Note Well Press Visit
This week, I visited Note Well Press - a Risograph printing studio based in Norwich. It’s run by former NUA illustration student Nick Pearce who graduated two years ago. Note Well Press creates risograph prints using a Riso RP3700. They specialise in printing small editions of books, zines and prints. On their website, they explain that “Our creative practice is centred around capitalising on the quirks and intricacies that make Riso printing such a unique process.”
Nick explained that Riso printers are usually used in places like churches and schools as a cheaper alternative to photocopying. It works in a similar way to screen printing - an image is cut into a master which is wrapped around a drum. Ink is then pushed through the master onto the paper as it’s passed through the machine. (GIF credit Note Well Press)
There are only a small amount of colours available for risograph printing so most have to be created through the layering of images. Nick explained how the images have to be separated into different layers as each different colour is printed separately. This process sounded very difficult but luckily Nick explained that if you came to him with material to print, he would sort this out for you! To get a different colour, two different coloured layers must be printed on top of each other and aligned correctly. We were shown this process with a print of flowers - where the blue was printed on the yellow the green stems were created! Although this is a simple concept, it still seemed like magic when it came out of the printer after the second print! We were then given this print to take after which was great (see bottom right photo)!
It was fascinating seeing the workshop and inspiring to see what kind of creative businesses and endeavours can be set up after graduating illustration! I really like the rough, retro aesthetic of risograph prints and will definitely bare Note Well Press in mind during future projects - it would be great to get my work printed as a risograph - especially in booklet format as I’m really interested in book-making. It’s great that there is this opportunity right on the doorstep of the uni!