Quick Links
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Print With Us
Contact us for a quote to print Risograph posters, flyers, zines, booklets, and more. Good lookin' prints for discerning folks.
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Book Open Studio
3hr session = $35 + materials. $2 per master, $0.25 per impression used. For RISO BASICS grads only. Contact us to book.
Risograph Services
BearBear's Risograph Ink Library
- We stock 15-ish different Risograph inks
- We recommend using only 1-4 ink colors total for your project
- Colors are listed alongside approximate RGB hex codes and Pantone Uncoated equivalents below
- Black #000000 / BLACK
- Federal Blue #3D5588 / 288 U
- Sky Blue #4982CF / 285 U
- Mint #82D8D5 / 324 U
- Light Teal #009DA5 / 320 U
- Hunter Green #407060 / 342 U
- Kelly Green #67B346 / 368 U
- Yellow #FFE800 / YELLOW U
- Sunflower #FFB511 / 116 U
- Orange #FF6C2F / 021 U
- Fluorescent Orange #FF7477 / 805 U
- Scarlet #F65058 / 185 U
- Fluorescent Red #FF4C65 / 812 U
- Fluorescent Pink #FF48B0 / 806 U
- Orchid #BB76CF / 2582 U
- Copper #BD6439 / 1525 U
- Flatallic Gold* #AC936E / 872 U
*Flatallic Gold has a subtle metallic sheen which shows up on dark / black paper. It looks like antique, brass-finish gold that leans slightly olive green in certain lights.
You can print multiple layers of color on top of each other to optically mix something different than what you see “out of the tube”. It’s important to know that Riso inks dry by absorption into uncoated paper. Minor smudging may occur even after the ink has dried (think: printed newspapers). Expect variations in color trueness, registration, and texture on every print. This is inherent to the medium and is part of Riso’s aesthetic charm.
What’s Risography?
Risography is an artist-approved, retro print process with a cult following. Every print is one-of-a-kind. And it’s a fraction of the cost of screen printing or letterpress, making it a perfect medium for artist books.
A Risograph printer is a digital stencil duplicator. The printer makes a stencil (called a master) from a black and white digital file. The master—a thin, plastic-coated sheet— wraps around a rotating ink cylinder that flows wet pigment through the stencil’s perforations and onto paper. One master can be used to make thousands of printed impressions of the same text or image.
Our RZ1090U Risograph printer prints one color at a time. To print a second color layer, the paper would be fed through the machine a second time with a different ink cylinder or “drum” in place. Developed as an efficient and affordable alternative to xerox printing in the 1980’s, Risography was introduced in Japan as an office-friendly technology. Artists have since adopted it as a vibrant print medium, most known for its kinship to screenprinting, specialty inks, and soft yet grainy aesthetic.
Riso is *relatively* eco-friendly, too.
According to RISO USA, Risograph printers use approximately 95% less energy than traditional photocopiers. Risos do not need to be turned on for long periods of time due to their high printing speeds. They also don’t use heat (i.e. extra energy) to affix ink to the page.
Riso ink is made of plant-based materials (usually a soy/rice bran emulsion) mixed with petroleum. The inks are free of ozone emissions, toner particles, and silica dust.
We've heard that a single Riso machine can print millions of impressions before being retired.
Print Sizes
The largest print we can make is just under 11"x17". Riso cannot print full bleed as it requires a small margin on all four sides. We print on the following standard paper sizes and then trim down to smaller “finished” sizes like 5"x7", 5.5"x8.5", 8"x10" etc.
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Tabloid 11"x17"
Maximum printable area is approximately 10.25"x 16.25" -
Letter 8.5"x11"
Maximum printable area is approximately 7.75"x 10.25"
Paper
We only print on uncoated, recycled or vellum-finish papers. Nothing coated or glossy (it smudges right off). 28 lb. Text — 80 lb. Cover is our range of printable paper stock. The thinnest we like to print on, 28 lb. text, is meant for zine interiors and is basically the same weight as “copy paper”. The heaviest we print on is 80 lb. cover which is ideal for stationery cards, posters, or zine covers.
We source paper from French Paper Co., Neenah, Cougar Domtar, Springhill, and Mohawk. Add 3–5 business days to your deadline to account for custom paper orders.
File Prep
Send your print-ready files to heybearbear@gmail.com via WeTransfer.com as:
- Channel separated color PDFs (not separate layers), OR
- Separate grayscale PDFs. Save each PDF with the ink color name you intend it to be printed in. One PDF for each ink color is required.
- Format file names as YYYYMMDD_yourfirstname_lastname_projecttitle_inkcolor.pdf
- Send a digital mock-up of how it should look once printed! This can be a JPG, PNG, TIF, EPS, or PDF.
Important notes:
- Do not include crop/bleed/trim/registration marks! We will add ‘printer’s’ marks as part of our production service to you.
- If your image includes bleed, have at least 0.125” bleed on all sides
- Booklets, zines, and sequential art: Send us all your pages as single pages (not spreads) i.e. Front Cover - Inside Cover - Page 1 - Page 2 - and so on.
- Include an additional flattened PDF of the final look of the zine (showing all layers)
- Contact us with questions. We offer 30 minutes of free file set-up, costing $55/hr beyond that.
Binding Booklets & Zines
We provide basic booklet production. This includes folding, collating, stapling along the spine and simple finishing like fore edge trim.
IN-PERSON
Risograph Workshops
Beginner: RISO BASICS
Buy RISO BASICS Tickets for 2025 Spring-Summer:
May 31 / June 21 / July 26 / August 30
Saturdays 10AM–1PM at Cactus Club
RISO BASICS is a foundation-level workshop designed for beginners who want to understand what Risograph prints have to offer, how the process works, and how Riso translates visual information onto the page using the scanning bed.
Students leave with: A short history of Riso, a comprehensive understanding of how the RZ1090U works, and ten copies of a single two-color 11”x17” print that they design in class using analog media.
No artistic or printmaking background necessary. Recommended for ages 16 and up. All materials are provided, no preparation needed.
Tickets are $80–$110 per student. 3 hrs. Hosted at Cactus Club (2496 S. Wentworth Avenue) May–August 2025, facilitated by BearBear. No refunds or exchanges.
Intermediate: 2-COLOR DIGITAL RISO
BOOK 2-COLOR RISO CLASS: heybearbear@gmail.com
2-Color Digital Riso is a private 1:1 class in-person with BearBear at our studio in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee. 2hrs, $150.
If you've ever wondered:
- What’s the best way to set up digital files for Riso?
- Is working in layers better, or working with color channel separation better?
- What is trapping?
This workshop seeks to answer those questions for illustrators, photographers, and digital artists who want to integrate Risograph printing into their practice.
Students will leave with:
- A foundational understanding of how to prepare digital files in Photoshop.
- Depending on what digital artwork students bring, BearBear will focus on teaching students how to separate files using spot color or layers.
- Common Riso printing workarounds to watch out for.
- A quick intro to Riso and how the machine itself works.
- Five copies of a 2 ink color 11”x17” print of their own design.
Students must bring:
- Laptop (not an iPad) with a working version of Photoshop installed
- A digital artwork or design (11”x17” or smaller) that they want printed in 2-colors during the class!
* Adobe Photoshop experience is required
Class size:
- 1 person. You are welcome to bring a friend to observe only.
This experience is built to be a highly personalized 1:1 experience. Instructors Ben and Diana of BearBear will be hands-on to help explain fundamental digital concepts, best practices for preparing print-ready files, show you how to work the Risograph at a prefunctory level, and answer questions along the way.
No formal artistic or printmaking background necessary, but access to Adobe Photoshop on a latop is required. Those with minimal Risography experience are still encouraged to join. Recommended for ages 16 and up. Masks are currently optional but welcome.
No refunds or exchanges.
Self-Guided: RISO OPEN STUDIO
Book RISO OPEN STUDIO: heybearbear@gmail.com
$35 booking fee + materials. 3hrs.
A studio monitor will be on-site to help print or troubleshoot machine basics. 15 ink colors available to print with.
Prerequisite: You need to have taken RISO BASICS with BearBear to book private time on our Risograph machine.
Materials cost $0.25 per impression + $2 per master and will be billed at the end of your session.
Prepare for your visit:
Get your files print-ready!
- Flattened, grayscale PDFs
- One PDF per color ink
- Saved onto a USB drive, emailed to yourself, or ready-to-scan
Bring your own paper. BearBear does not stock paper for on-site purchase.
- Bring enough paper for your print run plus a recommended 10–20% more (margin of error).
Bring your own paper :-)
OPEN STUDIO IS PERFECT FOR:
- Printing 1-3 color posters, business cards, menus
- Printing 1 color comics or zines
- Folks who have a specific and approachable project in mind
- PRINT-READY FILES ONLY
AND NOT RECOMMENDED FOR:
- Printing artwork / photography that requires heavy ink coverage and impeccable registration
- Extremely tight turn-around deliverables
- High-stakes projects (e.g. wedding invites for clients or capstone schoolwork)
- Intricate book projects
- Training. Riso project consultations or learning sessions with us are separate and will be suggested at BearBear’s discretion. 1:1's are booked outside of Open Studio hours via email.
No refunds or exchanges.