prints on coloured paper
Because even though we have been working with these inks for years, the precise colour tones that arise during the printing process always surprise us. And we often excite this ‘colour coincidence’ by printing the transparent inks on coloured paper. Then even more unexpected colours emerge. That feels no less than pure color magic.
Blozend blauw / Blushing Blue
Neon-pink and Medium Blue on Blue paper
Blozend blauw / Blushing Blue – process
Here you can see the crayon-like texture of Medium Blue on my fingers.
Rice-based ink
Besides the transparency, the substance of the ink is unique. Ink used to be made from soy, but nowadays it is often rice-based. So the ink has a vegetable base and is therefore less harmful than non-vegetable ink. The rice bran used for the ink is a by-product of rice production. Once the ingredients for the ink are extracted from these residues, what remains is often used as fertiliser to grow new life.
Colour textures
The inks have a recognisable oiliness and when you print something, the ink never dries completely. The colours lie like a film on your paper and always retain a matt sheen. The colours have a crayon-like texture.