09 - August - 2008
Envelope Printing
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Although I do most of my screen printing manually, I occasionally have the need to use an automatic rotary screen printing process to print items that are awkward to print manually. Like envelopes...
I have been neglecting the Bleed Edge recently because I have my actual work to do, which is mostly web design. I wanted some envelopes printed for bills and correspondance, but I didn't have the time or a screen free to make up a screen for envelopes. As well as that, printing a small item, like an envelope is a nuisance when using big screens. Granted, if I had no alternative, I'd probably do it but luckily, I had an alternative.
I happen to have access to commercial printing and finishing machines, and one of these machines was a RISOGRAPH printer/duplicating machine. The Japanese company, RISO, have numerous printing products On Flickr, there are lots of people using GOCCO printing machines to print images. The GOCCO was invented in the 1970s but RISO's more recent products are automatic, industrial printing/duplicating machines.
The machine I used, is a RISOGRAPH printer/duplicater. It looks like a photocopier, but inside the printing mechanism is a drum (A cylinder which is about 16 inches long with a diameter of about 10 inches) which spins, and paper or card (or envelopes) get pulled underneath the cylinder and receive a printed image from the drum.
In researching this post, I searched the Wikipedia page on the RISOGRAPH, to see how best to explain the process. As it turns out (surprise, surprise!), the Wikipedia page is incorrect in the details of the process of RISOGRAPH printing. It states that a 'master' is created and wrapped around a drum and then coated with a layer of ink. This is quite wrong as the ink for the RISOGRAPH is in a cylinder container which is put into the centre of the drum. The image is created by lasers, which burn away the image area on a master material, which is wrapped around the drum, allowing ink to be pushed out from the inside of the drum and onto the substrate passing below it. Below is a diagram to try explain the process.
The process begins by sending the required artwork from the computer down to the printer, like sending a file to print on any home printer.
The RISOGRAPH makes a master using the image (Sorry about the quality of the photograph, I was rushed). The shape of the flaming 'r' can be barely made out.
Test prints were made on waste paper. The screen is very fine and doesn't clog like traditional manual screen printing.
Final prints are made on business envelopes, size DL. I printed both window and non-window envelopes.
Using this machine saved a lot of work for a small quantity of, essentially, throwaway items. No one is going to frame them, so they don't warrant the effort of creating a screen.
Next up is some more traditional screenprinting related stuff, I'm awaiting a load of supplies, new screens, squeegees and chemicals!
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