Printing Day at Spudnik Press
I finally printed Something Long! One upside-down file and one ink surprise later, I still had so much fun.
Today, I finally went to Spudnik Press and did the RISO printing for Something Long!
To start with the result—I'm super satisfied! I printed three sheets in two hours (one single-sided, one double-sided), and all of them had four colors each.
Since I had finished preparing all the print data at home yesterday, all I had to do at the studio was print—so it felt really easy.
But! There were two small accidents. The first one was totally my mistake: I uploaded one of the Something Long illustrations upside down. My husband saved the day by noticing it, and we quickly fixed it. I’m glad we caught it. Thank you, husband!
The second thing was that they were out of fluorescent pink ink. I kind of froze for a second, but then I saw they had fluorescent orange this time, which they didn’t have last time—so I decided to try that instead. Honestly, with Spectrolite, I already knew what the colors were going to look like before printing, and while that’s convenient, it’s also a little boring. Because one of the best parts of RISO is the surprise, right?
Fluorescent orange and fluorescent pink are kind of similar, so I thought, why not?
It turned out surprisingly well! It reminded me that even when something unexpected happens, making a decision based on what’s available can actually be really fun and satisfying.
Here’s how everything turned out!
Note to myself so I don’t forget: Darker colors come out more clearly, so I should adjust things like skin color and my pink hair next time. Also, for things like bones or pale yellow objects, outlines help so they don’t disappear on the white paper.
And the gradient that looked so smooth in the digital version? It came out as three separate color blocks when printed. I want to research how to make better gradients for next time.
Also, a memo: At Spudnik press, master sheets are $3 each, and paper is 10¢ per sheet. You just count and pay before leaving.
Printing alone already made me tired today, but I’ll share more once I start putting together the actual Something Long books!
Bonus: I tried printing one of my old 3D pieces too—turned out amazing!